tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19237920829360846522024-02-19T18:15:32.986-06:00True JournalismCathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-48675518837415297032010-03-25T21:39:00.001-05:002010-03-25T21:39:43.422-05:00The Scent of Weakness<p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><h1 style="text-align:center"><font color="#783F04">The Scent of Weakness</font></h1><div style="text-align:left"><br></div><div style="text-align:left"><br></div><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/032510scent/img_1825a-1000.jpg" style="height:400.2px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Kandahar Province, Afghanistan</i><br><b>25 March 2010</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Dogs have been trained to carry bombs to attack enemies for decades. The Soviets and others have used dogs as low-tech smart bombs. Yet canine platoons likely would rebel if they caught scent they were being duped to die.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Today, more sophisticated people employ men (mostly) to deliver bombs in Afghanistan. Gullible souls are selected, conditioned, trained and deployed. Malleable minds are identified then loaded with psychic software that uses their minds to create a vision. Evil persons of superior intellect identify the raw material—that raw material might be an engineer from a stable family—and trains them to fetch myths.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Suicide attackers have murdered countless thousands of people around the world. They go by various names, such as Kamikaze, Black Tiger, and Martyr.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The attackers are not all men. Some are Tigresses. My friend Alex Perry met a wannabe Black Tigress in Sri Lanka. She was 18. Alex described the girl in <i>Time Magazine</i>:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“But asked when she hoped to achieve her dream of being a suicide bomber, she grinned, squirmed and buried her face in her arms. "She's already written her application," said her commander, Lt. Col. Dewarsara Banu, smiling at her charge's shyness. "But there's still no reply." "Why hasn't there been a reply?" whined Samandi, looking up with the one eye, her left, that survived a shot to the head and fiddling with the capsule of cyanide powder around her neck. "I want this. I want to be a Black Tiger. I want to blast myself for freedom."</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>How Sri Lanka's Rebels Build a <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1193862,00.html/" id="" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Suicide Bomber</u></a></i>.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Many people are persuaded by cult artifices into any sort of behavior, including ritual suicide and murder. It’s crucial to understand that many suicide-murders are part of a religious ceremony. The attack is the climax of the ceremony. This is neither complicated, nor subtle.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Suicide murders are merely a small fraction of cult behaviors. Cults often do not revolve around religions. Communist cadres once fanned across the globe, teaching that capitalism must die on a global scale for communism to reach its imagined grandeur. Yet even as communist countries have failed across the world, true believers intoned the conviction that “real communism” had never been tried, and if it were, it would fulfill its promises. This “willing suspension of disbelief” demonstrates an important aspect often organic to cults: when cult prophecies are proven wrong, we might expect the cult to disintegrate in face of the evidence. Yet instead of disintegrating, powerful cults often refortify, strengthen, and redouble recruitment. Failure can cause them to grow.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Some cult leaders are true believers while others are true deceivers. From the outside, cults often can be easy to spot, though the hardest cult to see is the one you are in.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We face an increasing number of suicide murders here in the “Muslim world”—in places where suicide attacks were previously unheard of. Some people are coerced into suicide, such as the unfortunate women who were raped and defiled in Iraq, then shamed and coerced into suicide for the sake of “honor.” Or the case of a young Libyan, captured by soldiers from a unit I was with in Iraq. The Libyan was thankful for his capture: Iraqis were trying to force him to wear a <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/empty-jars.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>suicide bomb</u></a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Others are “brainwashed” and reloaded with brainware whose program creates suicide murderers.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">A few weeks ago, on the morning of March 1st, just close by Kandahar Airfield, a suicide murderer waited in ambush. An American convoy from the 82nd Airborne was crossing the Tarnak River Bridge when the man detonated his car bomb, sending a heavily armored American MRAP off the bridge. At 0735, the boom thundered across Kandahar Airfield. I felt the explosion and turned around to look for a mushroom. The sound was vigorous enough that I thought we may have been hit on base. There it was: the orange mushroom cloud of dust gathered and could be seen floating away. It was off base in the direction of Highway 4 to Kandahar.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">American Soldier Ian Gelig and several Afghans were killed. It’s difficult to know how many locals are killed and wounded in attacks; often they die later or are never taken to hospitals</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Soldiers from 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat team were planning to conduct a mission that morning that required crossing the now badly damaged bridge. Our mission was cancelled, as were many other missions for the next couple days. In addition to killing Ian Gelig, the single attacker impacted the flow of the war in this crucial battle space.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Nearly two weeks later, on Saturday 13 March, I was preparing to go on another mission with 5/2 SBCT soldiers. Shortly before our departure, just up the road in Kandahar City, a serious attack unfolded at night, including three or four suicide attackers. About 35 people were killed and roughly another 50 wounded. Again, our mission was cancelled because the roads were closed, though by morning we took helicopters and bypassed the incident. Turns out, the enemy was disappointed with their attack. About half the attacks apparently did not go off, while American and Afghan forces responded more quickly than the enemy had expected and limited the damage. According to intelligence, the Taliban are extremely paranoid. Taliban leadership suspected there had been an inside informant. They planned to conduct a purge. Meanwhile, I got one report from the ground that Afghans believed most of the casualties were caused by Afghan police who are said to have fired wildly during the attack. One man told me that an Afghan position randomly fired his 12.7mm DsHK machine gun across the city. (These guns are so large they can rip a man in two.) Whether the allegation is true or false is not known by me, though it stands alone as a bullet in the information war.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>Ground Sign</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">On 8 April 2006, I was driving with a friend from Lashkar Gah to Camp Bastion when shortly after we left the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) at Lash, a suicide attacker struck. We escaped entirely, hearing about the attack later. Some days later, we drove back to Lash. On 13 April, a second suicide attack happened at the same place, shaking the building while I was writing a dispatch about how the war was going sour.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">These were the first two suicide attacks in Lashkar Gah.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">(A couple more suicide attackers were killed in that same close area in Lash while I was writing <i>this</i> dispatch in neighboring Kandahar.)</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Lone Wolf suicide murders occur, but the context of these first two bombings in Lashkar Gah indicated that a system was in place, and the suicide bombers were not terribly expensive to buy. If those suicide bombers were expensive or hard to come by, the commander likely would have saved them for special missions of high specific significance. Yet the targets of the two attacks were small and tactical, of little specific significance. Why would a commander waste “smart ammo” on tactical targets? Perhaps the “price” of the ammo—whether through coercion or bribery—must be reasonable, and he can buy more.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">One intelligence report indicates that a certain Mullah paid cash and wheat seed to the father of Shafiqullah Rahman and Mohammed Hashim who detonated suicide car bombs on 11 November and 19 November 2009.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Suicide attackers come in different “grades.” Some are illiterate, unsophisticated people, unsuited for complex targeting. A plotter could not expect to select an illiterate village boy from the hinterlands of Zabul Province to move to Florida, obtain a place to live and begin flight training to crash airplanes into buildings.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Just days before 9/11, in Afghanistan, attackers passed themselves off as international journalists and managed to kill Ahmad Shah Massoud. A couple days later, on 9/11, hijackers attacked the United States. The killers were polyglots who combined savvy with international experience to wage complex attacks, such as was seen in Mumbai, India. Another sophisticated international suicide attack occurred in Afghanistan in December 2009, killing seven CIA agents.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">More locally, within a short distance of this keyboard, suicide attackers who are spent on random convoys or “common targets” probably tend to be simple folk. Many suicide attackers in Afghanistan are believed to be street children or young people from dirt-poor villages, for instance from Zabul Province. Most are thought to be young, uneducated and impoverished. These unfortunates are believed to be conditioned in madrassas in Pakistan, and in fact our intelligence people believe that there might be three madrassas in one particular town, where suicide bombers are conditioned and shipped straight into Kandahar Province.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">IEDs are by far our biggest threat here, yet suicide attacks are also deadly while generating more press. Also, IEDs generally only affect people who go where the IEDs are, while suicide murderers are known to hijack “random” airplanes far away from the perceived battlefield. Most victims of the suicide murderers we face are other Muslims. This was also true in Iraq where murderers would attack mosques or funeral processions, as an example.