There was a feeling of danger at the Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26 when 16 hours prior, the U.S. Embassy warned American citizens to avoid the area, ABC News reported Sunday.
However, Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews used downtime from his sniper team’s overwatch position at the airport to help Afghans inside to safety, and later evacuation from the country taken over by Taliban terrorists.
A fellow servicemember and friend of Vargas-Andrews was going toward Abbey Gate, on the southeast part of the airport, to meet him when a terrorist detonated his suicide vest, killing 13 U.S. troops and almost 170 Afghans.
“It knocked me to the ground,” the friend, who asked not to be identified, told the outlet. “I got up and turned around, and then I see the plume of smoke behind me.”
At the gate, he saw a Marine engulfed in flames being shoved on the ground and rolled over. He noticed another coming toward him, covered in blood and calling out for a corpsman. Later, among the casualties he spotted Vargas-Andrews.
“His friend was alive,” the ABC report continued:
Though he survived, Vargas-Andrews lost his entire left leg and his right arm just above the elbow. He was first moved to Germany for treatment, and later to the esteemed Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he continues to receive “emergency medical care,” according to the family.
The 23-year-old Marine issued a public statement on social media a few weeks ago, along with a picture from his hospital chair.
“Let me start by saying that these past almost 2 months have indeed been hard. I have been trying to figure out what I want to say and how to say it. The outpouring of support from friends, family, organizations, and even just complete strangers has been unreal. I won’t ever be able to thank everyone enough, but still, thank you,” Vargas-Andrews said.
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Posted by Warfighter Overwatch on Tuesday, October 19, 2021
“I hate the way I look right now and I’m working mentally on coming to terms with loss of my right arm and my left leg,” he continued.
Video taken at a gym in Saudi Arabia weeks before the bombing showed Vargas-Andrews deadlifting 530 pounds.
“Laying in bed for almost 2 months has caused me to lose everything I had worked for physically,” he noted.
He has endured 29 surgeries “with numerous more ahead,” a family statement given to ABC News explained, adding, “His recovery efforts include extensive physical therapy and will take many years.”
He will receive help throughout his long recovery.
“He’s as tough as they come,” Faun O’Neel, who heads the military and first responder support group called Warfighter Overwatch, along with her husband, Danny, said.
The nonprofit group has raised over $25,000 to support Tyler and his loved ones, according to O’Neel.
In addition, a GoFundMe page for his family has so far raised $365,213 of its $400,000 goal.
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