Welcome to Episode 63 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guest this week is Marine Corps veteran Gabby Southern Daiss, who was taking part in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as an adjutant for Combat Logistics Battalion 24 when she was diverted to Hamid Karzai International Airport to assist with the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Gabby is now a member of the board at Operation Allies Refuge Foundation.
Gabby gave an incredible overview of her decision to join the U.S. Marine Corps, and some of the challenges she overcame while going through Officer Candidate School and The Basic School. Then we launched forward to the MEU, and the point in June where Gabby and other female Marines began to identify the need to prepare for the eventuality that they might be needed in Afghanistan.
After receiving approval, female Marines with the MEU began to train as Female Search Teams (FSTs) which would assist with the process of searching women on the airfield. As Gabby explained, the advice from on high was that FST should prepare for a controlled situation, which was anything but what the Marines encountered.
The Marines headed to Afghanistan in mid-August, and Gabby began filling two roles at once: FST member, and adjutant. This gave her a firsthand view of not just North and East Gate, where she searched women who had often stashed their most valuable possessions beneath heavy layers of clothing, but also of the Evacuation Control Center and the Joint Operations Center, where the chaos outside was more controlled – except on Aug. 26, 2021.
Gabby describes the sights, sounds, and smells of HKIA in vivid detail, including her perspective after the Abbey Gate bombing.
She also details the ostracism she faced after returning to the boat, when male Marines seemed to believe that Gabby and other FST members were trying to avoid returning to their units.
Finally, Gabby and I talked about the awarding of Combat Action Ribbons at the end of the Afghanistan deployment, and the factors at hand in determining who rated what types of awards.
About Operation Allies Refuge Foundation
Find OAR Foundation on Instagram @OARFoundation
or on their website:
https://www.operationalliesrefugefoundation.org/
About the host:
Beth Bailey worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner. Follow her on Instagram or X @BWBailey85.
For Afghan listeners:
If you would like to have your story considered for a future episode, please send us a letter about your experiences to our show e-mail address, theafghanistanprojectpodcast@gmail.com. Please include as much detail as possible, and let us know if you would like us to give you a pseudonym to protect your identity.
The Afghanistan Project Podcast Episode 63