ClearedHot

State Department says the Taliban has broken its promise to provide safe passage to the airport...NO SHIT! If they take American hostages...

Might as well laugh at this point.

Real Estate has in the past been a proven hedge. Consider new property or the structure of existing property you own. I currently own six houses, five outright. I also have a longtime investment property that I am selling and reinvesting via the IRS 1031 provision. In short, I have owned a property for 29 years and can no longer depreciate. I am selling and immediately reinvesting in another "like-kind" property which defers the capital gains tax (my son will have to pay it some day). I have already identified the new property and it already has a rental lease in place. While I cannot establish a new depreciation schedule, in doing the exchange I am moving that invested capital form a state that is unfriendly to outside investors (South Carolina), to Florida with much lower property taxes and higher rental incomes. The overall exchange will increase my monthly cash flow by $700. You may also consider land, particularly land that can be used for farming, they don't make any more of it and depending on the area you can get a big tax break if used for agriculture. Whatever you do, I would suggest a diversified approach that spreads your risk.

China will not be constrained by silly things such as collateral damage or human rights.

Complete debacle. State Department Sends Stranded Americans Note Saying U.S. ‘Cannot Guarantee Your Security’ En Route to Kabul Airport The Taliban Have Seized U.S. Military Biometrics Devices

Airline Travel Mask Requirement being extended until January.

In several threads there have been a lot of discussions about cost. Labeling everything in Afghanistan a waste is a bit myopic and that thought pattern enjoys the view of knowing the outcome. In the context of the days after 9/11 we were going to do something and I doubt standing outside and launching a few airstrikes into Afghanistan would have met the will of the American People. Perhaps more appropriate to discuss if we should have left sooner rather than continue to nation build. Maybe shortly after we killed Bin Laden? Regardless, it will be interesting to watch the "economics" now. Terrorism will again flourish in Afghanistan and will most certainly be exported to other areas, hopefully not the U.S. homeland. Will we ramp up our ISR and episodically pitching Tomahawks, Hellfires and PGMs or will we walk away all together and let chaos reign in the region? I have yet to hear a wise word spoken by Milley...perhaps (I hope), he pushed back in private?

Amen, I was pleasantly surprised to get the Email form the VA yesterday, I am glad someone is at least trying. In all honesty I have struggled to find meaning with the sights and ensuing chaos caused by our hasty departure, it is painful to watch. I would imagine there are others who need to process and I am glad they are not alone.

A Taliban Commander who helped seize the Afghan Presidential Palace spent nearly six years at Guantanamo, where he told a guard "we will get you on the outside." In an assessment before he was released, Pentagon officials said that Ruhani posed a "medium" threat to the US, since he had family in "anti-coalition militia entities," and would likely join such groups if released and take part in attacks against US forces in Afghanistan. So that worked out well.

As a counter to Brian Williams a former CIA analyst pushes back on the POTUS speech and his narrative placing all the blame at the feet of the Afghan Army. While I agree they should fight for their own country and certainly not an excuse for the rapid capitulation of the Afghan Army but some context at least to what they faced. As an example the Afghan Army took more losses every year than we did in 20, they were rarely paid, barely fed (except by us), and in general not properly supported by their government.

RUMINT only at this point but the C-17 crew is not getting DFC's...instead they are getting investigated for the two civilian deaths that fell off the aircraft.

U.S. Citizens - Shelter in place, your only way out is to fill out this form. YGTBSM!

I am told the Taliban now has control of the MD-530's...for fuck's sake what have we done?

I understood your drift, I just don't think secure borders align with any part of our current administration's thought process.

Germany says they have 10,000 people they need to get out. Complete and utter shit show!

It's how the music stopped...we left a tape recorder playing, gathered our instruments and slipped off the stage thinking no one would notice. Absolute chaos!

The State Department and Department of Defense said in a statement Sunday that there are “thousands” of Americans stranded in Afghanistan after the Taliban declared victory over the U.S.-backed government earlier in the day. At least we don't have any more mean tweets.

The State Department and Department of Defense said in a statement Sunday that there are “thousands” of Americans stranded in Afghanistan after the Taliban declared victory over the U.S.-backed government earlier in the day.

I guess time will tell because now there are a whole lot of bad guys who think they just kicked our ass. Do you think they just stop right there and call it a day? A whole lot of violence is about to be exported to other parts of the region and the world.

And yet no major attacks on U.S. soil....

