We have a special edition of Rink Rats this last
day of August.
The last couple of weeks America has been on edge
with the events in Afghanistan.
Our family has been directly involved in these
events with our husband, father, grandson, son, nephew, and cousin: Captain
Geoff Ball’s company was stationed at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport.
Captain Ball posted this week a tribute to the
nine men and women under his command who lost their life in a bombing at the
Abbey Gate. Many news agencies have posted this posting in the last few days.
On August 26, at around 1730, Ghost Company was
rushing to save as many people as possible at the Abbey Gate before we were
required to cease processing evacuees. We were supposed to have stopped an hour
earlier, but we decided to keep working for an additional hour in hopes of
finding more passport holders or Green Cards. Alongside many other members of
2/1, the Army, and British Paratroopers, the Marines and Sailors of Ghost, were
pulling families out of the canal when a suicide bomber detonated his device
from the other side of the water. All those working to save Afghans and
Americans were fully exposed to the blast.
Nine of my Marines and Sailors gave their lives
so that others may live, and almost 20 other members of the company were
wounded by their side. Up until that moment, I did not believe I could ever be
more proud of their efforts, by the way they handled the surging crowds and
chaos all week, but they proved me wrong.
A mass casualty event is something we prepared
and trained for - especially our incredibly corpsmen. It is defined by having
fewer resources than necessary to process and handle those wounded. In our
case, we had a third of our entire force to care for in a split second. But in
less than 20 minutes after the bomb detonated, we had our first wounded at the
airport hospital, and this included a ten-minute drive time. Senior leaders at
the operations center remarked they had never seen a MASSCAS response move so
quickly. The entire V21 team worked incredibly smoothly and efficiently during
this moment, and we lived up to our name, The Professionals. We held security,
we moved our wounded, and due to our training, likely saved more than we should
have.
If Ghost Company is anything- it is a family. It
is resilient and it is cohesive. In less than 24 hours after we returned to our
billeting area after the attack, the company was back on the line and watching
over evacuees. As my First Sergeant and I walked the lines that night, we saw
the airport flag at half-mast, and we raised it back up. There is no breaking
this company.
The Marines of Ghost and the rest of the V21
family were magnificent. Not only in that moment of horror, but throughout an
entire week of the most indescribable tragedy one could ever witness. Our
combined efforts kept the Abbey Gate open when many others closed - only
pausing when the Dept of State couldn’t process evacuees fast enough. As a
result, V21 and the British Parachute Regiment processed over 30,000 people
through the Abbey Gate.
There is no greater honor for a Marine to be
called to save Americans. To be the last on deck as those who need our help are
pulled to safety. To lay down our lives for others. That is what my Marines
did. They will always be my heroes.
To support our families, and the families of
those who lost loved ones alongside us, please consider donating to the Tragedy
Assistance Program for Survivors (https://www.taps.org) They will be providing care to
us for a long time to come. Please consider sharing this post as well so that
people may know our story and in hopes of increasing support to an organization
that I have personally served for, and I know will provide the comfort we need.
Semper Fidelis.
Next Blog: “Dog Days of
Summer”
Until Friday September 3, 2021 Adios.
Claremont, California
August 31, 2021
#XII-2-439
755 words, three-minute read.
Rink Rats is a blog of weekly observations,
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Posted
at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
Our
Eleventh Year.
