Norco, California
CNN
—
Shana Chappell is seated on the grass in front the tombstone, unsure of where to look.
It’s the final resting place of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikui, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan almost a year ago, was killed by American forces as they left the country.
A yellow flag is placed next to it to indicate the location of another grave for another son.
Chappell said, “It’s my first time seeing that.” Her voice seemed stoic after the shock of losing her two sons in a year.
Kareem (20 years old) was one of 13 US military personnel killed in a suicide attack outside Hamid Karzai International Airport. This occurred as America exited Afghanistan in a chaotic, destructive withdrawal.
As the first anniversary of his death approached, Chappell’s oldest son, Dakota Halverson (28), became more emotional.
“He began to express that Kareem was really gone and that he just wanted him to be with. He loved him so much, and he missed him so much,” Chappell shared with CNN. She pointed out the grass plot in front her son’s grave. “He’d come here sometimes and sleep here at night to be with Kareem. He would say that Kareem is here alone because it bothers him.
Chappell stated that Dakota was in deep grief along with the rest of his close-knit relatives, but he would still smile at them and engage with them. She didn’t know that she would soon lose him, too.
Dakota, who was a close friend of his brother and lived near the park where they played as children and just across the street from the permanent memorial for fallen marines, took his own life earlier this month.
Chappell blams America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan for the death of her sons; one was killed in Kabul, the other was lost in grief.
Chappell states, “It’s a painful pain because you don’t understand it because it’s something you’ve never experienced before.” It’s so confusing that it’s hard to understand. It’s so terrible that you can’t even describe it. Dakota was confronted with the truth this month.
Chappell’s parenting philosophy was for her five children, Dakota, Kareem and their youngest brother, Kareem, to be close to her. She never allowed her children to spend the night with their friends, unlike most parents.
She says that her biggest fear was the death of one of her children. “Keeping my children with me at all time and watching them was the best way to make sure nothing happened to them,” she said.
Chappell convinced one of her daughters to become a 911 dispatcher, and not join the police force, because she was concerned about her safety on the streets. She couldn’t stop Kareem leaving the Marines.
Chappell recalls his reaction when he saw a Marine wearing his dress blues in a mall at the age of four. The little boy was astonished to meet the serviceman.
“He knew from a young age that he wanted to be a doctor. He saw them as strong and fearless. “Every little boy wants strong and fearless,” Chappell stated.
He started calling his toy soldiers “Marines” when he was a youngster and joined the ROTC after he graduated high school. He enlisted in Marine Corps as soon as he turned 18 years old.
Chappell knew it was coming and was proud of her son’s pursuit of his dream. However, it didn’t make it any easier.
She recalled that he left her crying almost every day. “I can’t bear to be away from him.”
Kareem tried his best to prepare his mom for what might happen after he deployed but she was more focused on him returning home. “As a mom you think, no, it’s unlikely to happen to me. It’s not going happen to me.”
She said that he didn’t like to dwell on the more dangerous aspects of being a Marine when they talked to her. He didn’t tell her the chaos at Kabul’s airport as thousands of Afghans fled their country under Taliban control.
Instead, he sent photos and videos to local children as well as selfies to his Marine buddies.
Chappell also stopped following the news because she couldn’t handle the stress of her son’s death at the end America’s longest conflict.
She didn’t have to watch the news to get up on August 26, 2021.
“I woke up crying. I didn’t know why I was crying. Kareem was very important to me. I was so stressed out that I couldn’t even think straight. “
To get rid of the fear she woke up with, Chappell turned her attention to Instagram. The first image that came up was one from Afghanistan’s airport, with the news of a suicide bomber. The attack would result in the deaths of nearly 200 Afghans as well as 13 US service personnel.
Chappell recognized the background immediately. It was something she had seen in the Kareem photos.
Kareem’s father would have been the first to learn the terrible truth and must share it with the family.
“He said, ‘Shana.’ Chappell stated that he said, “Shana.” “He never had to say it. I just knew.”
Dakota Halverson was eighteen years older than his brother. However, Kareem’s joining the Marines changed the seniority. Their mother spoke of their struggles as young men and how he became a father figure to Dakota.
Together with Chappell’s youngest child, the brothers often hung out at Pikes Peak Park swinging and talking. Even as they grew up and became Marines, one of them became a Marine.
Their mom said that they would make funny videos, and they would laugh even when it was difficult in their hometown.
Norco, California, is known as “Horsetown USA”, with dirt paths for horses and sidewalks for pedestrians. It is located just an hour east of Los Angeles and has a rural community that is close to the city. However, instead of international glitz, it is small and local.
The flag-draped coffin of Lance Cpl. When Lance Cpl. Karem Nikoui’s flag-draped coffin returned from Afghanistan, Norco paid respects to its fallen son with a procession that included cars, horses, and a large town funeral.
Kareem was added to the Veterans’ Memorial by the city. A local philanthropist offered to place a memorial honoring the 13 Afghan servicemen who died in the withdrawal. Each of the names were placed on concrete plaques.
Kareem’s photo was added to a street banner in town. His official USMC stare serious as the he posed wearing his Marine dress blues. This is exactly like the Marine he met in a mall when he was four years old.
His final resting place is on a plot facing a steep hill that he loved to climb along with his brothers.
All the pomp eventually faded and life moved on.
Dakota’s mother says that this didn’t happen to her son.
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Chappell says, “They have that brother’s bond.” “As the one-year anniversary approached, I didn’t realize that Dakota hadn’t accepted that Kareem had died. I accepted it as we were all hurting, because we all are. I didn’t know that he would do that.”
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Dakota was found at Pikes Peak Park where he had spent so much time with Kareem.
Their mother calls it “the wave effect”, first Kareem gone, then Dakota too. It is a result of the grief over losing their brother. She ties it all to Afghanistan and the Biden administration’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan. She also claims that Kareem and other service members have not been treated with the respect they deserve.
Chappell stated that the withdrawal was a complete failure. “They wanted to forget about the disastrous pullout and the 13 people who were killed to be forgotten about. This was mainly because they were young.”
Chappell blames President Joe Biden, who was the commander-in-chief during the US pullout. She believes that Biden was too distant from the families due to the political fallout from the loss in US life. “It could be handled completely differently and those thirteen kids would still exist. They were treated as disposable and replaceable, and that’s what really bothers me.
Their protective mother knows that her children are not disposable. She can’t keep her sons safe any longer and she carries the permanence of loss and death on her body.
A tattoo on her right arm marks Kareem’s KIA date, 8-26-2021, below his rifle. Her upper arm is covered by a rifle and stars that form the number 13 Her shoulder is covered by the image of a flag.
Chappell shivers as she lifts her shirt in order to show her new tattoo on her right oblique. It is still healing. It reads “Dakota”, with the years of his lives, and an orchid rising above him.
She explained that her CoCo loved orchids, using her nickname for her oldest child.
Chappell stands at Kareem’s grave site and looks at the yellow flag that marks where Dakota will be buried. She didn’t think she would bury even one son. She has set up a GoFundMe account to raise as much money as possible so that Dakota can be buried next to her brother.
Chappell stated, “Kareem is not alone because he went with him.”
She is filled with guilt and says that she should have been paying more attention. “I was always with him. She said, “He just acted so happy I would never have thought.”
The mother of five now has three children, which she claims she is determined to protect and live for.
She had promised herself that she would return to some of her old activities when Kareem’s one-year anniversary comes up next Friday. She didn’t know what she was doing now, but Dakota was there before her death.
She said, “I’m still going through the shock phase right now.” “I keep asking myself, what should I do when the shock phase ends? How will I react to this? What’s going on?
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