Interview with Anna

This interview is with a young soldier, Anna, who was part of the mission to “aide and assist” during the pull-out of Americans in Afghanistan during the summer of 2021. Words by Anna’s mother and images during the “aide and assist” mission are interwoven with the soldier’s memories and thoughts. - Kimy Jean Martinez Knight

“I really felt like the military would be a good fit for her after high school. That it would offer her the best chance for success at being independent young adult, even though it is dangerous and not always the most ideal environment.”

Anna: I’m in the United States Army. I thought about joining when I was eighteen because I didn't really have many options; I didn't apply for college. I am currently a specialist which is E4 (a rank above Private First Class).

Kimy: What does being a specialist imply?

Anna: I’m kind of like the senior out of the “Joe’s”, like a senior private. I run the new people that come in but I don’t have a whole lot of responsibility like an NCO (Non-commissioned Officer). I’m in that middle-gray area where I have a few responsibilities but not enough for me to fuck-up anything, really.

Kimy: What was boot camp like? What did you train for?

Anna: The first nine weeks we learn the basic fundamentals like marching, shooting weapons, drawing grenades, and various physical activities. When I graduated I went on to my AIT (Advanced Individual Training) which was waking up at six in the morning learning cop shit more or less. l learned how to conduct a traffic stop, different laws and how the laws work, and I learned how to respond to calls. Every duty station is different so the training that I received in AIT was very bare minimum, the real bare minimum of being a cop. However in AIT I had a grand time. I had this little battle buddy, she was a little bodybuilder four feet and eleven inches. I still talk to to her to this day, she’s really my best friend. But you know, you don’t really talk to anyone from basic training anymore just because it was a phase in your life that you lived with the same people for sixteen weeks!

Kimy: Learning how to use a gun, what was going through your mind? Do you think you were prepared for the possible consequences if you actually had to use a gun? You know, were you trained for the consequences of killing somebody?

Anna: In basic training the first nine weeks you learned how to shoot an M4 (It is lightweight, gas operated, magazine fed, shoulder fired weapon with a collapsible stock. It is now the standard issue firearm for most units in the U.S. military replacing M16). My feelings towards it? I had never shot a weapon in my life so it was a scary experience just because I didn't think guns were the safest things in the world. You're giving eighteen, nineteen-year-olds this weapon. If you’re from the South you're probably gonna know how to shoot a weapon, but other than that, being from California I'm just not- That’s not who I am/was. You’re not really trained about gun fighting. They don't really teach you the fundamentals of gun fighting, only weapon safety. When you get to AIT you learn how to shoot a pistol. It was kind of scary because I’m thinking, you have seventeen to nineteen year-olds, some of them have a hood past (criminal past), it's probably not the smartest idea to give them a weapon.

“She always followed her older brother and wanted to do everything he was doing. She rode a bike without training wheels before him. She pushed him to keep up.”

Kimy: Did you prepare or set yourself up mentally for the service, military?

Anna: When I had deployed in 21’, first of all I never thought I would ever deploy out of the country let alone Afghanistan or whatever mission we were going to because I had no idea what was going on at the time. When I told my dad I was going to the the Middle East, he said, “So you're going to the Afghanistan.” I was like, “What are you talking about?” He said, "You should probably look at the news.” I looked at the news and sure as fuck that's where we’re going, my unit. We got told different areas; We got told we're going to Africa, then it was that we're going to Syria to assist, or that we’re going to Germany to assist with the refugees. When we landed in the shit- and I'll never forget that hell, when the bird came down. It was a whole different smell and if I went near a certain dumpster, it would bring back memories. The Afghanistan war was definitely the one I've been in and it was a scary moment for me. We had rules like that of the Wild Wild West. I had to hot wire so many vehicles just because we didn't have anything to ride. We were not used to guns going off, AK rifle rockets. We weren't allowed to do anything, as they shot at us we had to stand there. If the shooting had gone inside the wire, inside the base that we're in, then we were able to shoot. It bothered me the most when they were just killing their own people. You're made to witness that and you can't do anything about it. This is what you had to be mentally prepared for and I definitely wasn’t. Until I was in the shit, I was, “This sucks.” I would not want to live in this country.

