Hello all,
I don't think I need to remind anyone who comes to this site about the cost of war. Two more engineers from Ft Hood have recently died as a result of an IED attack in Afghanistan. Just a reminder that dead is dead in a full scale war, police action or even as your country "responsibly" ends a war. I got this from a DoD news update I get daily.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died Dec. 12, in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the enemy attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. These soldiers were assigned to 3rd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Killed were:
Sgt. 1st Class Ramon S. Morris, 37, of New York, New York; and
Spc. Wyatt J. Martin, 22, of Mesa, Arizona.
I know, this just sickens me. Heard the White House talk AGAIN about how they are ending this and bringing everyone home. They said that back in 2010. And again, I hear they are still going to leave some troops in place. What the hell? Everyone leave the damn hornet's nest! I just don't get it. We have nothing to gain there. Nothing. We can't make a difference and the only thing that will occur is our boys losing their lives!
We have the same problem here in the UK with more members of our armed forces going back in a "training" role.
Just two words come to mind - MISSION CREEP!
Colin.
This "mission creep" business is the way to sure enough get more of our boys and girls killed. Not enough real support in the field, no support from the White House, Joint Chiefs who are rubber stamps and ROE that ties hands and legs together. Don't get me started.
Parker
As one who has been in Iraq, I can say that we did a good job, but the deck was stacked against us and the US mission. History would seem to indicate that the most stable for of government in that region is a strong-man kind of dictator. Corruption and tribal unit (above a national identity) is so ingrained in the people of that region that our system of government (with a strong reliance on dollars being spent to sustain it) is not going to work out very well. Take a look at the Iraqi military. When it was at its high point, under Saddam, it didn't fare well when the C2 nodes were destroyed and soldiers who hadn't been taught to think for themselves had to think for themselves. At that point the only thought is "Screw this!!" Now, that aren't trained at all (it seems) and it looks as though the officer corps is a no-work status job for cronies. One thing that was reported was all of the money paid to soldiers that didn't exist. I bet all of those phantom soldiers would have helped when ISIS came rolling over the border. This "new birth of freedom" in the Middle East has not helped the Christians in the area - those that are left.
All that being said, my personal, unconnected with any particular military organization opinion on this is that we take off from there and leave a note on the table:
"I'm afraid it is time for us to move on. I'd say it's been fun but it hasn't. Screw up again and we'll come back and kick over your anthills again - and then promptly leave to give you something to think about.
Sincerely, the US military"