Page 2 - Alex Pelbath News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Was precious. every second on the tarmac was added risk. with the final troops loading up, the danger was at its peak. major general chris donahue, commander of the 82nd airborne, the last soldier to step off afghan soil, the military says. pelbath snapped this cell phone picture, then gave the order, "clamshell, close the cargo doors." minutes later, "flush the force," the order to take off. >> i was able to see in front of me the first aircraft had just made their left turn. the second aircraft right behind them. the third aircraft lifted off. the fourth aircraft on the runway. i had the ent...

Thousands of afghans on the field and thousands more desperately trying to get in. nearby, a terror threat from isis-k. in this environment, lieutenant colonel alex pelbath had a mission, the end of u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. >> instead of focusing on danger, focus on the mission at hand. focus on individual tasks. focus on success. you focus on doing your part of the mission as well as you possibly can. >> reporter: pelbath was mission commander of the final five flights out of kabul. he snapped this picture of another c-17 taking on afghan evacuees. in the background the cars and bagg...

Getting an inside look at the final flights out of afghanistan. oren liebermann is out front. >> reporter: the approach into and out of kabul allowed little margin for error. mountains surround hamid karzai international airport and the valley's prone to bad weather. thousands of afghans on the field and thousands more desperately trying to get in. nearby, a terror threat from isis-k. in this environment lieutenant colonel alex pelbath had a mission. the end of the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. >> instead of focusing on the danger, what all the operators do is you focus on the mission you'...