Veterans Were Behind Both New Year’s Attacks. We Shouldn’t Be Surprised.
Afghanistan vets’ experiences leave them prone to despair, rage, and radicalization.
IN THE LAST WEEK, two decorated Afghan combat veterans killed more than 14 Americans, injuring dozens more in separate incidents. While federal law enforcement officials are scouring for clues that might link the two incidents, the commonalities between them are striking and depressing, especially for veterans.
Neither former Staff Sergeant Shamsud-Din Jabbar nor Master Sergeant Matthew Livelsberger should be household names. The fact that they are is an indictment of both men, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. We are failing our heroes, and now they’re killing themselves and others.
In New Orleans, Jabbar, who was likely radicalized by the Islamic State, rammed his rented pick up truck into the New Year’s crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14. He was a human resources and information technology specialist for the United States Army, earning numerous medals, including the Army Commendation Medal and the Afghan Campaign Medal. He left the Army Reserves in 2020.
In less than four years, Jabbar likely got flipped—either online or by a handler. Federal law enforcement authorities will likely find clues over the next few days and weeks. Then, this case will fade away, and almost everyone will have forgotten Jabbar by the time his story becomes clear.
While the details are important for continued public safety, the facts of this case that we already know are demoralizing. At some point in his life, Jabbar was willing to fight, die, and help others kill for this country. In less than three years, he had taken a 180 degrees turn and killed Americans. He helped protect us and then he decided he wanted to kill us.
Where was the Department of Veterans Affairs? Shouldn’t he have been in contact with professionals to help him transition to civilian life? If he was being radicalized, shouldn’t someone have seen it? If he was indicating homicidal tendencies, shouldn’t someone have intervened? Despite all the money spent on the Global War on Terror—including huge sums for benefits for those who fought it and their families—the VA remains broken and borderline useless.
I should know. It took me five months to see a VA provider, despite a long history of serious mental health problems. I’ve spent countless hours on the phone trying to get my medication covered. To this day, the VA has yet to reimburse me for my medication or an ambulance ride I was forced to take after I had a flashback in public. I’m on the hook for thousands of dollars that, supposedly, the government promised to cover.
Stories like mine—and there are literally millions more like it and worse—aren’t the full story of why Afghanistan vets radicalize. Though I’ve had my share of scary thoughts, I’m unlikely for various reasons to pledge bay’ah to ISIS or shout “Allahu akbar!” before killing people. But our system’s failure to do justice to our veterans is a big part of why they’re killing themselves in record numbers. Politicians from both parties have failed to properly address the VA, suicides, or the mental health crisis literally killing our heroes—and now other innocent civilians as well.
LIVELSBERGER, A GREEN BERET with a Bronze Star and multiple deployments to Afghanistan, flew from Germany to Denver on leave. At some point, he got a Tesla, drove himself to the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, and killed himself before his Tesla exploded for the world to see.
In 2012, I served with Green Berets in Ghorak, Kandahar, raising an anti-Taliban military. At Village Stability Platform Ghorak, I lived, ate, fought, and became lifelong friends with men a lot like Matthew. It takes a certain type of soldier to become a Green Beret. The grueling recruitment and training pipeline, including the famous Q Course, weeds out most applicants. Livelberger made it through.
Livelsberger was an elite soldier who loved the Army. But he had troubles at home. When combat veterans lose their families, for reasons just or unjust, it can feel like the greatest betrayal of your life.
Less than three months after my retirement, I lost my family, too. Now, I’m on the road, looking to buy my first home in 20 years. I don’t see my daughter often. It fills me with pain and shame. I feel like a stranger in a country I hardly understand anymore. Luckily for me, I have a very strong support network. Not everyone does.
I’m a 100-percent permanently and totally disabled combat veteran with six deployments and 1,500 days spent in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 20 years. And I’m the lucky one.
MAYBE THE TWO NEW YEAR’S DAY attacks are unrelated. Maybe they had different motivations and the two attackers never knew each other and the whole thing is pure coincidence. But those details don’t really matter.
Two former comrades in arms, men I was in country with—hell we may have even crossed paths—were so dejected, frustrated, and angry that they killed themselves and others for the entire world to see.
I would like to believe that this will shake Americans awake. But I doubt it. Instead, more American combat veterans will continue killing themselves, their family members, and others for the foreseeable future. America’s failed war on terrorism has finally come home to roost. And it’s not over with us.
That’s a permanent stain on both parties, the Department of Defense, the VA, and American society. We have completely failed those who protect us. And now they’re killing us.
Look at what these wars did to my friends. Look at what these wars did to me. At the very least, don’t avert your eyes to the human wreckage of two decades of lost wars. It’s the least we owe those who killed for us.
 | A guest post by
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