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| Afghanistan |
| On Patrol with "America's Battalion" |
| 2009-07-29 |
| Dehydration, sleep deprivation, boots soggy with sweat, 100 pounds of gear and 15 miles in 126-degree heat. U.S. Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment; on foot and under fire in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Members of Golf Company pushed deep into the heart of the Helmand River Valley in an attempt to secure this part of the country in advance of the Afghan elections in August. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #4 For once I disagree with Michael Yon. It is hard as heck to decide when to go conventional, and when to go unconventional. Each type soldier are convinced they can do it "their way", with just more time, or more *something*. These Marines are doing something right now that unconventional soldiers cannot do. They are penetrating to the heart of the enemy territory in Afghanistan. This is as "in your face" to the drug gangs, Taliban and al-Qaeda as it gets. It will be occupied, because it is where their money comes from. The people there are *owned* by the bad guyz, and unless somebody frees them from that, there is nothing they can do. Marching a battalion 15 miles through 126F heat is as dangerous as marching them through radioactive fallout. A lot of them will get very sick, and there could even be deaths from that heat. At that heat, the very air burns your skin, even in the shade. The shade is a lie, because you are getting such incredible amounts of IR that you are illuminated, even if you don't see it. Water consumption should be in excess of 5 gallons per man per day, with little or no urination. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can hit with surprising speed if your body salts get imbalanced. What they are doing is damned important. To important to wait. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-07-29 22:37 |
| #3 Guerrilla groups flourish wherever they have safe harborage. While the use of SMART missiles against Taliban leadership in Pakistan has yielded disruption of terror management, a death blow can't be delivered until base camps are destroyed. Unfortunately, Taliban conduct initial training in UN refugee (read terror base) camps. Weapons training is done with anti-India terror groups, supported by Pakistan. Guerrilla camps are sited where Pakistan borders Helmand, Afghanistan, and groups are sent out from same. A hair trigger approach to waging war against these irregulars is essential. But it is not helped by Karzai's insistence on echoing Taliban propaganda that everyone killed by NATO is an innocent victim of over-kill. Frankly, under-kill would better describe what we are doing. |
| Posted by: Herb Glolutle1773 2009-07-29 17:38 |
| #2 great post Tipper. Thanks. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2009-07-29 16:57 |
| #1 This is all very well, but will it achieve anything? For what it's worth, this is where I'm coming from. It took 5 years for the conventional forces to learn COIN and start to implement it in Iraq. Can you say....re-inventing the wheel? We were conducting counter insurgency in Afghanistan back in November 2001. Iraq and Afghanistan are two different theaters of combat operations. MRAP's and HUMVEE's do not belong in Afghanistan. Early on, COIN was in the works. Operations were a combined effort of standing up the ANA (Afghan National Army), gaining local support, and taking the fight to the enemy. It's what some may remember as UW - unconventional warfare. Somewhere along the way, our prestigious conventional leaders lost sight of the real objective. The infamous 18th ABN Corps landed in country in 2002. Seeing the need to be "relevant" to the fight, they decided on more troops, more combat equipment, more high profile operations and little training in UW! Ridiculous! I rode horseback through the Hindu Kush mountains for 6 months without body armor. Dressed in customary Afghan clothing (what we referred to as "Man-jammies") and sporting a thick beard, I had a weapon, ammo, bed roll and some stripped down MRE's. We strolled into villages who had no idea we were American's until they saw our weapons. There were less than 3,500 troops in Afghanistan with only 500 out in the safe houses conducting daily operations. Now we see 30,000 plus troops in the country with America as the leader in numbers. Again, ridiculous! Afghanistan is not a board game like Risk. The idea is not to take an hold ground. Remember why we went there in the beginning. To destroy Al-Qiada training camps and take down the Taliban regime. Our given mission was 3 parts...."kill, capture and deny". Kill Al-Qaida operatives, capture if possible, and deny the enemy sanctuary. Hit hard, pull back, re-group and hit hard again until they have no place to go but out. The intent is not to save the world from poverty and bring every thrid world country into the 21st Century, give them satellite TV, cell phones computers and democracy at the expense of the American Taxpayer. The mission was to strike back after 9-11 and ensure that the entire world was aware, "You don't screw with American's,....especially on our own soil!" It is shameful to lose the life of ONE Soldier or Marine to the short-sightedness of a command of Vietnam era Lieutenants that want to play in the SuperBowl of war so they can advance their career! Small teams....supported with combat air assets, unconventional warfare, direct action, and foreign internal defense. You could fight the war with 1000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan with 3,000 troops as support assets. The Conventional Mindset is what will keep us in Ass-crak-istan for the next 5-7 years! What a waste! |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-07-29 13:25 |