In this episode, we discuss:

*Dustin's deployment prior to heading to Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) including the training he received in preparation for the non-combatant evacuation operation there (NEO)

*His reaction to the news that his company was heading to HKIA

*His understanding of the situation at the airport before arriving 

*A/1/8’s first day at HKIA, 14 August 2021

*The events of 15-16 August and A/1/8’s struggle to clear the airfield of civilians

*Dustin's reaction to learning that the Taliban would assist with the evacuation 

*A/1/8’s time manning the North Gate and what gate operations looked like

*Dustin's squad, platoon, and company leadership leadership at HKIA

*Some of the concepts and tools found in MCDP-1 and MCDP 1-3 that A/1/8 used during the evacuation

*A/1/8's operations at HKIA from 20-22 August

*The VBIED threat at HKIA

*What Dustin was doing on 26 August, the day G/2/1 got hit by a suicide bomber

*A/1/8's operations after the bombing and before it left HKIA

*What Dustin observed in his fellow Marines after leaving HKIA and his advice to leaders on helping their teammates deal with severe trauma

*What it was like returning home to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

*Working with the MEU's female search teams

*The role of discipline in A/1/8's operations at HKIA

*The role exhaustion played during the NEO and how A/1/8's leaders sought to overcome or mitigate it

*The most frustrating and rewarding aspects of the NEO

*What it was like watching Marines bring rejected civilians back through the North Gate

*Working with other nations' armed forces and the US Army

*Those actions of A/1/8 that make Dustin proudest

*The role and value of decision games in training and preparing for missions like the HKIA NEO

*The one thing Dustin would like Marines and other US service members to know about what A/1/8 did at HKIA

Links

US Central Command's "Findings and Recommendations—Attack Against U.S. Forces Conducting NEO at Hamid Karzai International Airport on 26 August 2021"