U.S. Marines whose comrades died defending Kabul airport return residence By Reuters

By Daniel Trotta

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Reuters) – U.S. Marines who had been deployed to Afghanistan reached their residence base on Sunday, hugging their households after the fight deaths of 9 Marines from their battalion who didn’t make it again.

Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines Regiment had been on responsibility outdoors the Kabul airport on Aug. 26 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives, killing a minimum of 13 U.S. service members and scores of Afghans.

9 Marines from the so-called 2/1 and a Navy sailor additionally primarily based at Camp Pendleton had been among the many 13 killed. Two further Marines and an Military soldier additionally died.

The fallen belonged to a separate firm from the 282 Marines who returned on Sunday to Camp Pendleton, the most important Marine base on the West Coast, about 40 miles (65 km) north of San Diego.

The Marine Corps didn’t give reporters full entry to speak with returning Marines and their households, although some briefly spoke with the media.

“We got here all the best way from Mississippi to see him,” Allen Frazier, a retired Marine, stated of his son, Corporal Jeffrey Frazier.

Frazier declined to touch upon how the Afghanistan mission ended, saying, “I am simply right here to see my son.”

(For a profile of some the fallen, click on: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-marine-killed-afghanistan-blast-was-newlywed-wyoming-2021-08-27)

The Marines had been killed lower than 10 days after the Taliban seized Kabul and management of Afghanistan, a stunningly fast takeover as U.S. forces withdrew from almost 20 years of battle.

The Marines had been trying to guard the airport, screening individuals and patting some down for weapons throughout a chaotic U.S. airlift that ultimately received 124,000 individuals in another country, together with U.S. residents, Afghans who aided the U.S. battle effort, and their households.

Scott Wiles, 58, was a part of the motorbike escort that accompanied the Marines over the ultimate 50 miles (80 km) of their journey residence, saying it was essential to assist returning veterans, particularly with suicide so widespread amongst them.

His group, the Patriot Guard Riders, goals to elevate their spirits with some fanfare.

“This can be a darkish time for them. They’ve misplaced a few of their teammates … folks that they’ve skilled with, bunked with and deployed with,” Wiles stated. “And if we could be that one brilliant spot … they usually do not go down that darkish gap, that is why we’re right here.”