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="In both Iraq and Afghanistan, civilian casualties cause the people to turn against the side perpetrating the casualties. This photo was taken after a suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, in May 2005. The neighborhood had been pro-insurgent. After this bomb in the midst of children, the neighborhood turned against the terrorists. The little girl’s name was Farah. She died shortly after this moment." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/032510scent/yon-iraq-photo_1000.jpg" style="height:399px;width:600px" title="In both Iraq and Afghanistan, civilian casualties cause the people to turn against the side perpetrating the casualties. This photo was taken after a suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, in May 2005. The neighborhood had been pro-insurgent. After this bomb in the midst of children, the neighborhood turned against the terrorists. The little girl’s name was Farah. She died shortly after this moment."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In both Iraq and Afghanistan, civilian casualties cause the people to turn against the side perpetrating the casualties. This photo was taken after a suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq, in May 2005. The neighborhood had been pro-insurgent. After this bomb in the midst of children, the neighborhood turned against the terrorists. The little girl’s name was Farah. She died shortly after this moment.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">There was a time when Americans seemed to view suicide attacks as a sign of the complete conviction of the enemy, an immutable dedication to their cause that many people found terrifying and cause for soul-searching. <i>“What could we have done to provoke such anger?” </i>Yet with time, American views of suicide attacks have matured and become more grounded. Firstly, Americans in particular are far less afraid of suicide attackers and extremely unlikely to capitulate with anyone who attacks on American soil. Suicide attackers hit American soil. In Iraq and Afghanistan, they have become commonplace. Secondly, most importantly, wild use of suicide attackers is seen not as evidence that we are attacking the “wrong people” whose dedication to their cause is unstoppable, but as concrete evidence that we are attacking the <i>right people</i> and that they should be destroyed. Japanese Kamikaze attacks are ingrained in the psyche of generations of Americans born post-World War II. Despite enemy demonstrations of absolute conviction, our military is today stationed peacefully in Japan.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Overuse of suicide attackers does not appear to cause Americans to cower, but to evoke Americans to want to kill the perpetrator.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Al Qaeda in Iraq was partially but significantly undone by overuse of suicide attackers. The Taliban is marching down the same path, but top-tier Taliban are smarter than al Qaeda and are trying to avert backlash.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Savage behavior continues to turn people against the Taliban. Realizing this, Mullah Omar and his Taliban issued a code of conduct in 2009: “Rules and Regulations for Mujahidin.”</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Item 41:</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Make sure you meet these 4 conditions in conducting suicide attacks:</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">A-Before he goes for the mission, he should be very educated in his mission.<br>B-Suicide attacks should be done always against high ranking people.<br>C-Try your best to avoid killing local people.<br>D-Unless they have special permission from higher authority, every suicide attack must be approved by higher authority.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In 2009, one report indicated there were 148 suicide bombings or attempts in Afghanistan. Suicide murders continue to occur a short drive from here that are not meeting the above requirements. Taliban continue to hit all manner of targets, and regularly slaughter non-combatant men, women and children.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p id="f7hv" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Within a week subsequent to the publication of this dispatch, suicide murderers will likely kill innocent people here. The Taliban’s efforts at repackaging themselves as kinder, gentler mass-murderers is failing. Their suicide bombing campaign is backfiring. The Taliban are losing their cool. Something is in the air. The enemy remains very deadly, yet the scent of their weakness is growing stronger while our people close the in.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"> </p><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-15343712906444130892010-02-28T14:41:00.001-06:002010-02-28T14:41:51.382-06:00Canadian Parents thank U.S. Service M...<div class="colorWhite fontMedGray fontT2 messageHeaderDiv" id="pn_3" style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#777777;font-family:arial, sans-serif;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="posRel"><div class="ellip fontBold fontDarkGray fontH1 headerSubjectLine" id="zvcz" style="color:#222222;font-family:arial, sans-serif;margin-right:2px"><div class="cgSelectable ellip_text" style="text-align:center"><b><font size="3"><span class="cgSelectable" title="View all emails with this subject">Canadian Parents thank U.S. Service Members for saving their Son</span></font></b></div></div></div><div class="posRel" style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#000000">Whispers and Valentines</font></b></div></div><hr class="colorK2 messageHeaderDivider" noshade style="background-color:transparent;color:transparent;height:1px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div id="y.3j" style="margin-left:10px;margin-right:10px"><div class="container" style="background-color:#ffffff"><div class="headerContainer" style="background-color:#ffffff"><div class="headerText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><br></div></div><div class="mainContainer" style="background-color:#ffffff"><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><a href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=2be95ee5be&e=ff0d6bdb57" rel="nofollow" style="color:blue" target="_blank"></a><font size="4"><font face="arial">This short, <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="a46u">heartfelt letter</span></u> from a Canadian <span class="yshortcuts" id="ib7h" style="background-image:initial">Mom and Dad</span> is a must read.<br><br>Note: Will begin doing weekly interviews with <span class="yshortcuts" id="ggli" style="background-image:initial">Lars Larson</span> starting <span class="yshortcuts" id="s6nw" style="background-image:initial">this Monday</span>. Interviews will live <span class="yshortcuts" id="r0rw" style="background-image:initial">on Mondays at 3:20PM</span> Pacific; 6:20PM Eastern.<br><br>Lars also has a <a href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=15cf07bace&e=ff0d6bdb57" rel="nofollow" style="color:blue" target="_blank"><u><span class="yshortcuts" id="wso6">streaming capability</span></u></a> for folks who cannot listen on the radio.<br><br>-- <br>Very Respectfully,<br><br><span class="yshortcuts" id="mog3" style="background-image:initial">Michael Yon</span><br></font></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><font face="arial"><span class="yshortcuts" id="rer7" style="background-image:initial">* * * * *</span></font></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><h2 class="contentheading" id="" style="color:#cc6600;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="5">From Canada: A Thank You to U.S. Service Members</font></font></font></h2></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="U.S. Air Force Nurse, Lucy Lehker, comforts an 'unknown' Canadian soldier after he was badly wounded in Afghanistan." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0209aC-730.jpg" style="height:409.315068px;width:600px" title="U.S. Air Force Nurse, Lucy Lehker, comforts an 'unknown' Canadian soldier after he was badly wounded in Afghanistan."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">U.S. Air Force Nurse, Lucy Lehker, comforts an 'unknown' Canadian soldier after he was badly wounded in Afghanistan.</font></font></font></span></p></div><p></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Dear Michael Yon,</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Today we were sent your story of February 14, 2010. The “unknown” Canadian is our son Danny. He is a 23-year-old soldier from Vancouver, Canada.</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Your photographs were extraordinary and have impacted so many people here in Canada. There has been an outpouring of affection for the Americans who helped Danny in his moment of need. For that, we thank you for recording these acts of kindness into history.</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Danny's injuries were the result of an explosion on February 12, 2010. Four Canadian soldiers were injured and tragically one Canadian soldier was killed. Within 20 minutes of the explosion, Danny was airlifted by helicopter to Kandahar. Upon arrival he received emergency surgery that saved his life and prepared him for the flight to Bagram that you were on.<br><br></font></font></font></span><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">After landing in Bagram, Danny was again airlifted by a US transport aircraft to the US Army run Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. There he underwent additional surgery that closed up his wounds. Once stabilized, the Canadian government dispatched a Challenger jet to bring him home. This afternoon in Vancouver, the shrapnel that did all the damage to him was finally removed. Danny is now recovering in hospital.</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p id="msiq" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This was Danny's second tour of duty in Afghanistan and his platoon on this tour has had heavy causalities and injuries. Physically, Danny will overcome his injuries. He also has the support of his family, his friends and his community to deal with the emotional side of this war. Our hearts go out to those families who have had the loss of a soldier or who have had to deal with greater injuries.</font></font></font></span></p><p id="qp32" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Danny and his whole family are very grateful, and are actually overwhelmed, by the support he received while in US care. The Canadian military have also been wonderful. It is our intention to personally thank everyone who worked so hard to save Danny's life. We have already made contact with Major Deborah "Lucy" Lehker to thank her.