As our military valiantly scrambled to leave Kabul airport, the explosion at Abbey Gate killed 13 of our service members. All but one were Gen Z. For much of the older generation, war was all we knew but Gen Z had only been coming in for a few years, the oldest of them only four when 9/11 happened. Losing them this way, for this reason, at the end of our very long and painful chapter, yet at the beginning of theirs seemed even more wrong.

With all this talk about Gen Z motivations and the recruiting crisis, I wondered about the Gen Z that entered the force before the end of those two decades of war. What motivated them to come in and how did the Afghanistan exit impact their very fresh perspectives on this career and lifestyle? I invited Aidan Gunderson, a Gen Z Marine deployed to Afghanistan during the withdrawal to share his deeply personal story of what happened at Abbey Gate as well as how it has affected his view of service.

Find out more about Operation Allies Refuge: https://www.operationalliesrefugefoundation.org/about

This podcast is based on the book Military Culture Shift by clinical consultant and SME on military family culture, Corie Weathers.

Order your copy of Military Culture Shift https://militaryfamilybooks.com/products/military-culture-shift-by-corie-weathers

Listen to Corie's Lifegiver Podcast https://corieweathers.podbean.com/

Find out more about how you can work with and contact Corie https://www.corieweathers.com

Final Credit song is "Hey America", written, produced, and performed by veteran James Corbin.