How to Leave a Soldier

How to Leave a Soldier
"The war on terror may be impossible to resolve. Ending my marriage was easy."
I'm not quite certain where to begin with this article, so I'll leave the commenting to everyone else.

U.S., Afghan and NATO forces have entered Marjah and have begun an offensive against the Taliban. According to Major General Nick Carter, "'the operation went without a single hitch'" (FNC).

And I Thought . . .

. . . 4th grade health class was bad. . . .

Afghan Men Struggle With Sexual Identity, Study Finds
I was going to post excerpts from this article, but I found it in its entirety rather interesting. And by interesting, I mean that I cannot fully wrap my mind around this concept.

7 Things You Need to Know About the Afghan War

According to a biography on Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal in a local newspaper, McChrystal was head of Spec Ops in Iraq and holds two masters degrees -- the first is in national security and strategic studies; the second is in international relations.


7 Things You Need to Know About the Afghan War
This slideshow includes information Fox News deems important regarding Afghanistan's political system, history, demographics, etc.


A veteran of three wars who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor is now facing an unlikely enemy — his neighbors.
Col. Van T. Barfoot, 90, has raised the Stars and Stripes every day at sunrise and lowered them every day at sunset since he served in the U.S. Army. But on Tuesday he received a letter from the law firm that represents his homeowners' association, ordering him to remove the flagpole from his Richmond, Va. yard by 5 p.m. on Friday or face "legal action." . . .
The [homeowners'] association at Sussex Square community told Barfoot that the freestanding, 21-foot flagpole that he put up in September violates the neighborhood's aesthetic guidelines. . . .
"There's never been a day in my life or a place I've lived in my life that you couldn't fly the American flag," Barfoot said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. . . .
The statement reminded the public that many American flags hang from homes in the Sussex Square community, and that the board members object only to Barfoot's freestanding flagpole.
But Barfoot says he has always flown the flag from a height: "Where I've been, fighting wars ... military installations, parades, everything else, the flag is vertical. And I've done it that way since I was in the Army," Barfoot told the paper.
Barfoot is one of the country's last living World War II veterans who received the Medal of Honor. He also served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War and earned a Purple Heart. In WWII, Barfoot showed his mettle in Carano, Italy, where he single-handedly destroyed a set of German machine gun nests, killed eight enemy soldiers, took 17 prisoners and stared down a tank before destroying it and killing its crew — all in a single day. Exhausted by his herculean efforts, he still managed to move two of his wounded men 1,700 yards to safety.
"Sgt. Barfoot's extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor, and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers," reads the official citation for his Medal of Honor.

By the Way . . .

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Since the beginning of the year, Obama has added 21,000 troops, raising the total number of military personnel in Afghanistan to 68,000 while another 40,000 are being requested.

Have We Forgotten?