</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Sincerely,</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Jim & Holly</font></font></font></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Full Story:</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/valentine-s-day-weekend-afghanistan.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Valentine's Day Weekend, Afghanistan</u></a></font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><u><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/whispers.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank">Whispers</a></u></font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</u></a></b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a> pages.</b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><span class="yshortcuts" style="background-image:initial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">COMMENTS:</font></font></font></span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22952" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><h5 class="jc_comment_title" id="" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Rock on, Canada...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22952"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">nuff said...</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Wes </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22953" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22953" name="comment-22953" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Danny and Thank You Letter</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22953"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Michael, <br>The "Thank You Letter" from Danny's parents brought tears to my eyes, just as the original story did. God Bless Danny and his family. God Bless all of our troops. <br>Stay safe.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Arlene in CA </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22956" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22956" name="comment-22956" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Great story</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22956"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Wow, you really outdid yourself with this one. What a wonderful human interest story. We do take care of each other in combat (UK forces helped me with my minor injuries in Iraq), but it's great to get the names dates times and places. I wish Danny's family -- and him most of all -- the best.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jeff Smith </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22957" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22957" name="comment-22957" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Well done</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22957"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Whatever squabbles may occur, when push comes to shove, Canada is family. Well done.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Dr. Kenneth Noisewater </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22959" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22959" name="comment-22959" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Ditto Thanks</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22959"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Our son met Michael at FOB Cobra when there with the 278th out of Tennessee. Michael accompanied their convoy to Kandahar and joined their banquet provided by the Kurds in the countryside. His reports from that visit (although not showing a picture of our son) helped us immensely to understand the situation at the time. They were also visited by Charly Daniels and band, which lifted their spirits. Our son has gone through several surgeries related to combat and ambient conditions in that hot sandy country, and several of his mates continue to deal with ptds. I again thank you Michael. The reports are less frequent now (we are not on facebook or twitter) but are much looked forward to and appreciated. Our prayers continue for you, our soldiers, our command, and now for Danny and family.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Norm Hughes I </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22960" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22960" name="comment-22960" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22960"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">What more can be said? What a letter. Glad to hear Danny and his family are doing alright. Thx Michael, and thanks to Jim and Holly for raising a son like Danny. Our prayers are with you during the time.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22962" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22962" name="comment-22962" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">We are all americans...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22962"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Whether you are north or south of that imaginary line; we are all Americans... Great to hear that the unknown is now known and is recovering well. in a similar theme, re: the olympics, i pull for canada as much as i do the us, because in the end, we are the same people, americans and i hope they feel the same.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Scott from TX </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22963" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22963" name="comment-22963" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22963"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I've followed this story with a lump in my throat and knew as a parent I would be so very grateful for the loving care administered by Major "Heartlight" Lehker and whole crew if my son had been the wounded individual. I originally sent the February 14 post by Mr. Yon out to others with the lyrics to "Heartlight" by Neil Diamond attached. They seemed so fitting; they are posted below. It seems appropriate that our attention is focused to Vancouver, BC and not just because of the Olympics held there at this time. Please continue to support Mr. Yon's valuable coverage as I do. <br><br>Come back again <br>I want you to stay next time <br>'Cause sometimes the world ain't kind <br>When people get lost like you and me <br>I just made a friend <br>A friend is someone you need <br>But now that he had to go away <br>I still feel the words that he might say <br><br>Turn on your heartlight <br>Let it shine whereever you go <br>Let it make a happy glow <br>For all the world to see <br><br>Turn on your heartlight <br>In the middle of a young boy's dream <br>Don't wake me up too soon <br>Gonna take a ride across the moon <br>You and me <br><br>He's lookin' for home <br>'Cause everyone needs a place <br>And home's the most excellent place of all <br>And I'll be right here if you should call me <br><br>Turn on your heartlight <br>Let it shine whereever you go <br>Let it make a happy glow <br>For all the world to see <br><br>Turn on your heartlight <br>In the middle of a young boy's dream <br>Don't wake me up too soon <br>Gonna take a ride across the moon <br>You and me <br><br>Turn on your heartlight now <br>Turn on your heartlight now <br></font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Wendye in WA </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22964" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22964" name="comment-22964" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Thank you neighbors</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22964"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Great letter and a great soldier. My thanks to all the Canadian soldiers and their families. We are lucky to have friends like you.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Joe Thomas </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22966" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22966" name="comment-22966" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Mailing address for that crew</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22966"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Can you provide a surface mail address for that USAF Squadron . . . a lot of people want to say thnx</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Tear in my eye </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22967" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22967" name="comment-22967" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Canadian soldier...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22967"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">While I don't have children, this story nonetheless brought a lump to my throat and misty eyes. This is what we're supposed to do - Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You. It won't happen on this earth as a whole, but stories of human caring still do happen here and there demonstrating the love and compassion we can have for each other. Thanks Michael for being there and recording the neat and good side of history, too. <br><br>Good to hear that Danny is doing well.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Dori </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22968" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22968" name="comment-22968" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Get this out...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22968"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Somehow, someway, this story needs to be pushed out to those for whom this war is merely a political football to be tossed around for political gain. This story should go hand and hand with that picture of the soldier holding that girl with head injuries. <br><br>The fight against Jihadism needs to have a face put on it and this is one.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Timothy Paul Roesch </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22969" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22969" name="comment-22969" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Thank You, Canada !</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22969"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br>What a lovely letter from Danny's Mom & Dad. But the thanks should really go in the other direction. Americans should thank Danny for his courage and willingness to serve and to his Mom & Dad for their love and support of Danny. No American or Canadian likes war, but sometimes our hand is forced and we must respond. Canada has proven a valued ally many times. As a Seattle suburbanite, my wife and I have traveled frequently to Vancouver and other parts of Canada, and have always met with warmth and good will from our Canadian neighbors. So to this American, this is just further compelling evidence that our good neighbor to the North abundantly harbors such quality people, and shares in our love of freedom. <br><br>So, Thank you Danny. Thank you Jim & Holly. <br>May our two countries always share such warm camaraderie and fundamental values. <br><br>Mark S <br>Bellevue, Wa</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mark S </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22974" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22974" name="comment-22974" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Compassion and Dignity</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22974"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">What a wonderful family. My prayers are with Danny, his family and his community as they help him on the road to heal. The medical teams from many nations do an exemplary job. They are dedicated to easing pain and suffering, and each day show dedication and compassion. They have no divisions when it comes to age, country of origin, or even politics. They are true servants of God, there to help the wounded, and assist those who are dying or have passed, go onto the other side with dignity and care. They continue to do so even though they often come under fire. The work through fear to bring compassion to others. They are heroes in my mind, but to them, they are simply doing their job. I write about this over on my blog, The Kitchen Dispatch. My husband is part of medical team.