American troops first stepped foot on Afghan soil some 20 years ago. They fought not only for liberty, but for freedom from terror too. The military operation officially ended on August 30, one day earlier than planned. Unfortunately, in an attempt to flee the country, civilians died and many didn’t even manage to take any of the flights that were supposed to take them to better places.
Sadly, 13 American service members were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, just five days before the troops were about to live the country entirely. Among those killed in the attack was a 20-year-old marine who was born when this war started and died when it ended.
According to the official Overseas Contingency Operations report’s casualty summary, since the start of the military operation, 20,727 members of the U.S. military were wounded and a total of 2,475 lost their lives in combat.
The world watched in shock as the Taliban got complete control of Afghanistan.
As anger and grief filled the hearts of every American, one veteran from Port St. Lucie, Florida paid tribute to the 13 soldiers in his own way. Air Force veteran Jordan Vanderflier reserved a table for 14 at Texas Roadhouse. One place at the table was for him, and the rest were for the fallen soldiers.
“The initial reaction was let’s accommodate. So it was immediately all hands on deck, there were four of us scrambling. Pouring beers, getting the table set up,” said Rick Kirk, managing partner at Port St. Lucie’s Texas Roadhouse.
Jordan lost a very good friend in Afghanistan in the past and he could feel the pain of the families of the soldiers killed last week.
“They deserved the true respect and recognition to be able to have something like this, you know, as a reminder of, ‘Hey, you’re at this restaurant right now because these guys are away from their families, you know, risking their lives for us every day,’” he said.
Jordan’s photos went viral and people were thanking him for his act. As a result, the restaurant decided to have the table reserved in the next 13 days.
Rest in peace, soldiers, you died heroes!
