{"id":45073,"date":"2021-08-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-comes-together-for-veterans-as-afghanistan-falls-into-chaos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:22:59","slug":"la-plata-county-comes-together-for-veterans-as-afghanistan-falls-into-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-comes-together-for-veterans-as-afghanistan-falls-into-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County comes together for veterans as Afghanistan falls into chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Chris
Chris Burgess, an Afghanistan veteran, said he thought the military drawdown was the right move in May, but the way it has been handled has been a tragedy. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chris Burgess, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, has spent the last few days distracted \u2013 he normally tries not to watch the news but now he can\u2019t turn it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing fine, but I can see how it\u2019s definitely affecting others,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cI know a lot of my friends are checking on each other to make sure they\u2019re doing all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taliban has rapidly retaken Afghanistan amid the U.S. military departure. Since early August, the Taliban has taken control of major cities, and the country\u2019s president has fled. Thousands of Afghan citizens are trying to flee, while more are left uncertain or fearful of what Taliban rule will bring, according to news reports.<\/p>\n

A hemisphere away, Americans are grappling with what to make of their longest war. In Southwest Colorado, community members are reaching out to support each other, veterans and Afghani citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly dramatic series of events that\u2019s occurring, and something that I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen possibly since Vietnam. I know a lot of our vets lived through that,\u201d said Chuck Stevens, La Plata County manager. \u201cI was concerned they might have feelings of frustration, confusion, anger \u2013 even betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taliban offensive in Afghanistan started in May but intensified in August after the United States left the Bagram Airfield, the key hub for the American war. Kabul was the last major city to fall to the Taliban.<\/p>\n

News reports show chaotic scenes and shots fired into the air at Kabul Airport as families line up hoping to be evacuated. Concerns have been raised about the future of women under the Taliban\u2019s enforcement of Sharia law.<\/p>\n

In response to the events in Afghanistan, Stevens met with veterans among the county\u2019s employees this week to show support. He reminded them of resources, such as the employee assistance program and the county\u2019s Veterans Services Office.<\/p>\n

La Plata County commissioners joined in with a statement of gratitude to veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe support you during this emotionally trying time and recognize the stress that the veteran community is under as events continue to unfold overseas,\u201d the statement read Wednesday on Facebook.<\/p>\n

About 10% of the county\u2019s 400 employees are veterans, said Stevens, who served in Afghanistan for part of his 25-year career as a U.S. Marine.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want staff members to go into the weekend without knowing they have resources and support available, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it was important that our organizational leadership let all our veterans know we support them. We value their service; we\u2019re here to support them,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to go through this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grappling with Afghanistan<\/div>\n

Chris Wood, a Marine veteran in Farmington who served in the Afghanistan War, was concerned in May<\/a> that American troops were being pulled out before the job was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand we were there for 20 years, but us leaving is just going to tumble that country back to civil war,\u201d he said Thursday. \u201dHonestly, I think that would\u2019ve happened anyway. So why were we there in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcome of the military drawdown makes him feel \u201canxious, angry and pissed off,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been on his mind almost all day, every day. He stopped looking at social media. He has a therapist through Veterans Affairs, but he doesn\u2019t plan to go back anytime soon: Face coverings are required because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the masks cause flashbacks to wearing hot suits to protect against possible nerve agents during his military tour.<\/p>\n

Instead of watching social media, he\u2019s taking care of overdue yard work, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m covered. I\u2019m good,\u201d he said. \u201cI have my family. I have my service dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Burgess, left, an Afghanistan veteran, shares a laugh Thursday with fellow veterans from left, Darrell Smir, Stephen Beck and Demetrius Lewis at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4031 in Durango. Many Americans, including veterans, are grappling with chaotic events in Afghanistan. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In May, Burgess thought the military drawdown was the right move, but the way it has been handled has caused a tragedy, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that this could\u2019ve happened. \u2026 It is a tragedy, I think,\u201d said Burgess, who served in the Marine Corps. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really negate anyone\u2019s service, including my own. What we did over there was still part of our job. \u2026 I think we should\u2019ve started closing this up when we got (Osama) bin Laden. That could\u2019ve been the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Durango, he feels like the community \u201chas his back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of why I love Durango. It\u2019s a very solid veteran community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Veterans of other military conflicts are watching out for their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad for my colleagues and friends who\u2019ve suffered tremendous physical and emotional loss as a result of their service in Afghanistan,\u201d said Tracy Roach, a veteran and La Plata County employee. \u201cI\u2019m worried about how triggering this is for my friends who deployed throughout the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming together<\/div>\n

During a difficult moment, taking action \u2013 even something as simple as having coffee with other veterans \u2013 can help, said Greg Dotson, a retired Navy veteran and a county Veterans Services officer.<\/p>\n

If professional services aren\u2019t the right fit, the Durango Veterans of Foreign Wars post has Wednesday morning coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a good time for a veteran to stop by and have a cup of coffee with fellow veterans,\u201d he said. \u201cThings like that where they can feel less excluded, more included, is always good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maddy Glotfelty, 16, an Animas High School student, also wanted to take action. Glotfelty, her sister, Julie, and her friend, Roan Harvey, launched a GoFundMe to raise $2,000<\/a> for women in Afghanistan through the nonprofit, Women for Women International.<\/p>\n

The trio wanted more people their age to take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can seem like we are extremely displaced and not at all a part of this conflict. Yet, if you are able to empathize with the people and what they\u2019re going through, you realize you wouldn\u2019t want anyone to think it wasn\u2019t their problem,\u201d Glotfelty said. \u201cWhen people are being hurt, and women and children are being displaced, it\u2019s everyone\u2019s problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Roach, the county\u2019s show of support and meeting with veterans meant a lot, she said. It helped her connect with other veterans. In turn, she wanted veterans to know the military did not fail, nor did soldiers. She urged veterans to check in with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers fulfilled their given duty,\u201d Roach said. \u201cI want them to understand that they did their job and that it did matter!\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018They don\u2019t have to go through this alone,\u2019 says county manager and Afghan vet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4591,28,2836,1680,1512,185,184],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-afghanistan","tag-headlines","tag-international-military-intervention","tag-la-plata-county-commissioners","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-serving-veterans","tag-veterans-affairs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86338,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45073\/revisions\/86338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45073"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}