Oh, dear God. I am sick to my stomach and my heart is broken all over again.

A Marine Corps sniper stationed at the Kabul airport the day of a deadly suicide attack wept on Wednesday as he described in horrific detail the chaos and bloodshed surrounding the U.S. military’s hectic withdrawal in the final hours of the war in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was seriously wounded in the attack, described the scene at the airport as “surreal,” with hundreds of Afghans rushing toward the airport gate in a frantic attempt to flee the brutal Taliban regime.

It was a hellhole in the Kabul streets outside Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey gate, with terrified Afghans packed into the narrow roadway, desperately looking for any way to leave.

The Taliban were there, too.

…In emotional testimony Wednesday, Vargas-Andrews described harrowing scenes he witnessed during those final days.

A sniper living out of an airport tower, Vargas-Andrews saw thousands of people approach the airport attempting to leave Afghanistan — mothers carrying dying infants, others suffering from heat exhaustion.

“Countless Afghans were murdered by the Taliban 155 yards in front of our position…We communicated the atrocities to our chain of command and intel assets but nothing came of it,” Vargas-Andrews said, adding that some who were turned away tried to kill themselves on the protective razor wire, thinking it “merciful compared to the Taliban torture that they faced.”

“Countless Afghans were murdered by the Taliban 155 yards in front of our position…We communicated the atrocities to our chain of command and intel assets but nothing came of it.” https://t.co/WUSGBV93SU

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) March 8, 2023

We told our chain of command but NOTHING CAME OF IT.

Frosty as the Marines were in the situation, they reported what they knew to be an IED practice session to their chain of command. When a security alert later came, they paid attention to the enormous crowds below them and bingoed the possibles almost immediately, requesting permission to take them out.

…On August 22, the sergeant and his fellow service members reported to the chain of command that the enemy performed an IED test run. Days later, they received intelligence of IED threats and a detailed description of a suspected suicide bomber and his companion. On August 26, Vargas-Andrews and others spotted a pair at Abbey Gate matching the description exactly and they requested permission to engage.

Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a U.S. Marine Corps sniper, says that he was denied permission to shoot the suicide bomber in Afghanistan that killed 13 service members and over 170 civilians.

Inaction was a choice. Inaction should have consequences. pic.twitter.com/lW99hLDeXz

— Sam (@SunshineSt8Sam) March 8, 2023

Again, Vargas-Andrews and his team had spotted a pair exactly matching the reported bomber’s description. They even took it to the next level, calling their battalion CO to come up, while getting confirmation of their target from another source.

It was not enough for the go-ahead.

NOTHING CAME OF IT

…”Over the communication network we passed that there was a potential threat and that there was an IED [improvised explosive device] attack imminent, this was as serious as it could get. I request engagement authority while my team leader was ready on the M110 semi-automatic sniper system. The response, leadership did not have engagement authority for us, do not engage,” Vargas-Andrews recounted.

The Marines asked for their battalion commandeer to come to the tower as psychological operations confirmed the individual met the description of the suspected bomber. They presented the commander their evidence while assuring him of the “ease of fire” on the suspect and asked for authority to shoot, but were never given permission.

“Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded, no one was held accountable for our safety,” Vargas-Andrews said.

Being Marines who knew what they were looking at, the team dove into the crowd to try to find Afghan allies to handle the situation, since no one would pull the rhetorical trigger in the American command. They had their guy and they had to stop him.

But it was too late.

The suspect vaporized into the seething masses of terrified people.

The explosion came just hours later.

…Vargas-Andrews, 25, recalled later standing near a two-foot canal at the airport, seeing a sudden flash, feeling a massive way of pressure and being thrown onto the grown. When he opened his eyes, he saw dead Marines surrounding him and his lower abdomen soaked in blood.

A team leader dragged him to safety and started applying tourniquets to his limbs.

He would eventually undergo 44 surgeries and lose his right arm, his left leg, a kidney and parts of his intestines.

OMG. God bless this kid.

I can’t imagine the agony this courageous young Leatherneck and his team live with to this day, because they KNEW, dammit.

…”To this day, we believe he was a suicide bomber,” said Vargas-Andrews, who appeared before the panel in his personal capacity and not as a representative of the Defense Department or the Marine Corps.

And they tried, God love them, they TRIED.

NOTHING BUT DEATH CAME OF IT.

Speak up, Sergeant. I am so glad you have your chance to tell your story now, my Marine brother…for all of them.

…”The troops on the ground had to tirelessly work to control the crowds, day and night. The Department of State staff at HKIA (Hamid Karzai International Airport) would completely shut down processing Afghans every evening and into the morning, leaving ground forces with a nightmare,” he said.

“State was not prepared to be in HKIA.”

Despite the disastrous events, the Marine testified that he was not asked to provide his report after the blast and stressed the need for accountability in the aftermath.

“Nobody wanted my report post-blast. Even NCIS and the FBI failed to interview me,” Vargas-Andrews said.

“Our military members and our veterans deserve our best because that is what we give to America,” he continued. “The withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence. The 11 Marines, one sailor, and one soldier who were murdered that day have not been answered for.”

There has been no accountability. There have been no firings, public flayings, no justice for the utter incompetence of the Biden withdrawal that cost these young American lives (Shoot, up to a couple weeks ago, we still had the same people responsible for this catastrophe working the Afghanistan desk out of Qatar.).

I would ask if we’ve learned nothing from losing America’s treasure over and over again. But those responsible for the losses must care about them first to be willing to learn in the aftermath.

Or, as this administration and president prove time after time? NOTHING WILL COME OF IT.

Sergeant Vargas-Andrews is Semper Fidelis personified.