Army Veteran deployed to Afghanistan visits 8 years later

The army announced on Thursday two 4th Infantry brigades will deploy to Afghanistan in 2018. A year one army veteran says will be the “bloodiest” to date.

Former Army Ranger Marty Skovlund Jr. was deployed twice to Afghanistan. He recently returned to the country eight years after his last deployment not as a soldier, but as a journalist to learn how the country has changed within the past decade.

Head-hunting missions and night raids were some of the tasks Skovlund says he and his fellow rangers had to do during their time in Afghanistan between 2007 to 2009. Now, he says troops usually stay on military bases and guard them. Skovlund says that doesn’t mean our military is completely out of harm’s way. “It’s still a war-zone,” Skovlund says, “There are still mortar attacks, there are still rocket attacks. Just you are not going on combat missions every day, doesn’t mean something bad still can’t happen.”

Another big change is increased involvement of Afghan National Army, which is one of the reasons why Skovlund says 2018 will be the bloodiest year in Afghanistan. The other reason is more planned bombings carried out by the United States military on Taliban and ISIS territories. Skovlund says both factors will make these terrorist organizations weaker but at a cost. “Guys are going to get killed, some of them are going to be Americans,” says Skovlund.

To read Skovlund’s full article click here.