Earl Granville, a U.S. military veteran who was seriously wounded in Afghanistan, has been working to get his Afghan translator rescued from the country as Taliban rule closes in.
                                 Submitted

Earl Granville, a U.S. military veteran who was seriously wounded in Afghanistan, has been working to get his Afghan translator rescued from the country as Taliban rule closes in.

Submitted

Veteran Earl Granville concerned for fate of man who helped save his life

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As Thursday’s bloody and chaotic scenes in Afghanistan unfolded a world away, Earl Granville remained focused on a goal that has preoccupied him in recent weeks.

The Purple Heart recipient, who lost a leg following a roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2008, is working to rescue the Afghan translator who helped save his life 13 years ago.

“This guy was with me and my team when I lost my leg and helped get me on that Blackhawk (rescue helicopter),” said Granville, a Lackawanna County resident. “He reached out to me as soon as we started pulling out, and said ‘I might need your help.’”

Granville says that he’s been in contact with the interpreter daily, as well as pressing lawmakers and others.

“I’ve been working with federal legislators to get him and his family out of Afghanistan and somewhere safe,” he said. “I wish our legislators would see the big picture, and understand the work these Afghans put in to help us when we were over there. We shouldn’t be abandoning them.”

Some lawmakers have responded, some have not, Granville said, declining to elaborate due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

Likewise, Granville couldn’t say much about it but did add that he also has been in contact with people on the ground in Afghanistan “who have been a huge help in this process.”

Granville decided to enlist in the Army National Guard his senior year of high school. After a first deployment to Bosnia and a second to Iraq, Granville volunteered to go to Afghanistan. The Carbondale native has become a familiar face in Northeastern Pennsylvania and beyond, sharing his story for a wide variety of audiences and working to support veterans’ causes.

’A dire situation’

Granville said he didn’t want to get political in the wake of Thursday’s tragedy, but he has strong feelings about the situation — and worries that the way the pullout has been managed will only embolden America’s adversaries.

“I think it’s a very big disappointment,” he said.

“We’ve had this idea of pulling out this whole year. Our main priority should have been getting our own out of there, and the Afghans who worked for us. They should have been the first ones exiting. We failed on that, and now we’re trying to backpedal and it’s causing bloodshed,” he said.

“We don’t want more bloodshed, but we can’t leave people stranded over there, either,” he said. “It’s a dire situation at this point.”

Message to veterans

Granville also had a message for his fellow Afghanistan veterans, and those currently serving there.

“I’ve watched as a lot of people came out and asked, ‘did we do this for nothing,’” he said. “My standpoint is this: Ladies and gentlemen, we went out there to do a job. Uncle Sam called us up and sent us over there, and we did that job faithfully and honorably.”

“The decisions that were made are beyond what we can control,” he said of servicemembers. “They were made by our federal legislators, by the Afghan government and their president abandoning his post, even by the Afghan military.”

He also urged veterans to take advantage of counseling and support programs. That has been a hallmark of Granville’s message to audiences when he shares his story: His twin brother, Joseph, whom he served with in Bosnia and Iraq, took his own life in 2010.

“You don’t need to carry this burden by yourself,” Granville said.