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kanani </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22978" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22978" name="comment-22978" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22978"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Michael Yon is an award winning journalist and photographer who has not yet been fully recognized by his peers. But he will be I have no doubt. As for the story and picture, all I can say is WOW. It just highlights the fact that we all in this together, all branches of the U.S. military as well as our Canadian friends and neighbors.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kenny Komodo </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22979" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22979" name="comment-22979" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Reward For A Job Well Done</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22979"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Thank you Danny <br>Thank you Michael <br><br>O Canada! <br>Our home and native land! <br>True patriot love in all thy sons command.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mike Gallagher </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22980" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22980" name="comment-22980" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">DANNY</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22980"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I'am so thankfull to Michael and others who continue to keep us updated.I'm thankfull to GOD for bringing Danny to safety and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.May GOD TOUCH AND HEAL and PROTECT ALWAYS. Thank you for your service and for being an honorable man and a great neighbor to the US.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jean </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22983" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22983" name="comment-22983" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">OOO RAH!</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22983"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE DAN! THANK YOU HOLLY and JIM FOR RAISING A SON WILLING TO SERVE HIS COUNTRY! THANK YOU CANADA AND ALL THE CANADIAN MILITARY FOR FIGHTING TERRORISM! ENJOY THAT FIRST MOLSON WHEN YOUR WELL ENOUGH DAN, AND MY FAMILY AND I WILL BE PRAYING THAT YOU HAVE A COMPLETE RECOVERY FROM YOUR COMBAT WOUNDS! JIM</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jim </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22984" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22984" name="comment-22984" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">We keep doing it</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22984"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Americans take care of the people who support and fight with us. It has been that way in every war, action, and engagement. <br>We even take care of our adversaries and rebuild their countries. <br>Wonder why we are so unappreciated? <br>Great job Michael and all of our troops, American & Canadian.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Burke </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22986" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22986" name="comment-22986" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Many thanks to those who brought Dan home</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22986"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Having known Dan for many years, and appreciating all he has done for the people of Afganistan, I would like to thank the American and Canadian military for bringing him home. It is comforting to know that our two nations go the extra mile to ensure our injured heroes recieve the best care possible under difficult conditions.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Stuart </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22987" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22987" name="comment-22987" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">msg. usa. ret. (cavalry)</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22987"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Mikey me lad; You have done it again! And again: ERNIE PLYE is looking down with pride! <br>And to canada: thanks again for your help. allons! Gunner <br></font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">GUNNER WAGNER </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22990" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22990" name="comment-22990" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">THANK YOU AMERICA for saving our Danny</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22990"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Knowing Danny and his family quite well, news of his very serious injuries hit us hard. I served in the Canadian Forces Reserve for many years with the same Regiment that Danny belongs to. The close co-operation and comradeship between the Canadian and American Forces runs very deep on so many levels, more than most people realize. Knowing that he was in the best possible care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany gave us the hope that he would come home safe, as he did this past weekend. <br><br>THANK YOU AMERICA for saving our Danny.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Peter F., Surrey, BC Canada </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 25, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22994" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22994" name="comment-22994" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Thanks again...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22994"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br>Thank you again for bringing us to the front and relaying the information and the war as you see it. It is such wonderful news to hear this young soldier is going to pull through. As for all of the personnel responsible for extending this mans life from the pilots flying the medevacs to the incredibly talented medics, nurses and doctors who obviously worked tirelessly to ensure he would see his family again, BRAVO. It never ceases to amaze me this is often "a day in the life" of our American and Allied troopers. Thank you all for your amazing work and unending efforts. God Speed to Danny and his family and His peace and love to those families who have lost a family member to this war.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">RWHannaway </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22997" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22997" name="comment-22997" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">How touching and sad, but beautiful</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22997"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">My heart and prayers go out to Danny and his family! <br><br>Thanks for sharing this story....There is a reason why we share the longest friendly border in the world with our northern friends! <br><br><br><br></font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Annie Smith </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22998" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22998" name="comment-22998" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Get well soon Danny!</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22998"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Again Mike Yon brings the true face of the Afghan war into our lives with stunning effect. His blog should be broadcast on National / Worldwide TV for sure. Danny and family, we are thinking of you, deepest thanks for your and your fellow Soldiers sacrifice. Have a speedy recovery brother in arms. Much respect. A Brit.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Chris R </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_23000" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23000" name="comment-23000" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">No surprises here</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23000"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Having served in a joint US/Canada military effort (NORAD) in my early days I became very aware of the strength of the relationship that exists between our two strong nations and our men at arms. In spite of efforts of the liberal left to marginalize this unique relationship, this incident - where a young Canadian soldier is injured and receives support and treatment from the Americans as if he were one of their own - is a clear indication that this special relationship endures.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jerry P </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_23003" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23003" name="comment-23003" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">NYPD, retired</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23003"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">As usual, the PEOPLE get it, no matter what stupid politicians do or say to try and divide us. Those who lay it on the line day in and day out know who they can count on, and it's damned sure not a President or Prime Minister. The people of the US thank our northern neighbors/cousins, as well as our UK cousins and other coalition members for their support. We weep at your losses as we do at ours.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Bruce </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_23005" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23005" name="comment-23005" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Another touching moment brought to the people by Michael</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23005"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Godspeed Danny boy !!! Lucy; Judging by the photo, I think your an Angel ! Thank You ! <br><br></font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Rick Clarke </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 26, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_23010" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23010" name="comment-23010" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Professor</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23010"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Thank God for his recovery! <br>And, God Bless the Canadians, the Brits, the Poles, the Danes and the Aussies!!! <br>Hooo-Ahhhh!