Was it worth it? Fort Bragg soldiers, veterans respond to end of the war in Afghanistan

America's longest war is over.

There are no ticker tape parades, no jubilant welcome-home ceremonies.

Just solemn remarks from the president – and a spectrum of emotions from one of the largest military communities in the country: Fort Bragg.

WRAL News was at Fort Bragg as we learned the last troops had left Afghanistan. Veterans and soldiers alike shared their thoughts on the end of the war.

It's been around two decades since the war began and American troops landed in Afghanistan.

During that time, Fort Bragg soldiers have been lost in roadside bomb blasts and helicopter crashes.

They have churned through three, four, five deployments.

They have been the very picture of duty and honor.

A historic picture, grainy and green, shows a lone soldier boarding a plane. He's the 82nd Airborne commander, Major General Chris Donahue – the very last soldier to leave Afghanistan, a place that has demanded so much American bravery and blood.

"The soldiers always do their jobs. They do it for each other," said Thomas Mattocks, who served as a soldier.

He knows good soldiers encompass loyalty and leadership.

Like the soldiers in the First Brigade Combat Team of Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne, who were also among the last to leave Afghanistan.

Mattocks lost a friend in Afghanistan. It pains him to wonder ... was it worth it?

"You can't help but feel that. You can't help but feel that way," he said. "I know a lot of guys in the service who feel like they did their job to keep each other alive, and they don't feel like their service was in vain."

He had no desire to hear President Biden's remarks. He didn't agree with Biden's claim that "the real choice was between leaving or escalating."

He thinks some troops should have remained.

"I think the way it was done left a bad taste in people's mouths," he said.

But Arthur Hooper, who joined the Army Reserves a year ago, says it was time to leave Afghanistan.

"For me, it was good. Because we had a lot of resources and manpower out there. We're not fighting a nation; we're fighting a clan. We're fighting ideology," said Hooper.

Airman Colin Huckins welcomed the president's remarks.

"I look for his perspective going on what we accomplished there," he said. "Hopefully some of those seeds that we planted there will take hold, and who knows what Afghanistan will be like 20 years from now?"

We can only imagine what life will look like ... 20 years after the final image of the lone, last soldier.