I guess patriotism has died. Nobody cares any more. We try to take what this country was founded on and use it to line the litter box. They try to switch what has been working for us since the beginning to something that couldn’t last an entire century. We forget the atrocities that happened to our people, and talk and wear hats during the National Anthem. Yet we call ourselves Americans.
All of these statistics about people saying that the war in Afghanistan is a waste of time should be taken out and shot. Has it been so long ago that we forget what those hoggies did to the Pentagon and the World Trade Center? How about the embassy bombings that Clinton didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to step up and put a bullet in that cowards head for? Are all of these people lacking that much cranial capacity that we can’t remember what happened in the past ten years? These people attacked and killed Americans on American soil! And now we are just going to pull up roots and disgrace the memory of all those men and women that gallantly gave their lives and limbs to keep them over there, this makes no sense! Do they hate their country that much? If we don’t fight them there we will fight them here, and September 11th is a day that should have permanently seared that into our hearts and souls for all eternity. If I took one of your children out in the middle of the street and nailed a piece of intestine to a stop sign and chased them with a flamethrower; wouldn’t you want justice? Wouldn’t you want me stopped? Do you want this to happen to somebody else?
They continue to attack us, the same group of people, over, and over, and over again. But we did nothing about it. Sure we tried missile strikes half heartedly, but that rarely gets the targets we really want. The best medicine is boots on the ground. Well if we send more troops over there more will get killed. What are you smoking? A basic fundamental that is taught to 8404 corpsmen is the best medicine is fire superiority, basically if we want less casualties, and deaths we need to be putting more rounds down range. The best way to do this is to have more troops there in action. This can help in numerous ways; it lightens the burden because the job can be spread out among more people. This boosts morale. They don’t have to patrol everyday because there are more people to do it. To better illustrate this I will make smaller example because obviously there are a lot of people out there that can’t comprehend the simple points above mentioned; hence I have to write this. So I will make it simpler. When in a fighting hole it is best to another person in the hole with you, morale. One gets to sleep while the other is the lookout. There is someone to talk to, to pass the time. When needed there are four eyes instead of one. There is an extra rifle to better defend yourselves. With more troops, they can patrol larger areas and cover more ground so that the towelheads can’t run. This will speed things up a bit and that means the troops don’t need to be exposed as long.
Once again we should look at the long forgotten history books. Remember George Washington? He might have done a great deal to get us our independence, but without the help of the French we might be having tea time, and say things like bangers and eggs, and have a weird sense of humor. They stepped in when we needed it so that we could have freedom and democracy. If you can’t appreciate this you need to go to your just disinfected toilet, and drown yourself. This is the same thing we are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, we could ask France for help; but it’s kind of hard to ask for help when there are secret police. Remember all those stories of Saddam’s torture rooms? Those people lived in constant fear.
Well we had no business in Iraq; there were no WMDs. Oh really? You must have been too young or not a twinkle in your old man’s eye yet, but there was a thing called the Iraq Iran war, where Saddam must of used pixie dust and beer farts instead of WMDs since no one can recall. There was an event that happened much closer to present time called the Gulf War, when U.S. troops found the labs and factories where they were they were making the stuff. Hmmmm, I guess the videos of testing these weapons on the Iraqi citizens were just propaganda made by the global elite to get us to go to war. And my one corps school instructor that was hit by a piece of shrapnel that was coated by some unknown agent that ate his radius and ulna so that now he sets of metal detectors, I guess he was part of this eeeville scheme? Oh and by the way that happened this go around. Fifty years from now some little boy with his Nike sneakers jamming to his American rock and roll on his iPod, kicking a real soccer ball is going to discover after a big sandstorm, a bunch of 55 gallon drums filled with bubonic plague. Think about it; they have an entire desert and we gave them ample time.
So for those of you that still want to moan and complain, just tie a couple cinder blocks to your legs, and make like Billy Joe McAllister. Or leave, we don’t want or need you here.

Trust in Obama and War Waning

Despite President Obama's attempts to prepare the American people for rising casualties in Afghanistan, a new poll shows most Americans see the war as a wasted effort.

Congressional lawmakers say this is a sign the president needs to make the war in Afghanistan a front-burner issue in his public addresses and do a better job explaining the stakes to the American public.

Though the war in Afghanistan is a clear priority for the president, the push for health care reform has dominated his public appeals. And when he does address Afghanistan, some lawmakers say, Obama is telling more than explaining.

"You can't just say it's the good war and trust me, because actually his trust factor is dropping. He's going to have to build a case for it," said Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll showed 51 percent of people say the war is not worth fighting. That sentiment was particularly high among members of the president's own party, with seven in 10 Democrats saying the war is not worth its costs.

Imagine that -- the American people aren't willing to trust a man with no military experience with a war, a war in which many of our brave men and women are sacrificing their lives (July saw the most casualties since the war began), a war that the Democrats, of all people, don't support. I would like to know how many Democrats have loved ones fighting this war.
I believe that healthcare, privatized healthcare, is an important issue. But I also feel that our current system is working, and we might want to turn our attention to something more pressing. Like a war. I would also like to see that poll conducted on Fox News or something other than WaPo and ABC.

Military Times . . .

. . . I'm ashamed of you.

Security Contractors

U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan may hire a private contractor to provide around-the-clock security at dozens of bases and protect vehicle convoys moving throughout the country.

The possibility of awarding a security contract comes as the Obama administration is sending thousands of more troops into Afghanistan to quell rising violence fueled by a resurgent Taliban. As the number of American forces grow over the next several months, so too does the demand to guard their outposts.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to cut back on the use of contractors that now provide a wide range services to American troops in war zones, including transportation, communications, food service, construction, and maintenance. As recently as February, however, Gates called the use of private security contractors in certain parts of Afghanistan "vital" to supporting U.S. bases. A contract for the work also creates job opportunities for Afghans, he said.

Wars create jobs!

Victory? What Victory?

