POTTSVILLE, Pa. — The devastating images from Afghanistan hit closer to home for people like attorney Jay Jones.
"Watching this is extraordinarily difficult," he said.
Photo's of his son, Captain Jason Jones, line his office in Pottsville.
Capt. Jones was deployed to an outpost in Afghanistan in April 2014, part of a small group of special forces sent to train and support the Afghan National Army in fighting the Taliban.
"He was very, very concerned about the lack of commitment on the part of the Afghan government and the lack of support that they were getting from the Afghans," Jay Jones said.
Capt. Jones told his father he was unsure if the country was prepared for independence, but he gave his life fighting for it.
"Unfortunately, he was only there for a short time because he passed away on June 2, 2014," Jones said.
A Mission Support Site in Afghanistan now bears Capt. Jones' name.
It sits just more than 100 miles from the capital, Kabul, a city now under the Taliban's control. Watching it all unravel, Jones fears for the lives of those his son was trying to help.
"My heart now bleeds for the people who are being left behind," Jones said.
Though he does not question the United States wanting to remove troops from Afghanistan, Jones feels that should have happened after an evacuation.
"If [the troops] had been allowed to stay and oversee an orderly transition, we would not be in this position," he said.
Jones hopes the people of Afghanistan can find freedom again in the future, a freedom his son's sacrifice helped afford them for twenty years.
"I think that we have to concentrate on that bravery and that courage and that commitment to help the Afghan people gain their independence," Jones said. "Even though it did not work out the way that we wanted to, we have to be brave and be proud of what they did accomplish."
He knows his son wouldn't have acted any differently.
"If you asked him today if he would do it all over again, he would definitely say yes," Jones said. "Even if he knew the end result, he would say yes. He would be there."