</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ted Bryson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 27, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_23013" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23013" name="comment-23013" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">Thanks for your service</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23013"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">God bless all our Canadian and American troops, brothers and sisters in arms. Come home safely. Thank you for fighting for Freedom.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Shirley </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 27, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_23014" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23014" name="comment-23014" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23014"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I think that letter was just one more thank you to you Michael for your reporting style. Not many reporters can report like you from the human side. When I read your reports, it's almost like I know everyone in the article by the end. Thank you for keeping it real and thanks to everyone that wears the uniform fighting for freedom.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Rocky </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 27, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_23015" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23015" name="comment-23015" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">The Real Heroes</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23015"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">With the media and the world focusing on the 2010 Olympics we have become confused as to who are the real heroes. Men and women who risk their lives fighting for peace and freedom are the ones who belong on the podium. Words cannot express the gratitude and respect I have for the courageous undertaking our Canadian and Allied Forces perform around the world; you are the true heroes. To all the men and women serving in Afghanistan, and to all those who helped bring Danny home safely, thank you! A gold medal could never show enough appreciation for what you all have done!</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Pat, Surrey, B.C. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 27, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_23017" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-23017" name="comment-23017" style="color:#006699"></a><br><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><b><font size="4">This photo says it all</font></b></font></font></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-23017"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">God speed to Danny. Thank you Lucy. God bless all our troops fighting for freedom.</font></font></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Chris Madden </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 28, 2010</span></font></font></font></div></div></div><font size="2"><br></font><p></p><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif"></a> </font></b></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></font></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></font></font></div><font size="4"><font size="2"><br></font><font size="2"><br></font><br></font></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family:'courier new';text-align:left"><font size="4"><br></font></div></div></div></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-45914109712867481632010-02-23T07:54:00.001-06:002010-02-23T07:54:11.206-06:00Adam Ray<h1 style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#783F04">Adam Ray</font></b></h1><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>18 February 2010</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b><br></b><i>Kandahar, Afghanistan</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><img alt="" class="mainPhotoImg" id="photoImg" src="http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/b/e/2/global_13103522.jpeg" style="float:left;height:180px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:1em;width:130px">On Feb. 9th, in a field near a road, an Afghan soldier squatted to relieve himself. He picked the wrong spot. A bomb exploded, blowing off a leg, and he died. Captain John Weatherly, Commander of Charlie Company of the 4-23 Infantry at FOB Price in Helmand Province, mentioned that in passing as he described the series of events that led to the death of Specialist – now Sergeant – Adam Ray, a vigorous 23 year old, born in Tampa, Florida. The bomb the Afghan stumbled upon was near the IED that struck Adam.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Without the thousands of culverts underneath, the roads of Afghanistan would be </font></font></font></p><img hspace="10" id="cjabiokabamngnbigeeibddnihgllkggmousedown-target-element" src="http://mi-cache.legacy.com/legacy/images/Cobrands/Louisville/Photos/20098333_204730.jpg" style="float:right;height:108px;margin-left:1em;margin-right:0px;width:72px" vspace="4"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">flooded and washed away during the snow melts and rains. In safe countries, drivers pay as little attention to culverts as we would to telephone poles. As a practical matter they are invisible to us.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In the war zone that is Afghanistan, life and limb depend on noticing normally mundane things like culverts. They are a favorite hiding spot for the Taliban to plant bombs intended to kill Americans driving the roads. Hundreds, even thousands of pounds of explosives can be stuffed inside, launching our vehicles into the sky, flipping them over and over, sometimes killing all. And so, in some areas, soldiers on missions must stop dozens of times to check culverts for explosives. Since we do this every day in front of thousands of Afghans, they know our patterns. In addition to planting bombs in culverts, they plant mines and other bombs near culverts, to get men who stop to check.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The U.S. military has been taking inventory of the culverts, identifying their exact locations, and documenting them with photos and maps. The military has embarked on a program to place barriers on culverts over which our troops cross on any regular basis. The enemy tries to remove or circumvent the barriers, and so night and day we have SKTs (Small Kill Teams) who move from place to place watching culverts. The SKTs frequently call fire that kills men who come to place bombs. When more enemy comes to collect the bodies, we kill them, too. But the SKTs can’t be everywhere all the time, and so this wily adversary lands hard blows every day.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The main route west from Kandahar is Highway 1, the jugular for ground transport in Afghanistan, which also connects to major cities like Kabul. Donor nations have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to construct and attempt to safeguard this crucial passageway. Yet the enemy is always there, leaving convoys smoldering and bullet-riddled bodies slumped over steering wheels or crumpled on the road.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Between Kandahar and just east of FOB Tombstone most of the culverts have been blocked with obstacles such as concertina razor wire, yet ten remained open.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And so on Tuesday, 9 February 2010, Charlie Company from the 4th Battalion 23rd Infantry of the 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, headed out to conduct “culvert denial.” The Soldiers know the risks of approaching the culverts, yet they do it anyway.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Staff Sergeant Christine Jones from the 4th Combat Camera Squadron was along on the mission. Company Commander Captain John Weatherly was away at a meeting when 3rd Platoon arrived west of Maiwand, just off the south side of Highway 1, near the village of Yakhchal, a Taliban stronghold.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The unreleased combat photos show that the morning was clear and bright. Soldiers can be seen unwinding concertina wire at the mouth of one side of the culvert. Specialist Adam Ray walks across the road to the other side of the culvert, down in the drainage area, and a photo catches dust in the air. A flock of birds can be seen taking flight. The meta-data on the image indicates it was 9:30 AM. A white 4-door car sped away, over the culvert, and Sergeant Jones quickly snapped to get the plate. Subsequent investigations indicated the car was not involved. The soldiers’ discipline speaks for itself; nobody shot at it.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p id="n-te" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Adam Ray was among the three soldiers who had been wounded by the small explosion. Captain Weatherly got the radio call and headed over, as did Army medevac helicopters. Adam’s feet and legs were fine; the explosive was buried higher up, near the road at the side of the culvert. He had been hit in the neck. The other two soldiers had arm wounds that were not severe. Despite the danger of more bombs, the photos show soldiers and medics diving straight in to help. Adam was patched and put onto a litter, and soon an Army helicopter with a red cross landed in the dust. The wounded were loaded and flown to Camp Bastion where Adam Ray, the third of five children, beloved son of a minister and a devoted mother, a soccer player and a flirt, who tutored dyslexic kids and was known to ask less popular girls to dance at school events, died. He was 23 years old.</font></font></font></p><p id="zpy5" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p id="fm2w" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</u></a></b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a> pages.</b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><h4 class="jc_title" id="" style="color:#585947;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="3">COMMENTS </font><font size="2">(80)</font></b></h4><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22626" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Honor and Pride</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22626"><font size="2">I am broken hearted for Adams family and their loss and also for the loss to the USA, these fine young men and women represent everthing that is best about America and the families that raise them.