By Dennis Anderson, special contributor
When Rudy Acosta was 19 in Afghanistan, with six weeks left in country, he was reasonably hopeful he was going to survive. But that did not happen.
He was killed by an Afghan security contractor in what was coming to be known as an insider attack — treachery inside your own perimeter by a local assassin.
The Afghan turncoat who machine-gunned Acosta and Cpl. Donald R. Mickler Jr., wounding four other soldiers, was killed by battle buddies.
It happened about 10 years ago, when they were serving in an Army Stryker Brigade in Kandahar Province. Contemplating his homecoming, Acosta posted he “could almost taste it.”
Today, we can only wonder why his death and all those other deaths happened. Why? It had something to do with 9/11. But why did we not bring the troops home after toppling the Taliban and forcing Osama bin Laden to flee and go to ground until we found him and killed him?
Acosta, who grew up in Santa Clarita, kept a list of goals in his pocket, according to his Los Angeles Times obituary. Serving as a combat medic, two of the goals were, “Be a good leader. Become a surgeon.” That is what we lost when we lost Acosta.
People who have no experience of war and live in the general comfort and security we enjoy in the United States, lack capacity to understand how unimaginably cruel war is to its victims, and to the ones who must fight.
People who have been there or had their lives touched by war really are hard-pressed to describe a phenomenon as horrifying and depressing as it is.
Acosta was hopeful he would survive his Afghan tour of duty. My son was the 19-year-old Marine who believed he probably would be killed in Iraq, but he survived.
It turned out neither could predict or prevent what would happen and that is the raw randomness of war, which only survivors experience. I ache for Acosta’s parents, Dante and Carolyn Acosta, and the younger brother and sister, with their hero only present in memory.
A couple of weeks ago, I remembered that I ended my Army active duty at Fort Jackson, S.C., the same day as the fall of Saigon and its chaotic embassy evacuation. That was another yawning abyss of American blood and treasure that went on far too long to no good end for all who lost someone precious to them.
This past weekend, I went to Fort Benning, Ga., home of the Airborne School, to make a World War II-style commemorative parachute jump just before the newest class of young paratroopers were awarded silver wings that makes them some of America’s best. It was not lost on me that I was parachuting into Fryar Drop Zone as Kabul was falling to the Taliban, much the way Saigon fell on the day that I came home from active duty 46 years ago.
I read and watch the torrent from pundits and politicians about how “we lost the war,” whoever “we” might be, and groan. This is my up close and personal take derived from experience and studies over 50 years, much spent covering America’s armed forces.
American troops do not lose wars and it is rare they even lose a battle. For battles lost, remember Little Big Horn, Kasserine Pass or Corregidor. Note how after the disaster, Americans regrouped for the win.
The US military’s job is to defend the nation from enemies, foreign mostly, and mostly not domestic, but these are weird times.
What the US military cannot do, is to invade a country of alien — to us — in culture and history and use military force to fashion the kind of government we think we would like.
Trying to build Western democracy in Afghanistan was like trying to build a house that will survive a storm with rotten wood. Our allies were bought, bribed and corrupt.
The enemies of our corrupt allies were committed and resilient and they brought the storm with them. This also happened in Vietnam, but not because of American troops. The house fell because of the rotten wood we used to build the structure and foundation.
Our troops fought bravely and well. Only a fraction of our bought, bribed and corrupt allies ever fought with similar elan. Our troops fought with their customary “can do” and then went and did everything that was asked or ordered of them.
So do not ask me who lost the war. I know it wasn’t the American military. They were still holding them off in Afghanistan when there were just a couple thousand Americans in country with enough air power to make the rubble bounce. Our adversaries should dread our return.
With that said, my ache continues for the Acostas and all the Gold Star families. The United States, whoever is the commander-in-chief, wields the power of the most formidable military in the history of the world. There is much it can do, with determination, grit and resourcefulness.
There are some things it should not be used to do and the legacy of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam should teach us that lesson. If only we will learn it.
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