Today, Aug. 26, marks one year since an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and about 200 Afghans outside the international airport in Kabul.

Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, one of the 13 service members who died, was only 20 at the time of the fatal attack. His widow, Jiennah Crayton, also known as Gigi, gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, less than a month after the bombing.

His son Rylee was “fun,” Jim McCollum says. 

“He was genuine, real,” McCollum says. “He had a huge heart, very compassionate, but you had to know him to see that side of him, because he was also very abrasive.” 

“We have pictures of him at about 3 years old, 2 or 3, in a diaper, in his sister’s boots, no pants, with his gun and his dog out playing Army, Marine, whatever, protecting the family,” McCollum says of his son. “Just loved it. He was very fascinated with the military his whole life.” 

One year after the terrorist attack that killed his son and 12 other service members, McCollum says he doesn’t want to talk with President Joe Biden about the attack or his handling of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan:

McCollum joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the life and legacy of his son Rylee, his 1-year-old granddaughter Levi Rylee Rose, and how the Biden administration handled the exit from Afghanistan.

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