OK- this is me, a lot younger, lighter, and way more pissed off. 

Once upon a time, I did stuff. On this particular gig, I was an advisor to local forces. We’d go out into the mountains and live with the populace. Sometimes it was smooth, sometimes not. 

But on every occasion, we leaned heavily upon our interpreters. Those guys made a real difference and experienced the same hardships and dangers as us. Their position was more dangerous because while Americans were enemies, the bad guys saw our interpreters as traitors. Not a good place to be, and we all saw how that went during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

I’m still waiting for the happy asshole who planned that op to be cashiered. But I digress.

That was an excruciating time for me because our guys and their families were outside the gates in Kabul- you heard on the news about people being spirited away via covert means. I heard about it in real-time, with people I knew. 

It wasn’t just something on the news, more fuel for the culture war bullshit machine. No. This was a chunk of my life melting away as I watched. 

But enough about me. Here’s where you can come in if you choose to do so. One of the guys on our advisor team’s ‘terp has settled in Ohio, and he and his family need a little help to get started in their new life. Terps aren’t eligible for standard government assistance, like everyone else with a pulse. Kind of bullshit, but it is what it is.

You could chip in some bread on his family’s GoFundMe if you’d like.  

That would be cool.

Jason