Like many veterans of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said the news and images in the days leading up to the Aug. 31 withdrawal from Afghanistan were difficult to absorb. “I knew that it wasn’t going to be a great ending. I was pretty confident of that,” Crow said. “But I’m not sure I really allowed my brain to kind of wrap around that.”
As a student at the University of Wisconsin, he was in the ROTC and an enlisted National Guard member. Crow had planned to stick with the Guard after graduation, but he said the events of 9/11 pushed him to enter active duty. That choice led to two tours in Afghanistan as an Army ranger.