# @mattgutmanabc on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DKH-40svVz9
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/30928568-mattgutmanabc-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/c24d0b4b56.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-05-26T17:12:51.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanabc) — https://gondola.cc/mattgutmanabc

## Caption

First image: our arrival (in that Sea Stallion in the background) at a marine FOB in Bakwa, Afghanistan. aaronschach and I were greeted with open arms by the 2/3 Marines led by Capt. Paul Webber. They had been there for about a month and had sustained about 25% casualties, all from IED's planted in the moon dust in the dirt tracks that spiderwebbed from the tiny makeshift base. Paul kept morale as high as he could, but I'll never forget the hospitality (offering their finest MRE's) and their commitment to the mission, as nebulous as it seemed out there. 

The second image: from Kunar province Afghanistan. The 10th mountain division had suffered a different kind of loss. The unit had ended its 12 month deployment in Kunar, many of them had landed back at Ft Drum, New York when the announcement was made by then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld that deployments would be stretched to 18 months. 

They were turned right around and sent back to remote Afghanistan.  One of the soldiers committed suicide shortly before we arrived. Capt Todd Polk did heroic work keeping his unit together despite marriages and families breaking apart remotely under the immeasurable strain, even as we were there with them.

We don't talk about it as much anymore, but the mental health ripple effects from America's longest war continue to plague our veterans, in a battle they must fight every single day. 

#memorialday #memorial #marines #10thmountaindivision #veterans #casualties #iraq #afghanistan #kunar #fighters #mentalhealth #mentalhealthsupport #veteransmentalhealth

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## Tags

veterans, memorialday, iraq, memorial, mentalhealthsupport, veteransmentalhealth, casualties, marines, kunar, afghanistan, fighters, 10thmountaindivision, mentalhealth

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