Recent news has me reflecting on my time in Afghanistan. In 2011, I spent a year as the commanding officer of the NATO trauma center in Kandahar, and I saw and experienced firsthand the horrors of tactical warfare. As we treated severely injured soldiers and Marines, we constantly worried that we would be the target of the next Taliban rocket attack. Truly, war is hell.

It was a savage, no-holds-barred environment, which is why I was not surprised to learn that the Russian government had been placing bounties on the heads of American personnel in Afghanistan. I was also not surprised to learn that Donald Trump did nothing to respond.

I was surprised, however, to learn that Sen. Susan Collins merely issued a statement of dismay, and continued to do nothing to hold Trump accountable.

Time and again, Donald Trump has proven that he is unfit to lead this country. And time and again, Susan Collins has shied away from any real action to stop him, and has, in fact, enabled Trump in his shameful failures. As Mainers and Americans, it is our duty in November to send someone to the United States Senate who has the backbone to confront any leader as cowardly as Trump. Susan Collins has to go.

Dr. Michael McCarten

Kittery Point

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