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| Major Joseph R. Jackson, the lead governance and development advisor with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, directs Marines as they escort Holly Barnes, the field program manager of the District Stabilization Team in Kajaki for the U.S. Agency for International Development, on a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from USAID and the U.S. Department of State to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center. Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer |
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| Lance Corporal Juan R. Sanchezvelazquez, a motor transport operator with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, walks across a bridge here during a patrol into the Tangye Bazaar, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic here. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center. Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer |
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| Corporal Diego E. Castaneda, a motor transport mechanic and assistant patrol leader with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, directs his Marines during a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center. Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer |
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| Lance Cpl. Paul L. Mares, a cannonier with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, provides rear security with his M240 light machine gun during a patrol here, March 13, 2012. The Marines escorted officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Marine Corps to the bazaar to meet with local business owners and workers at the health clinic. For the first time since 2006, businesses began returning to the Tangye Bazaar after coalition forces cleared the area of insurgents and brought security to the Kajaki district center. Photo by Sgt. Jacob Harrer |
Then do what I finally did and step back and think about the implications of Sgt Harrer's words.
Marines are supporting the US Agency for International Development.
Think about that in the larger context of the war.
We're no longer about chasing down the bad guys. If that was the case then we could pull out and let SOCOM do there thing the right way. WITHOUT SUPPORT OF CONVENTIONAL UNITS. I mean they are elite right?
No, we have thousands of Marines and Soldiers in country trying to develop a primitive culture...trying to get women's rights for women that don't want it...in essence we're fighting a war of special interests.
The powers that be are trying to make this back water country into a mini USA.
That's why we're losing. Classic counter insurgency failed. It failed because we've bastardized the concept.
And for that I blame military leadership of all services.
Mission accomplishment first.
Troop welfare second.
We can't accomplish this mission. Time to leave now. We know it, the Afghan's know it and the American public knows it.
Time for military leadership to finally admit the truth and end this waste of money and lives.
Sol you say "Mission accomplishment first." which i agree with, the question is whats the mission? i know stablization, afghan government and all that bullshit, but this was the same problem we had in Iraq, no one knew what the mission was. in WWII we knew, Berlin and Tokyo, take those we were done, we had somewhat of a mission in Korea but that became a quagmire after the chinese got involved, Vietnam had no specific mission, hence our issue there, in Gulf War 1 we had a clear mission, retake and secure Kuwait. In bosnia and such we bombed serbia until their troops retreated. We can give generalities but we need SPECIFIC mission accomplishment goals, and we dont have that, and here i think its impossible, if we dont have a mission to accomplish we are asking our fighting troops to risk their lives for them fucking around in DC.
ReplyDeletewhen Patreus took control and made it an enhanced coin op, he stated that he wanted to stabilize the nation, rid it of AQ and to develop the ANA so that they could defend the country.
ReplyDeletewe haven't even been able to get an army trained up yet and we've been at it with these idiots for 10 plus years.
COIN is a failure because we're partnering with NGO's, and other government agencies. we lack focus on the military part of it because we have too many partners.
CIA, DIA, ATF, US Marshals, FBI and that's just the intelligence and law enforcement that I know operates in theater and are civilians. do you really want me to list all the NGO's that are in country? trust me it would make your head spin.
want another oh shit moment? in Kandahar, while guys are out in the field, those bastards are having parties, chasing ass, going on dates and basically acting like its a big base in the states. it would really make you wonder why you say thank you to some of the troops when you see them if they ever told you the TRUTH about what they did while in Afghanistan.
but that's the dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about in uniform.
we have two types of service.
one you spend in a FOB...sweating or freezing your ass off and praying to GOD that you don't step on a mine.
the other you spend at a big base having a good time basically working a shift and trying to make sure that when you go back stateside that you're buffed up so you impress your girl or these days your guy back home.
When I was in Afghanistan I spent time at both FOBs and bigger bases and I never saw a party, anyone going on a date and absolutely no chasing of any ass. There are people who don't go on combat patrols, sure, but they signed up just like those guys out there in the field, not knowing if they would be on the front lines or somewhere in the rear. They all made the sacrifice of leaving their families behind for a year to go to a war zone. Camp Leatherneck was recently targeted by a pretty successful and deadly insurgent attack. Nowhere is 100% safe. Sure some got lucky and got easier jobs, but all of them volunteered to be there, knowing they could be getting shot at. You would do well to remember that.
Deletedon't sing me a song about sacrifice. been there and done that. don't sing me a song about them having it hard in the rear. i know better. do me and you a favor. go tell lies at the bar about how hard you had it sitting on your ass at a big base. how you had to work out constantly cause food was everywhere, stress damn near non-existant and you had to worry about weight gain ON DEPLOYMENT.
Deletesorry. feed your bullshit to someone else. i ain't buying it.
Don't blame it on the military leaders. This is politics. It's your elected officials who are making these decisions. If you want to write something productive, write your congressmen.
ReplyDeleteyou can't separate leadership from politics. the last military leader that stood up to political leadership was Shinseki.
Deletethe next we heard about leadership disagreeing with political leaders was the "revolt of the generals'...those clowns got froggy once they were retired.
we have leadership being silent when Romney is talking about increasing defense budgets while the current administration is saying that they don't want it but at the same time we have those same leaders talking about how they're going to have to drastically cut or retire or procure weapons much slower because of decreased budgets.