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Michael Adamson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22627" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22627" name="comment-22627" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Thank you, and a question-</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22627"><font size="2">Thank you for telling this story. It illuminates just one tiny aspect of the fight, as well as honoring Sgt. Ray. <br><br> A question- what was the Afghan soldier's name?</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">staghounds </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22628" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22628" name="comment-22628" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Answer for staghounds</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22628"><font size="2">His name was THE ENEMY. God bless the families of those who have given their lives and those who still serve.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Barbara Gibbs </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22629" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22629" name="comment-22629" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Never Forget</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22629"><font size="2">Thanks for keeping the cost of this war real and in the forefront of our minds...</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Wes </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22630" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22630" name="comment-22630" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4"><a href="http://www.cooljim.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color:#006699"><u>http://www.cooljim.com</u></a></font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22630"><font size="2">Thank you, Michael Yon, for treating this oft repeated situation with sensitivity.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jim Boyd </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22631" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22631" name="comment-22631" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Another Marine mom</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22631"><font size="2">God be with Adams family and give them strength and peace, I know they would trade anything to hold their son once more. I get the DOD reports every day and reading about the day he gave his life he became all of them. My heart breaks for the price the free world pays to defeat this enemy. <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Susan Buedel </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22632" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22632" name="comment-22632" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Afhan soldier</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22632"><font size="2">The way I read the dispatch, the killed Afghan soldier was not the enemy, but rather THE ALLY. <br><br> Thanks for the dispatch. It is priceless to be able to gain a specific understanding of what our soldiers are doing and what they go through every day. The stories of big engagements or crises are important also, but I think it is even more important for us back home to be able to visualize the day-to-day activities of our warfighters, and to realize that the war is on everyday for them.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">mwfair </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22633" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22633" name="comment-22633" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Trackbacked / Linked</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22633"><font size="2">This article/post has been trackbacked and linked at The Thunder Run <br><br> Adam Ray - By Michael Yon <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David M </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22634" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22634" name="comment-22634" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Greater love ....</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22634"><font size="2">Praying God will comfort Adam's family and comrades. Praying for the safety of all our brave troops - and you, too, Michael. Thank you for representing our warriors and telling their stories. God bless them, every one.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kathy DiSanto </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22635" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22635" name="comment-22635" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">for Barbara</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22635"><font size="2">With a comment like that you've never seen combat, you have ally's and you have enemy's, they can look and act the same, but thier belief's are different. The afgan soilder that was killed was a loss for America, he was not an enemy but a mission partner, someone just like you who want's a safe life for his family and freinds - if someone wanting to live a day without fear of gunshot and reprisal is killed fighting for thier freedoms, it is a loss for us, and he was not the enemy. <br><br> Hoorah Adam - Godspeed</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Trevor </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22636" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22636" name="comment-22636" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22636"><font size="2">Thank you for telling it like it is. My prayers go out to all of the families involved.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sherie Martin </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22637" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22637" name="comment-22637" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Charlie Company 4/23rd</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22637"><font size="2">I worked with the men of Charlie Company 4/23rd 40 years ago in Vietnam as a Scout Dog Handler. I am always saddened when I read of the death of one of our troops, but the death of Sgt. Adams a member of this fine unit that once watched my back I find particularly heartbreaking.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Steve Ball </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22638" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22638" name="comment-22638" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22638"><font size="2">God Bless Adam.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mary </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22639" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22639" name="comment-22639" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Grim Necessity</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22639"><font size="2">It is good to have someone like you in Afghanistan with the troops to send bulletins like this out. It is especially difficult for me to read because my son is in the Army in Afghanistan. I don't read as much about it as I read about Iraq - I don't need the reminders of how dangerous it is and how quickly my life could change from having a son in the Army to having a son in a grave. It is, however, essential that people in general are reminded that we are at war, and the war is against terror and terrorists; that those people, in general, want Americans and America dead. Sadly, Americans are war-weary and tired of hearing about it. Thank you for continuing to provide the message....just in case anyone reads.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Terry Frakes </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22640" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22640" name="comment-22640" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Ray Ray</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22640"><font size="2">Ray man, we had some pretty good times. You truely were a Prince. If everybody in this world had a little more Adam Ray in them, well I think that everyone that knew him knows that it would be a much better place. You were always down for anything, non judgemental and always had that look on your face. You never put yourself ahead of anyone else and never thought that you were better than them. Well guess what bro, you were. Adam Ray the Prince. You should start trying to get the story on JFK for me and try to loosen up that tight ass James Dean a little bit, I'm pretty sure you're chillin with him right now. Thanks for being who you were Adam, and standing up for the stuff that you did. It's just so weird that you're gone.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kevin Mahoney </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22641" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22641" name="comment-22641" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Adam</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22641"><font size="2">Thank you Michael for all you do and GOD BLESS our men and women.Like I've said Thank You never seems to be enough.To Adam GOD BLESS you and rest in GOD'S LOVING ARMS my prayers and thoughts are with your family and I thank them too for the sacrifices they have made.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jean </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22642" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22642" name="comment-22642" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Soccer</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22642"><font size="2">That and I didn't know you played soccer MoFo. We could have been doing that instead of trying to play guitar when we had too much to drink. Next time kid.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kevin Mahoney </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22643" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22643" name="comment-22643" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22643"><font size="2">thank you for putting a name to our military in Afghanistan. So often the media never takes the time to honor our military and their williness to serve our country. May God be with the family of Adam Ray as they grieve the loss of their beloved son Adam. I thank you for your story here and just wish the American people would take the time to care more about our military.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jean kiger </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22644" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22644" name="comment-22644" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">My admiration</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22644"><font size="2">After a regular day at work, I go home and relax in a comfortable home. These soldiers are at war 24/7 and can never let their guard down. May they receive our admiration, gratitude and prayers.