Lieutenant Colonel Alex Pelbath, the mission commander of the last five U.S. military planes to leave Afghanistan, told CNN in an interview that there were a total of 18 missions executed during the chaotic departure of the country and that it was in boarding the final plane that left Afghanistan on Monday, when the US completely withdrew troops from the country.
“He had the whole picture of the C-17 force in front of him,” Pelbath said, referring to the sight he had on the last military plane to leave Afghanistan. “Definitely a picture I’ll never forget. And I’d say the moment I looked at it was, ‘I can’t believe it’s really here.'”
“These five planes, between the first plane that landed and the last one that took off, were three hours long,” he explained. “My private plane was on the ground for only about an hour and 15 minutes, maybe an hour and a half.”
Asked about the tragic incident and whether it affected him while working to execute the evacuation mission, Pelbath told CNN, “No, the danger doesn’t affect him at all. In fact, what you notice is the plan.”
“We had an amazing plan,” he said, noting that his team had spent a couple of days in Kabul assembling it. “Instead of focusing on danger, what all operators do is focus on the mission at your disposal. So focus on your individual tasks, focus on success and your part of the mission. possibly you can “.
The mission had a personal significance for Pelbath: his grandparents were Hungarian refugees who fled to Austria in 1957, where they embarked on a military flight to the United States as part of Operation Safe Haven. This flight was based in Charleston, South Carolina, where Pelbath is currently headquartered.
Pelbath, who graduated from the Air Force Academy shortly before the 9/11 attacks and said his career revolved around Afghanistan, described the evacuation missions as the “three hardest weeks of everyone’s life. ”
“I mean it wasn’t just flying every day, but doing what we’re doing, I know it cost a lot of people. There were a lot of people who had, I would say, a certain emotional feeling, ‘in Afghanistan,'” he said.
Pelbath also detailed the orders he gave when the final evacuation mission was completed, and said that when he obtained the OK from Major General Chris Donahue, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, he gave the order. “clamshell” for the five planes close and start rolling the runway in Kabul.
“Once all the planes informed me that they were ready to go, General Donahue gave me his fingers on it. We issued the call ‘flush the force’ and that was our indication so we could all go together to the end of the track, ”Pelbath said. “And then all five planes came out in a 30-second sequence, so we had all the planes off deck in less than three minutes.”