Kimy: I don't think many people experience having people murdered in front of their face like you have.

Anna: No. Ethan, a Marine, I hadn't seen him for four years and he was there with me in Afghanistan. It was the first time I'd seen him in four years and he was really upset that I was there. He didn't want me there and I didn't want him there, but I had no idea he was there until he was walking down the street. We locked eyes and I never bawled my eyes out so much in my life. When the IV bombs (suicide bombs) went off and the thirteen soldiers died, most of them Marines, the first thing my commander asked was, “Who's your brother?” and I was like, I don't want to know if he (Ethan) was gone. But fortunately we were both good. He got out before I did. Then when I got out, it was a sigh of relief.

Kimy: Did you receive any kind of therapy after going through this?

Anna: I did, I had about two visits. Then, hearing and seeing fireworks kind of f’d me up but I'm good now. I'm able to talk about it now. When we (soldiers in Anna’s unit) got there we were taking babies over the wire. They (Afghanistan civilians) would throw babies over the wire and our mission was to catch them. We were starting to run out of baby formula; Then, our next mission was not to catch the babies.

Kimy: How many babies were thrown? And, how long did you have to endure this?

Anna: We were there for 11 days, a few people were there longer. The baby throwing happened in the beginning when we stopped letting people inside the gate to become refugees. It continued while we were there, then once they (civilians) realized we weren't catching the babies they stopped. These people were the parents or relatives that were trying to have their babies become refugees. They just wanted their kids to have a better life than what was going on. It'd be like three babies a day, not too many but just enough to where we had too many.

Kimy: Did those babies make it as refugees to America?

Anna: They made it as refugees to either Germany or different areas. They weren’t telling us so I don't really know exactly where they were taking them. All we know is that they got on a plane and went somewhere.

Kimy: The parents or whoever have no idea what happened to their baby?

Anna: No idea. No.

Kimy: There's no documentation on these babies, these children?

Anna: No.

Kimy: When you stopped catching the babies, were they just left there on the ground?

Anna: When we stopped letting people inside the fence, it got very chaotic. I don't really know what happened after that. I was not really paying attention after a while.

Kimy: Did you kind of shut off, you mean?

Anna: Oh yeah, yeah I just wanted to leave.

Kimy: You don't know if the babies were just left there, on the ground.

Anna: No idea.

“Guillianna is my oldest triplet daughter, my earliest memory is being scared for her when she was born. She was the smallest and had to be fed through her nose and stay longer in the hospital than her sisters. It broke my heart to leave her alone.”

Kimy: You experienced taunting of females while there in Afghanistan by a terrorist group.

Anna: It was the Taliban. I saw all the terrorist groups out there.

Kimy: Are you okay?

Anna: I’m good.

Kimy: I don’t want to bring you totally back to that space.

Anna: No, you're good.

My dearest Anna,

“I am very proud of you and excited for your deployment. I am scared but I’m am choosing to ignore that. Your father is doing enough worrying for the both of us and then some .

You are going to find out how big the world is , how amazing and scary. Drink bottled water only, seriously. Follow orders, stay alert, stay safe, keep your buddy with you always, come home fast.

Once you are home we can work through anything that has happened, together.

I love you.”

Kimy: Let's head back to America, you went out to Washington DC to defend the White House?

Anna: My thought process was, we're going against people that we are supposed to be protecting and if I had to shoot one of them, I don't know how I’d be. We (Anna’s unit) all talked about it and had the same thought process; Why do we have so much ammo, for what reason?

Kimy: Do you think it's a good idea to place Americans abroad to fight other countries’ wars?

Anna: I would say yes, because our army is one of the most powerful in the world, more so than our allies. Aiding and assisting is necessary.

Kimy: Is it keeping peace in and with the world.

Anna: Yes.

Kimy: Do you know your occupation yet when you come out of the military?

Anna: I'm going to try for a sheriff's deputy. If that doesn’t work out, I will be a corrections officer with my mother.