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New Afghan ROE " mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs".
The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress. The soldiers biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. Its hard to catch someone you cant see, said Specialist Mercer.Its a very frustrating mission, said Lieutenant Hjelmstad. The average soldier sees a friend blown up and his instinct is to retaliate or believe its for something [worthwhile], but its not like other wars where your buddy died but they took the hill. Theres no tangible reward for the sacrifice. Its hard to say Wardak is better than when we got here. Captain Masengale, a soldier for 12 years before he became a chaplain, said: We want to believe in a cause but we dont know what that cause is. The soldiers are angry that colleagues are losing their lives while trying to help a population that will not help them. You give them all the humanitarian assistance that they want and theyre still going to lie to you. Theyll tell you theres no Taleban anywhere in the area and as soon as you roll away, ten feet from their house, you get shot at again, said Specialist Eric Petty, from Georgia. Captain Rico told of the disgust of a medic who was asked to treat an insurgent shortly after pulling a colleagues charred corpse from a bombed vehicle. The soldiers complain that rules of engagement designed to minimise civilian casualties mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs. Theyre a joke, said one. You get shot at but can do nothing about it. You have to see the person with the weapon. Its not enough to know which house the shootings coming from. Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-10-08 |
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