President Obama has put securing Afghanistan near the top of his foreign policy agenda, but "victory" in the war-torn country isn't necessarily the United States' goal, he said Thursday in a TV interview.

"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," Obama told ABC News.

The enemy facing U.S. and Afghan forces isn't so clearly defined, he explained.

"We're not dealing with nation states at this point. We're concerned with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Al Qaeda's allies," he said. "So when you have a non-state actor, a shadowy operation like Al Qaeda, our goal is to make sure they can't attack the United States."

First of all, I highly suggest reading the article in its entirety. Second of all. . . .
If they're not being sent to win, then don't send them in. When is victory not the goal? Aside from when it pertains to Afghanistan, of course. Why should we be worried about using the word "victory?" "Victory" is simply a word, some organized characters, until they're given meaning. Until we emerge from this war victorious. Regardless of what our government decides, I believe that our troops will emerge victorious. The politicians may lose this war, but our military will not.

My Role Model

I snagged this from Hot Air. Michael Yon is one of my role models, and I hope to someday follow in his footsteps. I love his photography, his writing, his work in general.

"Sign me up for the next war!"

U.S. troops say companies that recruit military translators are sending linguists to southern Afghanistan who are unprepared to serve in combat, even as hundreds more are needed to support the growing number of troops.

Some translators are in their 60s and 70s and in poor physical condition — and some don’t even speak the right language. . . .

Troops say low-skilled and disgruntled translators are putting U.S. forces at risk.

“Intelligence can save Marines’ lives and give us the advantage on the battlefield,” said Cpl. William Woodall, 26, of Dallas, who works closely with translators. “Instead of looking for quality, the companies are just pushing bodies out here, and once they’re out the door, it’s not their problem anymore." . . .

The company that recruits most U.S. citizen translators, Columbus, Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel, says it’s difficult to meet the increased demand for linguists to aid the 15,000 U.S. forces being sent to southern, Pashto-speaking provinces this year as part of President Barack Obama’s increased focus on Afghanistan. Only 7,700 Pashto speakers live in the U.S., according to the 2000 census.

Mission Essential’s senior vice president, Marc Peltier, told The Associated Press that the linguists the company deploys to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries meet government standards. The military sets no age or weight requirements, he said. . . .

How translators come to believe they won’t face danger could originate with recruiters.

“They’re going to tell you whatever it is to get you hired,” Spangler said.

Khalid Nazary, an Afghan-American citizen living in Kabul, called Mission Essential about a job and let an AP reporter listen.

He asked if he would go to “dangerous places.”

“Oh, no, no, no. You’re not a soldier. You’re not a soldier. Not at all,” the recruiter, Tekelia Barnett, said. “You’re not on the battlefield." . . .

“They say you’ll get a shower once a day, have access to Internet and TV, call home six times a week,” Woodall said. “And when the guys get out, they’re completely shell-shocked. They’ve been lied to." . . .

The translators said dozens of linguists quit soon after arriving in Afghanistan in recent weeks. Spangler declined to provide numbers but said “quite a bit” resigned or were fired because they were too old, unfit or couldn’t speak Pashto. . . .

But Gamez said soldiers need translators now, and that some feign sickness to avoid work.

This is insane. Someone teach me Pashto and ship me over there. I'm nineteen years old, so there's no worry about me keeling over from a heart attack (though heat exhaustion might be a problem). I might not be able to keep up with Marines, but I'm stubborn enough to keep trying. And for $210,000 a year and the opportunity to serve my country, you wouldn't have to worry about me quitting (just surviving). I also won't require Internet service (just give me a journal) or phone calls home six times a week -- which seems a bit excessive in a war zone. But as for showers . . . well. I suppose we all have to make sacrifices.

Bring Bowe Back

23-year-old [PFC Bowe] Bergdahl was serving with a unit based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, earlier this month when he vanished, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan, officials said. He was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold (FNC).

On July 2, two U.S. officials conceded a soldier had "just walked off" his base near the border with Pakistan with three Afghans after his shift, but wouldn't release details. Four days later, the Taliban claimed "a drunken American soldier had come out of his garrison" and was captured by mujahedeen (FNC).

He said the date was July 14 and that he was captured when he lagged behind on a patrol. It's clear the video was made no earlier than July 14 because Bergdahl repeated an exaggerated Taliban claim about a Ukrainian helicopter that was shot down that day (AP).

