Pasadena Afghanistan Veterans Disappointed By Withdrawal Process

[Editor’s Note: The initial interviews in this story were conducted prior to Thursday’s ISIS-K attacks at the Kabul Airport and a nearby hotel which killed at least 72 people, including 12 U.S. service members, and wounded dozens more, as the Associated Press reported. ]

Upon watching developments in the United States’ hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan, as American citizens and Afghan allies continued clamoring to get out of the country, some veterans of the conflict from Pasadena say they’ve been discouraged by what they’ve seen.

Elayna Bisbyor served with the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan as a senior airman assigned to aircraft maintenance at Bagram Air Force Base in 2016 and now works as a professional expert at PCC’s Veterans Resource Center while attending classes at Cal State Northridge.

She said that she couldn’t help but feel discouraged by recent developments in the country, including Thursday’s violence.

“I think it’s obvious that US forces were pulled out far too soon. We could have accomplished a lot more if we’d maintained at least a partial presence in Afghanistan,” she said. “I truly despise the idea of endangering any lives by sending our forces to Afghanistan, but I think that reducing our forces —rather than pulling out entirely — would have been sufficient for deterring such serious loss of life.

“It definitely feels like everything that we did, our presence that we maintained in Afghanistan as long as we did, all of the progress that we made there, is kind of undone by everything that’s going on,” Bisbyor said.

“But I actually came across a really good message that [Veterans Resource Center Interim Director Carol Caladra] shared with me,” she said. “It mentions that even though we spent so much time in that country doing what we could to help the people of the country, even though there’s some steps being taken backwards in terms of projects right now, it doesn’t undo everything that we did because we did make some positive change while we were there.”

Pierre Roosevelt served as a machine gunner with the U.S. Marine Corps in Kajaki, Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014. He now serves as a certifying official for programs at Pasadena City College’s Veterans Resource Center.

Upon seeing recent news out of Afghanistan in recent weeks, “I felt disappointed, because I felt like things could have been done in a more controlled manner,” he said Tuesday, prior to the attack at Kabul Airport. “And if not —even if this was going to happen — it should have been done earlier.”

“You see your, your seniors, your juniors, everyone you’ve trained up to this point, going to the same spot you’ve gone to and you realize it’s just a never ending cycle,” according to Roosevelt. “And you kind of feel bad, because we work with interpreters there during our seven month rotations out there, and you see that they’re struggling to get out of their own country. So it makes me realize that we take our freedom for granted out here.”

Although the process could be handled better, Roosevelt said he agreed with the decision to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, in general.

“If [the President] came in with a promise to get the troops out, might as well push through with his promise. That’s one thing you can say. President Biden held true to his word,” he said.

PCC’s Veterans Resource Center reminded veterans that it has a host of services available for them.

“As we witness the events unfolding in Afghanistan, please know that these changes come with an array of emotions — some new and raw, others buried deep and hidden,” according to a Veterans Resource Center statement. “These events, while deeply concerning to all of us, are terribly distressing for our veterans and their families. Please keep in mind that our service members fought in the war voluntarily; to see those years of sacrifice become undone in the hours after our military withdrew from Afghanistan is upsetting to say the least! “

As many military veterans find strength in camaraderie, “The VRC stands ready to help our military-connected students, faculty, and staff during these tumultuous times,” according to the statement. “We host multiple in-house resources, have a multitude of referrals available, and have partnered with Personal Counseling on campus to help our veterans and their families process these current events.”

More information on PCC’s Veterans Resource Center is available online at pasadena.edu/academics/support/veterans-services, or by phone at (626) 585-5226.

Personal counseling services are offered by PCC at (626) 585-7273, or via email at personalcounseling@pasadena.edu.

The Veterans Crisis Line can be reached at (800) 273-8255, then pressing 1, or online at veteranscrisisline.net.