{"id":46076,"date":"2021-10-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/22\/green-berets-work-to-free-afghans-comes-with-a-personal-cost\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:25:28","slug":"green-berets-work-to-free-afghans-comes-with-a-personal-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/10\/22\/green-berets-work-to-free-afghans-comes-with-a-personal-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Berets\u2019 work to free Afghans comes with a personal cost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Carrie Elk to realize something was different with the Green Berets<\/a> at Fort Bragg<\/a>, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A psychotherapist who specializes in war-related psychological trauma, Elk was at Bragg Sept. 12 to deliver PTSD resilience training to Green Berets preparing to transition out of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was invited by an NCO she had worked with for years to discuss caring for special forces soldiers who struggle to cope with the aftermath of exposure to brutal combat and the other miseries of protracted conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I walked in, he felt different,\u201d Elk said of the Green Beret NCO, who were both authorized to talk about the situation. The Green Beret NCO spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive nature of the Afghanistan rescue efforts. \u201cHis presence was very different than I\u2019ve known. Something was off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Elk noticed another sight that made her wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe walked by the offices, to the conference room, and I saw a couple of cots set up,\u201d said Elk, founder and CEO of the Elk Institute for Psychological Health & Performance<\/a>. \u201cI thought that was awfully strange, and was wondering if that is how they do things at this unit or was something going on?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having worked with special operations units around the country for years<\/a>, Elk knew better than to ask questions. But she overheard snippets of desperate conversations, observed a high level of tension on the faces of those in the room and saw things that seemed out of place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were cots. A whiteboard with maps and photographs of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afghans on cell phones, having furious conversations in Dari with people back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Green Beret was at his computer.<\/b> His hands were on his forehead as he had a hushed conversation with the man next to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if I miss one?\u201d she recalled him saying. \u201cWhat if I miss the name? Dude, what if I miss a name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Green Beret tried to reassure him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDude, your job is to do the best you can to keep track of what you can and do as much as you can with what you\u2019ve got. Their souls are not your responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The souls, Elk learned, were U.S. citizens and Afghan allies trapped by rapid advance of the Taliban. Their lives hung in the balance and 7,000 miles away, there was nothing the Green Berets at Fort Bragg could do by way of direct action to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite the admonishment, the men felt a responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So day after day, night after night, with the implicit approval of their command, the small group of five Green Berets at Fort Bragg spent their off hours working to find and guide American citizens and Afghans to safety. They took turns spending nights in the office transformed into a tactical operations center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for men used to responding, Elk could see that as the Taliban captured district after district, the pervasive feeling of helplessness and hopelessness was taking a mental and emotional toll, even as they managed to help hundreds escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds more are still on their waiting list, a small portion of the tens of thousands wanting to get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The command is aware of the toll the rescue effort has taken on the Green Berets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of our people experienced a range of powerful emotions over the last few months because Army Special Operations is more than a job, and our soldiers care deeply about the people they have worked closely with on deployments,\u201d said Army Maj. Dan Lessard, a spokeman for the 1st Special Forces Command said in an email to Military Times. \u201cWe implement U.S. Army Special Operations Command\u2019s Human Performance and Wellness program to provide our soldiers and families a holistic array of resources to build resilience, improve performance, and mitigate the acute effects of stress over their careers in Army Special Operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elk\u2019s visit to Bragg, arranged long before the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, was part of that program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir hands are tied everywhere they go,\u201d Elk said of the Green Berets. \u201cAnd then they\u2019re still watching all these people dying, that saved them half of the time, looked out for them, gave them information they needed, some interpreters for them. And now they feel they\u2019ve <\/a>left these guys in harm\u2019s way. And that\u2019s opposite of their ethos and just soul crushing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Working on their own time, a small group of Green Berets at Fort Bragg helped U.S. citizens and Afghan allies navigate their way toward Hamid Karzai International Airport. (Photo courtesy of a Green Beret NCO).