Some interesting takes on this forum. I’ll pitch in to the fight, not that what I think matters one bit. Most of you are younger than me, most of you have known nothing but a career of war, many of you are sick of the endless deployments and time away from your family. I get that, but I hope as military professionals your optic is not solely at the tactical level and how it impacts just you. As an O-6 I was often asked to speak at Weapons School and other leadership forums. I used to ask the audience how long they had been serving and the duration of this conflict came home when a "kid" in the audience told me he was in second grade when 9/11 happened. The past almost 20 years in Afghanistan will be dissected for centuries to come. Historians will write papers on every detail from the initial invasion to the chaos as we ran away in the middle of the night. For some of you (and for me), there will be deep feelings about what has happened and the way it went down. In reflection there are numerous questions to ask; Should be have been in Afghanistan in the first place, was our strategy correct, what did we do right, what did we do wrong, why did we leave the way we did. There will be endless debate on each point, there will be no right or wrong answers. As I watch these events, I’ve tried to look back on the last 20 years remembering the context of the situation at the time decisions were made rather than be jaundice by knowing the outcome. The first question is should we have been there. Put aside the patriot surge of emotions and quest for vengeance after 9/11, there was a logical reason to go into Afghanistan. Horrible people set up terror camps to training in Afghanistan and attack us at home. Perhaps we could have sat back and tried to bomb them into oblivion, but given the context of the day that wasn’t going to happen. The vast majority of this country wanted to invade Afghanistan...not because of fake or not fake WMD but because that was where the bad guys who attacked us were...(yes there is much that is still being covered up about the part the Saudis played). Was our strategy correct? I believe in American Excellence. As messed up as we are at times we still serve as a shining beacon for the rest of the world. That being said, not everyone wants democracy and we can’t seem to accept them some people don’t want to do the hard world that it takes to be free and live a life of self-determination. We put PRTs all over the place and tried to build schools and wells, but we rotated people in and out and changed our strategy with each new administration and each new commander. We build outposts of presence in places like the Korengal Valley, begging the Taliban to come fight then tore it down and moved away like it never mattered we were there. We build them most advanced CAS stack in the world and became highly efficient at killing bad guy in close proximity to friendly forces. We built an RPA enterprise that existed to hunt and kill bad people. We patrolled villages and met with elders to assure them we were there to help and for the duration. We did all of these things and so much more and yet we still lost. Should we have left, in my opinion no. I am sure that will anger some but at least listen to my reasoning. For the last 20 years we have had relative peace at home…why is that? Has our protection at the border been that much better than it was on 9/11? There is my opinion a very simple answer and a Machiavellian strategy that we successfully employed in Afghanistan…simply put…we fought them there so we wouldn’t have to fight them here. Afghanistan (and Iraq…and Syria), was the flame to which the evil moths were drawn. The enemy sought to defeat the Americans on the battlefield, wear them down, end their imperial invasion. Whether it was to establish a caliphate, protect ancient lands or to fight on their terms, they ran to the sound of our guns. You know when folks in that part of the world watch Star Wars, we are the empire. Our strategy was rooted in a grand strategy used in World War One…bleed them dry. At horrific battle sites like Verdun the point was never to take territory or advance the front, it was simply to kill as many of on the other side as possible. In fact, the strategy was summed up in a common phrase of the day, Bleed them white.” I would argue it worked. The 2312 Americans who died in Afghanistan bought us 20 years of relative peace at home. In grand strategy terms, a small price to pay. Now that the flame has gone out in Afghanistan we should ask some very important questions and I don’t think we will like the answers. Do you think peace is going to break out?...no more deployments…all is going to be great…candy canes and unicorns right? Are they (and others), emboldened to come after us now that they defeated us over there? What is our standing in the world community? We literally ran away in the middle of the night. Will anyone ever trust us again? We abandoned them, anyone who ever helped us will most certainly pay a horrible price, what lesson did that teach the rest of the world. I crossed that fence 179 times and if I close my eyes I can still hear the sounds, I can smell the cordite, I can hear the voices on the radio, I can hear the guns firing and I can still see the sights 20 years later. Afghanistan will be with me until I die, it is the same for many of you. Whatever your views I pray that each and every one of you who set foot in the country or flew missions over it will find perspective and peace. Afghanistan, where all great empires go to die.

I knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any easier and I don't have any words. Rest easy, no more pain. Thanks for teaching me a love of flying and service to our nation. 257 combat missions in Vietnam totaling 754 combat hours. 5 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 23 Air Medals, first pilot to achieve 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 hours in the F-4.