A United States Army soldier, who recently separated from the service, spoke out against the Biden administration and claimed he was ordered pay for military gear that he was forced to leave behind during the chaotic and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.
According to Newsweek, the former soldier shared his story Monday on TikTok, claiming that it was the official gear turn-in day after completing roughly four years of active duty service in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. The soldier, who is known as “Brock” on TikTok, said the gear turn-in process made him want to “holler,” “scream,” and “yell.”
While the soldier’s initial TikTok video had been removed from the social media platform by Tuesday morning, the video remained on other platforms, including a post on X, formerly Twitter, by the conservative account “Libs of TikTok.”
“Two years ago, my unit was deployed to Afghanistan for the Afghanistan withdrawal,” the soldier stated in the video. “We spent a few weeks over there. It was hectic, it was chaotic, it was disgusting, and it made me very disappointed in our government. Today, I’m reminded how disappointed I am in our government.”
“They want to charge me $500 to $1,000 for gear I was ordered to leave in Afghanistan two years ago because as the last two birds were sitting on the tarmac ready to leave, there wasn’t any room for extra gear, extra weight,” the soldier continued. “Therefore, we were told to leave it. Some lower-level dudes, including myself, were like, ‘No, this stuff is expensive. I’m not leaving this. I’m gonna get charged for this when it’s time to leave.'”
While the former soldier claimed that his superiors assured him that he would not be charged for the abandoned gear in Afghanistan, he said the Army had still charged him personally for the missing gear, which he said cost somewhere between $500 and $1,000.
As he continued his story, the former soldier blasted the Biden administration for giving millions of dollars to the Taliban, providing billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, canceling billions of dollars of student debt, and giving “stupid stimulus checks” to U.S. citizens, while refusing to cover “$500 to $1,000 for a dude that left gear in Afghanistan.”
“The government is so stinking backward right now, man,” he said. “This administration’s last priority is the American people, and inside of the American people, their last priority is their soldiers, their airmen, their Marines, their Navy.”
The former soldier shared that while he initially thought his gear turn-in day would be “bittersweet,” the “sad” way the military handled his case resulted in him being “happy to separate” from the military under the Biden administration.
“I’m very excited to stop serving my government and just getting started serving my country,” he said.
At the end of the video, the former soldier displayed a sheet of paper with the total cost of his military gear, various items, and services totaling $3,561.26.
The former soldier expressed his gratitude for anyone who would be willing to help him raise the funds necessary to cover the cost of his final gear turn-in, explaining that he was humbling himself for the sake of his family.
