In this episode, we discuss:

*What an infantry battalion operations officer does

*How Jordan’s experiences at 2nd LAR, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and 1/8 influenced how he fought the battalion prior to HKIA

*The 24th MEU's deployment prior to heading to HKIA

*The exercises done in preparation for HKIA 

*The original plan to conduct the NEO

*Where Jordan thinks he could have done a better job of preparing the BLT for HKIA

*Communications challenges between the BLT and supporting units 

*Leaving for HKIA

*What HKIA was like on the first day

*Jordan’s reading of the terrain around HKIA

*The organization of the joint operations center

*The fight for the airfield 

*Learning the Taliban would assist with the evacuation 

*Operations at the gates

*Sending rejected Afghan families back outside

*The 82nd Airborne Division at HKIA

*How 1/8 Marines used maneuver warfare concepts and tool

*Responding to the Abbey Gate bombing

*Returning to Kuwait, observations of the Marines, and coping in the aftermath

*Coming home to Camp Lejeune

*Command relationships at HKIA 

*The presence and effect of cell phones and computers among 1/8 Marines at HKIA

*The most frustrating and rewarding aspects of the NEO

*What Jordan learned from the HKIA mission

*Using decision games as tools to prepare for a mission like HKIA

*The supposed animosity between members of 1/8 and 2/1

*The one thing Marines and other servicemembers should know about 1/8’s time at HKIA

Links

Escape from Kabul HBO Documentary

https://www.hbo.com/movies/escape-from-kabul

“U.S. Central Command Report on Fatal Afghanistan Airport Attack,” USNI News

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/08/u-s-central-command-report-on-fatal-afghanistan-airport-attack