Marine who survived Afghanistan explosion describes awkward encounter with Biden after losing arm and leg
A Marine who was severely injured throughout the U.S. army’s evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021 recalled an ungainly encounter he had with President Biden after he arrived at a hospital for remedy in america.
Describing his restoration at Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Middle, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who misplaced an arm and leg because of the suicide bombing that passed off exterior the Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport, stated he was greeted by quite a few U.S. army officers who have been trying to take part in “picture ops” with him – together with the president.
The feedback from Vargas-Andrews got here throughout a latest look on the “Shawn Ryan Present,” the place he described the withdrawal from Afghanistan, in addition to how he ended up assembly with Biden.
Vargas-Andrews stated he was requested by the generals who visited him within the hospital whether or not he wished to satisfy the president so he could possibly be thanked for his service. Hesitant and nonetheless sedated from the remedy he was taking, he welcomed the thought.
Throughout an interview on the “Shawn Ryan Present,” Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, left, described the awkward go to he had with President Biden throughout his restoration from a suicide bomb assault in Afghanistan in August 2021. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Put up, Kevin Dietsch through Getty Pictures)
“I informed them, I used to be like, maintain all of my opioids, like maintain all of my narcotics and stuff. Like I need to be coherent once I meet him,” Vargas-Andrews recalled as he awaited a go to from Biden. “They held all my ache meds.”
Vargas-Andrews stated he was informed that the president can be on the hospital to satisfy him in “about an hour.”
“Effectively, one hour goes by. Nothing. Two hours go by. Nothing,” he stated, noting that he continued to carry off on taking his remedy. “Three hours go by, and it is like 4 hours at this level. My mother’s livid. She’s like ‘what the f—. The place is that this man?’”
Quickly after, Vargas-Andrews stated Secret Service officers started arriving on the hospital, and he turned confused about who the president was. “I had no thought who the president was. I did not suppose it was Trump. I did not suppose it was Biden. My mind could not make the connection,” he stated.
Upon studying from his mom that the president was Biden, Vargas-Andrews stated he leaned again and stated, “Oh my f—ing God.”
“Two minutes later, he walks in with Jill Biden and their little entourage of individuals and like a photographer,” he recalled. “Immediately, I keep in mind him coming as much as me attempting to shake my hand, shake my proper hand, and I take a look at him, and I am like ‘I haven’t got an arm.’ My left arm is on this massive a– solid with this big orange f—ing foam block round it. I am utterly motionless. All I can do is transfer my head.”
Taliban fighters rejoice one yr since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 15, 2022. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)
“He says, ‘Oh,’ and sort of stands up after which goes over to succeed in for my fingers… and similar to grabs my fingers. Does not greet me or something, simply grabbed my fingers. I used to be like, okay that is bizarre.”
Vargas-Andrews stated the Bidens “virtually instantly begins speaking about how their son served within the army. [He] would not say something about what occurred, simply begins speaking about how their son served within the army.”
“My mother’s livid at this level they usually’re like taking footage and stuff,” he stated of the encounter. Vargas-Andrews additionally stated his mom made it clear throughout the president’s go to to the hospital that the federal government ought to assist her son “for the remainder of his life” after the assault.
“She stated that and I am sitting there and he comes over to me, he leans over to me… and he is like, ‘What would you like?’”
Confused, Vargas-Andrews requested the president, “What?”
After Biden repeated himself, Vargas-Andrews recalled, “I am similar to confused. I simply obtained blown up. I simply noticed my f—ing associates die subsequent to me. I am like, I simply need to be myself.”
“He is like huh and my mother’s livid, and he or she’s like he simply needs to be himself. He simply needs to be him,” he stated.
“He goes, ‘Oh, okay,” they usually simply proceed to speak about all the things however what simply occurred,” he added. “They only ushered him out of the room. He didn’t know what to say. And that was that.”
Home International Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-Texas, greets U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, left, as he arrives to testify earlier than the committee on the U.S. Capitol on March 08, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The Committee held the listening to to look at the U.S. army withdrawal from Afghanistan and the emergency evacuation from Kabul. (Win McNamee/Getty Pictures)
Vargas-Andrews stated his mom later reached out to the primary woman in an try to assist get laws handed to help caretakers financially. He stated they “pretended to assist” and that his mom was later “disregarded.”
Vargas-Andrews stated they “pretended like they have been connecting her to the suitable people and did not f—ing assist her in any respect.”
Earlier this yr, Vargas-Andrews testified earlier than the Home International Affairs Committee throughout a listening to to look at the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation from Kabul. Related – Justice Department helping Ukraine in war crimes investigations, Attorney General Garland says
