- Hillsdale Marine Corps veteran Gregory Whalen has something to say about what he saw during America's withdrawal from Afghanistan...and he’s saying it with song.
- Deployed to maintain order around Kabul airport, Whalen says he saw things he wasn't sure people at home wanted to hear about.
- Whalen recalls his experiences and the experiences of fellow soldiers in a collection of songs called "American Deployed" — available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and YouTube.
- Video shows Whalen singing and playing, and remembering what he witnessed during the final weeks of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- BONUS VIDEO: FORMER MARINE CORPORAL GREGORY WHALEN REFLECTS ON WHY BEING A VETERAN OF A FOREIGN WAR CAN BE DIFFICULT [WATCH BELOW]
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Three years ago, Marine veteran Gregory Whalen was in Kabul protecting the airport during America's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Today, he's a student at Hillsdale College questioning what was accomplished…in the form of song.
"How is it right to be promising life when we intend to up and go home?" — Lyrics, "Kabul 2021" by Gregory Whalen
Marine Corporal Gregory Whalen was ordered to Afghanistan just weeks before the United States' withdrawal deadline on August 31, 2021...sent to work with an enemy the US had spent decades fighting.
"I mean, they were just beating people over the head with their buttstocks pretty consistently," he recalls how the Taliban behaved when he saw them.
As that withdrawal was proceeding, he described the crowd around the airport as nearly impossible to control:
"People were getting crushed, overheating, and this was a huge worry for the children especially. There were a lot of very young children."
Images of desperation that Whalen brought with him back to mid-Michigan.
Questioning whether others were ready to hear what he had seen:
"Is this going to bring things up that people are not wanting to think about?"
WATCH FORMER MARINE CORPORAL GREGORY WHALEN REFLECT ON WHY BEING A VETERAN OF A FOREIGN WAR CAN BE DIFFICULT:
"Don't worry, America. Sleep tight at night. You can keep sending your kids to go fight..." — Lyrics, "Kabul 2021" by Gregory Whalen
Whalen found answers to that question, in the form of song.
"...so you can just look at your watch and forget how the women with child were crushed in the crowd, the infants we gathered were screaming so loud as the desperate and broken falling from planes…" — Lyrics, "Kabul 2021" by Gregory Whalen
Now that he's home, Whalen makes no bones about addressing the powers that be.
"Did they not see that this was not working, like, earlier?" he asks. "You gave us two weeks to try to run this operation. We needed months."
Despite initial hesitation, Whalen says the response to his music has been positive.
"I do think it's important that these things be remembered,: he says, "and that what we do as a nation not just go unquestioned."
"'No worries my friend, 'cause the mission is just about done…" — Lyrics, "Kabul 2021" by Gregory Whalen
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