Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1406371
4 UCW SEPTEMBER 1-7, 2021 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com PRODUCTION MANAGER/ GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dylan Hooker art@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Elaina J. Martin REPORTER Jeff Thompson MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Margaret Dickson, Pitt Dickey, D.G. Martin, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Crissy Neville COVER Design of Fair by Dylan Hooker –––––––––––- Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. PUBLISHER'S PEN Local war veteran offers perspective on Operation FUBAR in Afghanistan by JIM JONES 82 64 82 83 79 82 63 64 83 66 64 65 THU SEP 02 FRI SEP 03 SAT SEP 04 SUN SEP 05 MON SEP 06 TUE SEP 07 90 71 88 71 92 69 91 69 90 68 89 69 Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Association of Community Publishers I spent 33-years in Special Op- erations as both an active duty sol- dier and civil servant. My son also served in Special Operations and did five tours between Iraq and Afghanistan. I have been trying to follow the chaos and the situation changing hour by hour in Afghani- stan. Folks, as of the writing, it is not good lucking for anyone. erefore, Americans are an- gry, perplexed and confused about how our President, Vice President, the intel- ligence apparatus, the State Department and military leaders have made so many miscalculations. A few years ago, on Vet- erans Day, I was at Buffalo Wild Wings. I looked over and saw a veteran and his friends. ey were drink- ing, eating and laughing. As I looked at this man, his legs were gone, scars and burns were noticeable on his hands and face. At that mo- ment, my heart was happy because this veteran was being the best he could be, having a good time and enjoying every moment he could. On September 18, 2001, Presi- dent George W. Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF. It states: "at the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organiza- tions, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international ter- rorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." December 2009: President Barack Obama spoke about Af- ghanistan, "As we know, these men belonged to al Qaeda a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam … After the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden — we sent our troops into Afghanistan." May 2, 2011: Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by the U.S. military. December 2018: To deliver on his longtime pledge to exit from "endless wars," President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw about half of the 14,000 U.S. troops currently deployed to Afghanistan. In November 2020, President Trump ordered the Pen- tagon to accelerate a drawdown of U.S. troops to 2,500. April 14, 2021: U.S. President Joe Biden announces that all troops will be withdrawn from Afghani- stan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. He accelerated his timeline to August 31. May 4, 2021: e Taliban launches its first major offensive on the Afghan military in Helmand and surrounding provinces. July 2, 2021: e U.S. quietly withdraws soldiers from Bagram Air Base, which was their main military base throughout the war. August 13, 2021: e Tali- ban took Kandahar, Afghani- stan's second largest city. August 14, 2021: U.S. President Joe Biden puts out a statement confirming the deployment of approximate- ly 5,000 U.S. troops to help with the evacuation from Afghanistan. August 15, 2021: Kabul is seized by the Taliban. Af- ghan President Ashraf Ghani leaves the country. e U.S. embassy is evacuated. As the images of Afghan people hanging onto airplanes flooded the news, Americans realized that something was still happening in Afghanistan. For Fort Bragg, Fayetteville and hundreds of thousands of military personnel and their families, the wars for the past 20 years have been part of their lives. For many Americans, the deci- sion to pull out of Afghanistan was way overdue. For most, it was not the pulling out of Afghanistan that has the world baffled; it was the stupidity of it. e author's son watches the sun rise over the mountains of Af- ghanistan on a previous tour of duty. (Photo courtesy Jim Jones)