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Armand </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22645" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22645" name="comment-22645" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">My condolences to all families involved</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22645"><font size="2">Godspeed, indeed. <br><br> And Barbara... you need to re-read the post. The Afghan killed was on patrol with our guys. Yes, there are cases of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers and police turning against us, but not all. As Trevor said, his death was a loss for America too.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AFSister </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22646" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22646" name="comment-22646" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">RIP Adam and our Afghan Brother</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22646"><font size="2">God Bless the peace loving people of this world. We are so fortunate that people like Adam and our Afghan Brother are so brave and willing to fight for our freedom. God, please comfort their families, friends and comrades and continue to protect the troops that carry on. They are all in our thoughts and prayers, as we hope that one day soon this nightmare will be over.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jenny </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22647" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22647" name="comment-22647" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Another HERO lost to us and welcomed in the arms of Angels</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22647"><font size="2">Thank you for the story. A very dear friend of mine from high school lost her son in combat in the Helmand Province on 26 Sep, 2009. The grief and the outpouring of love for this fine young man who was a Marine, a Warrior, a Son, a Brother and a Husband have changed my life forever. Rest in Peace Adam...and Jordan and all the other Brave Warriors who've gone before and those who shall no doubt follow. The world is a better place becasue of you and now you call Heaven home. May God be with your families as they adjust to your earthly absence.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Dan Nightingale </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22648" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22648" name="comment-22648" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Tampa has lost one of her sons</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22648"><font size="2">There is no joy in Tampa as we mourn the lost of a fine young man who died way too soon. Our hearts are broken. No more war. No more blood. Now more dead young people. But as long as there are those corwardly bastards willing to kill innocent women and children, we are grateful to the men and women who stand up and oppose them. de oppresso libre <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Warren Harris </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22649" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22649" name="comment-22649" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Gunny</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22649"><font size="2">Semper Fi, Soldier</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lee </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22650" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22650" name="comment-22650" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Rest in Peace</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22650"><font size="2">Godspeed and Semper Fi Adam. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">TexMarine2254 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22651" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22651" name="comment-22651" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">thanx</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22651"><font size="2">to all that have served thank you and god be with you</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">travis/colorado </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22652" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22652" name="comment-22652" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22652"><font size="2">Thank the Lord for these Brave young men and women, and the families who sacrifice so much. Prayers for Adam and his family. Prayers of thanks, Mr. Yon.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sara Johnson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22653" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22653" name="comment-22653" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">God bless our fallen soldiers</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22653"><font size="2">I wish our enemies would read these posts to get a glimpse into what the real fabric of our country is all about. Thanks Michael for telling this story. My deepest sympathy to Adam's family and friends. I wish I had the honor to have known him personally. And to those who are reading, thank you for your service.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">George </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22654" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22654" name="comment-22654" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Gold Star Mother</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22654"><font size="2">Today marks seven months since my only child died as a result of wounds sustained in southern Helmand Province. Here I sit reading another story that brings tears for my own loss and for the loss of another brave, young soldier. Reading the comments of those who knew Adam continues to validate the selflessness of our soldiers and the inspiration they shared with all who knew and loved them. I know first hand the effect my sons death has on his brothers in arms. It has been made clear to me that he will NEVER be forgotten and seven short months later, I have no doubts. I am forever grateful and indebted to those who are willing to fight for my freedoms everyday AND to Michael Yon who does the same to stand next to them and keep us informed. I pray and pray and pray for ALL of them to find they power they seek to accomplish the tasks at hand and for them to know that prayers are offered every minute by the masses for ALL of their protection and safety. <br><br> "He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But, we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers! For he, today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother." Wm Shakespeare <br><br> Thank God for those willing to fight and heartfelt gratitude for those who lose their brothers (and sisters). They will not be forgotten.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jill Stephenson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22655" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22655" name="comment-22655" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22655"><font size="2">My son is currently serving, training national soldiers with the skills to defend their own homes. I couldn't be more proud of his character, the kind that leads great young men and women who could chase any career they desire, to choose to fight for the freedom of those who can not defend themselves. We in the Army family STILL hear great news of Afghan and Iraqi families who know and appreciate the gift our warriors are giving them. Shame on the mainstream media for ignoring it. My prayers, and far too inadequate thanks, are with Adam's family.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Army Dad </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22656" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22656" name="comment-22656" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">teacher</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22656"><font size="2">My heart goes out to the American forces in Afghanistan and the horrible conditions in which our soldiers must live and fight in to protect those in foreign countries who want oppose our forces. America needs to take the attitude to win this conflict and win it now using all of our powers rather than drag it on having anothe Vietnam in History our textbooks. Turn our Mariines lose, let them fight to win, give them the equipment, relax the rules of engagement and lets get this thing over with and bring our guys back home.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sue Clayton </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22657" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22657" name="comment-22657" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22657"><font size="2">God Bless you Adam. Thank you for painting a picture of who Adam was as a man and a soldier. Please, God, Bless all of our men in combat, especially in Afghanistan. Help the 4-23 every day they are in harms way. Bring them home safely, soon.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Diane McNally </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22658" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22658" name="comment-22658" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Maverick</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22658"><font size="2">My heart goes out to the family of this brave young man. My sincere gratitude to him and those like him , who do not shirk from their duty to protect this country of ours. <br> I too was in the Marines. My father was career Army, Ist Division Seargents Major back in the late 50's. I do understand and honor the service and commitment of such brave young men <br> and women. My heartfelt thanks and deep respect to them all. When will America wake up to the threat from abroad to kill our country , its people and our way of life??? We are in this to the end, <br> and the bad guys will keep coming until we show them once and for all we will never say die. we will never stop in our efforts to kill every last one of them. This will be a fight for our country's very survival <br> as we know it. We all need to do our part to support our valiant soldiers , God bless them all !! We also need a Commander-In -Chief who truly understands his responsibility and aggressively pursues the bad guys , <br> with no apology. That is his number 1 job. Thankyou to the writer of this article.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John Hollingsworth </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22659" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22659" name="comment-22659" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Dear Barbara...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22659"><font size="2">...POUND SAND, lady! <br><br> The Afghan Soldier was fighting for his country alongside American soldiers and gave his life for what he believed in. How dare you belittle his sacrafice! <br><br> God's Speed, SPC Ray.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Matt Everhart </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22660" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22660" name="comment-22660" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">God Bless you Adam</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22660"><font size="2">I read the story about Adam Ray, a true hero. May his Mother and Father find peace in God's love for their loss. You will see Adam him again.