San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
AMID TURMOIL OF WAR, MARINE, INTERPRETER FORM STRONG BOND
Book details time in combat in Afghanistan, chaotic U.S. withdrawal
The Latin motto of the U.S. Marines, “Semper Fidelis,” translates into English as “Always Faithful.” Ask Maj. Tom Schueman and Afghan interpreter Zainullah Zaki about it and they will tell you this: The word that matters most is always.
“It’s easy to be faithful sometimes,” Schueman said. “It’s easy to be faithful when things are going your way. It’s easy to be faithful when you’re standing on a beach in San Diego, 75 degrees and sunny.”
Not so easy to be faithful when an improvised explosive device, or IED, goes off in the kill zone that was Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. One explosion knocked Schueman down and out in late 2010. Zaki could have run for cover. Instead he picked up Schueman’s rif le and stood watch over him until help arrived.
Not so easy to be faithful when the 20-year Afghanistan War ends, the Taliban returns to power, and Zaki’s role helping the Americans brings him death threats. Schueman, back home in the U.S., could have shrugged his shoulders. Instead he worked around the clock to help the interpreter flee Afghanistan with his wife and four children.
“My family is safely in America today because Maj. Tom and I stood by each other at all times,” Zaki said.
Their unexpected friendship forms the backbone of a new book, “Always Faithful: A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter.”
Published earlier this month, and told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of the two men, the book offers a deeply personal look at war and its aftermath — the idealism, the danger, the lingering physical and moral injuries.
Much of it involves the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment out of Camp Pendleton: the Darkhorse Marines. They went into Sangin in the fall of 2010, saw combat almost every day for three months,