‘I’d like to help them all if we can’: Stoughton veteran who served in Afghanistan asks for donations for refugees

STOUGHTON, Wis. — Mitch Rayfield, 31, remembers his time serving in Afghanistan in 2012 with mixed emotions. He served for seven months overseas, protecting the Afghan people from the Taliban and raiding through communities that were known for violence. But during that time, Rayfield also remembers developing strong, emotional relationships with the Afghan special forces who fought alongside him.

Now, watching the country collapse to the very thing he and many others fought hard to prevent, Rayfield describes it as ” sad, disappointing, angry.”

“They can’t get to the airport,” he said. “They don’t know what to do. They’re scared. They’re being hunted. It’s really sad that we just kind of left them like that. We’re fighting for people who can’t protect themselves. That’s why it hurts so bad. We did that. We went over and did the job we were told to do and at the end of the day, they just want to pull the plug and give up on them without any real plan in place for the future for them. There’s a lot of people that say, ‘Oh well they didn’t even put up a fight. They just let the Taliban come right through.’ Well, how could they? We just left them. We promised we would help see them out and then we just left.”

Rayfield now considers it a “winless war”, but not a pointless one.

“It does feel like it was all for nothing, but in the long run, it wasn’t because there’s still people that have benefitted from our time there,” he said.

When the Taliban started closing in on Kabul, some of the people he grew close with, many of which he still keeps in contact with today, were on the first flights out to the United States.

“They’re not just random people,” he said. “They’re people who want to be here. They’ve done a lot for Americans and America in general.”

Rayfield said he can’t just sit around and watch. He’s taking action, just as he did in 2012.

He put a call out for donations to put together care packages for the refugees seeking safety and freedom.

“Simple basic things that might just make it a little bit easier for them. They just went through a situation that probably none of us can even imagine.”

Rayfield hopes he can help give back to the same people who once helped him.

“Right now they just need a little helping hand and I think it’s just American hospitality that we lend that to them,” Rayfield said. “They would do the same for us and they have done it, many times.”

Rayfield is looking for donated items like clothes, shoes, toiletries, kids toys, blankets, gift cards and any other essential items to help the refugees get their lives started in America. Donations can be dropped off at Primal Strength and Fitness in Stoughton.

“If we keep getting donations and the capabilities and even weeks from now, if people still donate stuff, we’re just going to find the people that need it and give it to them. I’d like to help them all if we can.”