Their second chance

On my first deployment to Afghanistan as a Navy general medical officer for the Marine Corps infantry, I evaluated two toddlers for wounds they suffered due to torture by the Taliban. Both had severe burns from having their feet held to a fire, a method for extracting information from their families. I will forever remember the smell of their wounds, and of the look in the faces of their parents who knew they might face further violence as a reprisal for seeking our help to care for their children.

Now a parent of young children, I think of those kids often, and of the ghastly choice their parents faced. I had a chance to treat their wounds, but I never believed I saved those kids—after all, they still lived within reach of the Taliban, in hunger, with bombs in the ground.

Now I live in my hometown of Fayetteville, so I have the opportunity to volunteer with our nonprofit refugee resettlement agency, Canopy Northwest Arkansas. My family is on a team helping to resettle a refugee family evacuated from Kabul. They arrived this past week, a couple and their five children, one a toddler—a beautiful, electric kid who loves toy trucks and sunglasses. After meeting them, I reached out to my commanding officer from my first deployment, now Brigadier General Sullivan, who helped lead the evacuation in Kabul, to thank him.

Despite the imperfection of that operation, and the cost of American lives lost, I hope everyone can appreciate as I do the value of those lives that were, at long last, truly saved. My heart swells to see that our community can, and I believe that we will, embrace our opportunity to welcome the Afghans who join us here. When you see them, please be kind—their second chance is also the second chance for many veterans like myself.

KURT EIFLING Fayetteville