LETTER: Nevadans should welcome Afghan refugees

I urge your readers not to be fooled by the disheveled and traumatized appearance of these Afghan refugees arriving in Nevada. These people are the truest form of American heroes.

They have already put their own lives on the line for this nation in a way rarely seen beyond our own military — and even then, only under the worst possible conditions. They have given up literally everything — possessions, careers, homes, friends and family — to support our forces as we sought to make Afghanistan a better place for its people.

As payment for their loyalty to us, they have had everything taken from them. Their wages in pain are staggering to contemplate. Who among us could, in a matter of days, give up all we have, take only some of our family with us and flee to a place of foreign language and culture?

Please, when you see them, welcome them. When you can, help them. At every opportunity, thank them. Reach out to them at school, in the grocery store, in the neighborhood. Treat them as the heroes they are. They aren’t sponging off of us. We are gratefully trying to pay off our debt to them.

Will there be some bad eggs among them? Of course. But we already have many, many bad eggs; we won’t even register the increase.

I served for 28 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy and have sacrificed in the process. But nothing, not even close, to these great Americans. We are so fortunate to have them — then, now, and into the future.