Joe Saboe, retired Army vet, was at home in the US when–out of the blue–he got a plea to help Afghans who supported our troops escape Kabul. He had little time. This was early August , 2021, just weeks before the door was to shut. Amazingly, from thousands of miles away, he organized Team America Relief, a network of veterans and civilians who remotely provided crowdsourcing software, logistical support, and constant communications to help Afghan allies safely make it to Kabul airport , pass through gates packed with a human wave clamoring to be let in, and fly to safety. Joe’s “Digital Dunkirk” allowed thousands of Afghans escape the Taliban.
We’re honored to have Joe share the details of how he quickly enlisted a team of committed vets and civilians to orchestrate a crowdsourced evacuation . He tells us how he instantly shifted from Soccer Dad to a Remote Commander and leveraged the network he built during his time as a US Army Officer. Joe also lets us in on how they managed the project using several well-known tech platforms and why they were so essential to the rescue effort.
This is a moving and incredible story. If you can listen to this Podcast with a dry eye, you are stronger than we.
“We were crowdsourcing information from people in crisis, and then crowd sharing that information back with other people in crisis.” – Joe Saboe
“There were a lot of Sophie’s Choice moments in this for us — you got to remember the overwhelming majority of the people we’re talking about are children.” – Joe Saboe
“We had prearranged covert linkups with various military units, US special forces, US Marines, and intelligence agencies to go out and grab people once they identified the correct ones.” – Joe Saboe
This week on Disarming Data:
– Joe’s Family background and the events that led to him becoming an infantry officer in 2007
What Joe did when he left the military and what attracted him to teaching and Coaching soccer
– How Joe leveraged his personal network to communicate with those trapped in Afghanistan after the Taliban retook the country
– How they built a team of volunteers and some of the roles they play
– How they got the right people through the right gates during the human stampede at Kabul airport
– Some of the unique signals individuals used to identify themselves to US Marines in Afghanistan
– The tech they use at Team America to communicate with Afghan refugees and manage the huge evacuation project
– Why Joe needed to take a step back from the project
– How refugees prove that staying in Afghanistan would be life-threatening for them and their families
– Why the government wasn’t able to extract all eligible people
Listen To Disarming Data
https://availableon.com/disarmingdata
David Biderman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-t-biderman-3337b45/
Digital Dunkirk
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/us/help-afghanistan.html
