[My question was/is what exactly is the job(mission)?
And just personal curiosity, have you served in “combat”? ]
The mission is to stick around until the Taliban is dead. I have never been on a government payroll. However, a soldier who asked me to do his job would be about as worthless as cop, a firefighter or even a DMV employee who asked me to do his job. That’s what we pay him for - to kill the country’s enemies. If he’s not interested, he should leave as soon as his enlistment period ends. There are plenty of people interested in doing his job. Up or out certainly hasn’t been abandoned for lack of new recruits.