I admit that I am a very forgetful person. That is especially true for physical items. I tend to leave “things” behind all of the time.
It started as a kid, forgetting baseball caps at restaurants, my little league equipment at the ball diamond, workbooks at school, my gym shoes unlocked on the floor in the locker room, and even a couple of pairs of basketball shoes at other schools. As an adult, I’ve left behind winter gloves, stocking caps, sweatshirts, jackets, softball bats, golf clubs, books, pillows, radio station banners, tools, a first baseman’s mitt, and myriad other small items.
There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t leave my phone at home when I go to work, or my phone at work when I go home. I’m often having to ring the doorbell here at the Radio Ranch because I left my keys inside when I was leaving. I often leave my wallet at home when I’m going to the store. For about ten panic-stricken minutes at a San Francisco hotel, I thought I had left my wedding ring behind in Hawaii.
Sometimes, I’m able to go back to where I have left something to find that it is still there–or was turned in by an honest person that came across it. That was the case when I left my wallet in the men’s bathroom at the Miami International Airport on my most recent vacation. But often times, the item is gone–picked up by someone else who is using it for their own purposes. All told, I’ve probably left behind thousands of dollars worth of stuff.
While that may sound expensive, it pales in comparison to the 7-BILLION dollars worth of stuff the United States military left behind after our withdrawal from Afghanistan. CNN reports on a document prepared by the Pentagon for Congress–who wanted to know what the Taliban got its hands on days after our military pulled out. That 7-BILLION includes aircraft, air to ground missles, military vehicles, communications equipment, night vision systems, guns and other small weapons, along with ammunition.
The Pentagon is quick to point out that 78 aircraft worth 923-MILLION dollars that were left behind had been “demilitarized”–which is a good thing, so the people living in Israel don’t have to worry about an F-16 marked in U-S Air Force colors suddenly appearing in their skies firing off missles into their cities. The report adds that 12-thousand Humvees were also left behind–but those are being phased out by our own military, and parts to keep them running are no longer being produced. The Taliban should be well-stocked for hunting trips the rest of human existence on this planet, as they picked up 48-MILLION dollars in small arms ammunition.
Some of the communications equipment left behind included encryption technology, along with biometric and positioning equipment and electronic countermeasure units. All of which sounds like a lot of stuff that guys living in caves may not have had before. Hopefully the user manuals for all of that stuff weren’t left behind too. All in all, this is a pretty good score for the Taliban and its associated terrorist groups–and I doubt they are taking it to the Lost and Found for Uncle Sam to pick up.
The report no doubt will restoke frustration over the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is also being used as an example of how much stuff the US could have given to Ukraine before the Russians invaded. But there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t leave it behind for Vladimir Putin to pick up if that war drags on too long.
