we saw a mission of counterterrorism in afghanistan, getting the terrorists and stopping attacks, morph into a counterinsurgency, nation building, trying to create a democratic cohesive and united afghanistan, something that has never been done over many centuries of afghan's history. we've been a nation too long at war. if you're 20 years old today you have never known an america at peace. so when i hear that we could have, should have continued the so-called low-grade effort in afghanistan at low risk to our service members, at low cost, i don't think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1% of this country who put that uniform on, willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. there is nothing low grade or