Metro mother spends the day waiting to hear if Marine son survived Kabul bombings

ATLANTA — A metro mother’s prayers have been answered after she found out her son, a U.S. Marine serving at the Kabul airport, is safe after the tragic bombings.

“It’s terrifying, to be honest. As a parent, you want them to be safe, and here I am unable to protect them,” a Walton County woman who wants to only be identified as Kim for her son’s safety told Channel 2 anchor Justin Wilfon.

For parents of service members in Afghanistan, it was a day of waiting and praying that their children somehow survived the bombings that have killed at least 13 U.S. service members.

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Kim was at work when she heard the news about the bombing outside the airport.

“Absolute panic, but being in a military family, I know no news is good news, so I just kept that in my mind,” she said.

Later, the good news finally came. Kim’s son was nowhere near the bombing site, but then she heard about the second bombing and the fear returned. Her son, luckily, was not one of the many casualties.

“I’ve had a good cry today just thinking about all the servicemen we lost. I can’t imagine what their moms and parents and families are going through,” she said.

Kim says her son will remain in Afghanistan helping airlift Americans and Afghans out of the country.

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Kacey Cecil served as a lieutenant in Afghanistan in 2014. While no longer serving his country overseas, Cecil is trying to help get refugees out of the country from his Marietta home.

After the Taliban took over the country this month, one of Cecil’s friends in Afghanistan sent him startling surveillance videos of Taliban forces patrolling his neighborhood.

Cecil began working with several of his contacts to get his Afghan friends out of the country.

“We were able to get some of the interpreters and others who worked really hard with the U.S. But their friends, their families, they’re still in Kabul trying to get out,” he told Wilfon.

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One of those friends sent Cecil a video of Kabul after the bombings. The video shows them trudging through a sewage canal just to make it to the airport and to freedom.

“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s pretty awful,” he said.

A closer look at those surveillance videos surveillance videos shows the Taliban driving American humvees, a grim reminder of the equipment and weapons the Taliban are armed with after the fall of the Afghan army.

Kabul attack: What you need to know (NCD)

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