So, there are three different accounts of how Bergdahl was captured. The first, that he simply "walked off . . . with three Afghans," would suggest that he was deserting. Who were the Afghans? The second would explain why he was captured, as I doubt a drunk would be much of an opponent, especially were he to forget his weapon. How did he obtain alcohol in a war zone? Why was he careless enough to imbibe in a war zone? The third, a claim made by Bergdahl, states that he "lagged behind on a patrol." That statement doesn't say much for the US Army, if soldiers are letting their comrades lag behind in a war zone and be captured (which I highly doubt they are). However, as I have no combat experience, I have no idea how patrols function, or how one would obtain alcohol, or what Bergdahl was thinking if he strode off the base with the Afghans. Perhaps he was going for a late-night walk.

And We Won't Be Back 'Til It's Over Over There!

The Pentagon's chief said Thursday he could send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year than he'd initially expected and is considering increasing the number of soldiers in the Army.

Both issues reflect demands on increasingly stressed American forces tasked with fighting two wars.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comments came during a short visit to Fort Drum in upstate New York -- an Army post that that he said has deployed more soldiers to battle zones over the last 20 years than any other unit. Two Fort Drum brigades are headed to Iraq later this year, and a third is currently in Afghanistan.

Asked about Afghanistan by one soldier, Gates said: "I think there will not be a significant increase in troop levels in Afghanistan beyond the 68,000, at least probably through the end of the year. Maybe some increase, but not a lot."

So far, the Obama administration has approved sending 68,000 troops to Afghanistan by the end of 2009, including 21,000 that were added this spring.

I would first like to ask how Sec'y Gates intends to increase the Army's size. Though I've not spoken with any recruiters lately or researched any numbers, I'm sure that the Army's size will increase as long as volunteers are willing. Maybe they'll send roving recruitment vans to kidnap young men off of the streets. Secondly, I would like everyone to note the fact that "the Obama administration has approved sending 68,000 troops to Afghanistan by the end of 2009, including 21,000 that were added this spring" (FNC). That's 99,000 troops. Ninety-nine thousand men and women. The end to the War on Terror Overseas Contingency Plan definitely seems to be in sight.

SERV & July 4th

Teacher guides vets back to campus
Major props to John Schupp and the Supportive Education for the Returning Veteran (SERV) Program.

Taliban militants were nowhere in sight as the columns of U.S. Marines walked a third straight day across southern Afghanistan. But the desert heat proved an enemy in its own right, with several troops falling victim Saturday to temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Marines carry 50-100 pounds on their backs. But because they are marching through farmland on foot, they can't carry nearly as much water as their thirst demands.

Few even realized the date was July 4, but once word of the holiday spread through the company, several said they knew relatives would be holding lakeside celebrations — a world away from the strenuous task Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment was taking on.

If You Give a Man a Fish

They begin lining up even before the doors of the medical clinic open. Every day, dozens of Afghans from surrounding villages come seeking medical help at Camp Tillman in southeastern Afghanistan.
Often their ailments are not life threatening and can be easily treated with Tylenol or anti-diarrhea medicine. But without a local doctor around, simple medical problems can easily turn into life-threatening illnesses. . . .
In the past eight years, the U.S. military has tried to win the hearts and minds of Afghans with hundreds of infrastructure projects and outreach programs, and billions of dollars in international aid has been doled out.
The Obama administration has pledged to send more in the way of agricultural specialists, educators, engineers and lawyers to help the war-torn country "advance security, opportunity and justice."
"The idea was to win the hearts and minds of a people," explained one soldier. "Whatever the local village elders asked for, we tried to provide it."
If a village needed a well, they dug it. If they needed a school, the U.S. military built it.
But this approach to development has left Afghanistan's leaders ill-prepared to assume responsibility for running their war-torn nation. And military commanders are now beginning to re-think how they approach their jobs.
"If we keep doing what we've been doing, we will all be back here in five years doing the same thing," said Lt Col Peter Minalga, the Battalion Commander.
Military officials say now that instead of building a school that the village elders requested, they are trying to facilitate the project. This still means providing the funding, but instead of just paying locals to build it, they are trying to enable local companies to design, procure materials and build the structure. Military engineers are there to assist, not direct.
This approach is being replicated in training the Afghan National Army (ANA). U.S and Afghan troops regularly conduct joint patrols, but instead of American soldiers always organizing the missions, increasingly Afghan commanders are the planners and leaders. and U.S. troops there to assist, not direct.