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Send us<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A day before Kabul fell on Aug. 15, the small group at Fort Bragg appealed to the chain of command to head to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe made a promise to these people that we\u2019d get them out, and we knew exactly what would happen to them if they were left there,\u201d said the Green Beret NCO. \u201cIt is happening. And so that\u2019s what killed us the most. Because we knew if we were on the ground, we could speed those processes up. We actually tried to go over there. We want to go over there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But leaders rejected the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like, \u2018hey it\u2019s never gonna happen,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThe Department of Defense doesn\u2019t want any more people to be responsible for over there, you know? It\u2019s a Department of State thing. They do immigration, not the military and so they didn\u2019t want anyone getting in the way of that. Our command supported it, but it was just never going to happen, especially in such a short timeframe. By time we got there. It would have been over anyway. It was just so frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the Green Berets began working in an unofficial capacity because what they were seeing was anathema to their motto, said the NCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we saw happening over there was the opposite of De Oppresso Liber,\u201d he said, referring to the Green Beret\u2019s Latin motto meaning \u201cto free the opressed\u201d in English. \u201cI\u2019ll say it over and over again, it was De Liber Oppresso. It was legitimately undoing everything we have done for 20 years. Just all of a sudden it was, we oppressed all the people that we\u2019ve been trying to free from oppression. And it was like a light switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been mentally challenging for a lot of people because, you know, how many people we buried,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd because of that place, because of going to war for 20 years all the funerals we went to, all the family members we had to say sorry to and notify, just think about that. I\u2019ve been going there since 2005, and I\u2019ve been to memorials every single year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Green Berets were operating with the knowledge of their command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) is aware of the informal efforts by soldiers within the command to assist former Afghan partners and their families with evacuation from Afghanistan,\u201d Lessard said. \u201cOur soldiers have built lasting relationships with partners during deployments over the last 20 years, and some soldiers have used their previous relationships and networks to provide unofficial assistance to those partners in their time of need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Working on their own time, a small group of Green Berets at Fort Bragg helped U.S. citizens and Afghan allies navigate their way toward Hamid Karzai International Airport. (Photo courtesy of a Green Beret NCO).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you put a curtain over the window and not know where you were, you\u2019d think you\u2019re in Afghanistan running a mission,\u201d said the Green Beret NCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effort started with attempts to rescue family members of two Afghans. One of those Afghans is a Green Beret, the other a contractor who worked with the team. It became even more difficult after the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was one of the horrifying things,\u201d said the Green Beret NCO. \u201cOne of the Afghans that\u2019s working with us, his wife is stuck over there. He\u2019s an American citizen. So imagine him helping us get all these people out and his wife can\u2019t. Right? Because she has pending [special immigrant visa]. I have to look at his face every day. Not being able to go get her, I couldn\u2019t sleep. I couldn\u2019t walk away every day, and go home and sleep knowing that. It was crushing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the Green Beret NCO reached out to a friend in Kabul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was like, \u2018hey man, this is, this is how it works. These units are controlling these access points.\u2019 And he said, \u2018you know, reach out to see who\u2019s there, build contacts with them, and then see if they\u2019ll vouch for your people and get them in and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, the Green Berets were in contact with the family members, offering advice and helping guide them past Taliban checkpoints, toward contacts at Hamid Karzai International Airport who would let them in. They helped move people to safe houses and transport them when the time was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t easy and not every attempt to reach the airport worked. Eventually, though, the families of the Afghan team members made it out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News of the initial success quickly spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce we were successful getting those people out, it started,\u201d said the Green Beret NCO of a torrent of requests for help. \u201cEveryone else was like, hey, my friend\u2019s family is there. Or, some general or colonel would be, okay my interpreter is stuck there. And they just kept asking me if you can get these people, and the other people, and it just became the larger operation overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t easy at first \u201cbecause they were overwhelmed,\u201d said the Green Beret NCO. \u201cEverybody was doing the same thing. So it just happened to be like, who could get there? How we can identify them? And who would vouch for him. And we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Zach Martin, a former Army officer and “Battle Captain” with “Team America” works on getting evacuees aboard Hamid Karzai International Airport. Photo by James R. Webb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Helping hands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Green Berets at Fort Bragg also worked with friends in several private organizations trying to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They worked, directly and indirectly, to help move people to safety with veteran-run volunteer groups like Pineapple Express<\/a>, Digital Dunkirk<\/a> and Team America<\/a>, said the Green Beret NCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\t