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Bob T - Colorado </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22661" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22661" name="comment-22661" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">We are dimished</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22661"><font size="2">We are dimished with the passing of Adam and all the other brave warriors who put their lives in harm's way on our behalf. I dis not know Adam nor do I know most of the troops but as a veteran of 22 years of service, I fel te pain as another member joins the brotherhood of the fallen. Let us never forget the sacrifice they made. Rest in God my brother!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John Tyler </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22662" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22662" name="comment-22662" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22662"><font size="2">And my heart goes out to you Jill for your loss. May God bless and keep you. <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Tom Crook </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22663" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22663" name="comment-22663" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Afghans Are Not the Enemy</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22663"><font size="2">For Barbara Gibbs and others, the Afghan soldier, a part of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) comprised of the Army, Police, and Border Police are not the enemies, they are in fact the mission. The reason that this young trooper was with the Afghan soldier is because he was partnering with them. Partnering U.S. and Afghan units builds respect and capability of these forces and there is no question why the Afghan Army is the most respected element in the ANSF. The more capable the ANSF becomes, through partnering, the sooner the ANSF can assume responsibility for their battle space, the more capable they become at separating the enemy from the people the better the government of Afghanistan becomes at providing services to it's people thus legitimizing itself in their eyes.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">R. C. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22664" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22664" name="comment-22664" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Barbara, please get a clue</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22664"><font size="2">Afghan soldiers are our allies in the fight against the Taliban.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Matt </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22665" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22665" name="comment-22665" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Ease up on Barbara</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22665"><font size="2">I'm sure Barbara started typing before her brain went in motion. I can't imagine she really meant what she wrote</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ewakahuna </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22666" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22666" name="comment-22666" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22666"><font size="2">God Bless You Adam. And thank you Mike for this story, it reminds me every day of the bravery of our soldiers, and that my petty complaints are -- petty. Adam, you will not be forgotten.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Vicki </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22668" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22668" name="comment-22668" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">We need to know.</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22668"><font size="2">At least some of us need to know with much more urgency, also. We need to know the story of some of our Afghan allies. As implied by the post asking the name of the Afghan soldier, he has a story and a family, he fought against the same enemy, and died for the same cause as Adam. We need to hear Adam's story, but we also need to hear the story of our Afghan allies, because otherwise too many are unaware that their freedom is worth fighting for, just like ours. Their lives are worth honoring, just like ours. Their sacrifices help make us safer, just like ours make them safer. Their story begs to be told, and their lives honored, just like ours.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John Findley </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22669" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22669" name="comment-22669" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">watchingone</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22669"><font size="2">May God our Father in Heaven be with everyone who calls on his name. I have heart felt sorrow for all the give their lives to make the world a better place. To all that have served and all that have served and all that will serve, I am proud of you and I am very proud of America......... God Speed........</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Beauchamp </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22670" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22670" name="comment-22670" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">A loss for all of us ...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22670"><font size="2">When one of our children loses their life, a little in all of us dies. God bless the Ray Family in their loss and in their grief. God bless America as we continue into uncharted territory. Give our leaders, civilian and military, godly wisdom!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Paul Wilson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22672" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22672" name="comment-22672" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Gone Home</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22672"><font size="2">Thank you Adam for your courage and sacrafice I know that you never be forgotten and that you can now rest safe and secure in Heaven and I pray that your loved ones will always be protected and cared for until you are reunited someday. <br> God Bless You and all of the men and women who fight for freedom and justice. <br> You will alwayse be remembered. <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John Thomas </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22673" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22673" name="comment-22673" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Sons of America</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22673"><font size="2">What a heartbreaking loss of an American son. I too have a young Marine the forth of five children who is yet to be tested. He is currently safe in America but I am sure to be shipped out at some point. As I read this moving tribute to young Adam Ray, he sounds like my son. I am moved to tears for his loss and the pain that his Mother is surely feeling. I know that it may be me some day. I hope and pray that it is not.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">mom of five </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22674" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22674" name="comment-22674" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Wolfhound</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22674"><font size="2">There is a constant in the number of Americans focused on the culture, and away from libertys' service. This hasn't always been true. This lack of appreciation became fashionable during the '60s, and has affected American life ever since. Our underappreciated military sacrifices, always given by a minority of Americans, lacks the proper attention of a self-indulgent press and the majority it serves. So few provide the magnificent blessing of liberty, for the benefit of the thankless mass. We must be a solice unto ourselves. Adam served, Adam died, Adam sacrificed. I saw it in Vietnam. (note the name 'wolfhound', of the 25th ID) What a sorry country in the '60s........so underserving of such gifts. God has, and will continue to bless Adam, his family and friends, and all of those who willingly place the service of liberty above themselves. He understood completely that he was living a privilege, a privilege of service with the flower of his generation, and that all who refused be there with him, chosed to abandon service over comfort, and live off of the freedoms he provided. God bless those who possess such noble spirit..........</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">wolfhound </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22675" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22675" name="comment-22675" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Required Reading</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22675"><font size="2">Your dispatches, Michael, should be required reading for all. Bringing home the awfulness even of war in the defense of the nation is a necessity. We thank you, Michael. And thank you everlastingly to the troops and to the families who worry and sacrifice each day. Thank you! Thank you!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">L. M. Calhoun </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22676" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22676" name="comment-22676" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">FOB Tombstone, Helmand Prov, 2007</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22676"><font size="2">RIP Adam. Rest easy now, your job is done.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">HOTCHOW </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22677" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22677" name="comment-22677" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">So sickened by the senseless of this entire occupation</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22677"><font size="2">I feel so hopeless and heartbroken for these soldiers...their families. It tears apart so many people. What part of the trillions which were given to the DoD after 9-11 was spent directly on our troops and their families? Do any of you know? <br><br> Suicides are now higher than those KIA. <br><br> How do Americans turn the blind eye and ignore what is happening? <br><br> Our troops are dying in VAIN if NOT, then why? YOU cant answer because you dont know. You only know to do what you have been conditioned to do. "God Bless our Troops...they are brave. They are keeping us free" IT IS A LIE. IT IS COMFORTABLE AND ALLOWS YOU TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. WHY NOT RELEASE DETAILS OF THE DEAD? PICTURES OF THE SUICIDES. FORCE AMERICANS TO VIEW EVERY SINGLE ONE. IF YOU SUPPORT OUR TROOPS AND THIS OCCUPATION FOUNDED ON GREED AND POWER...THEN YOU WOULD SUPPORT LOOKING AT THEIR DEAD FACES...RIGHT? IS THIS NOT RIGHT? BUT YOU SUPPORT THE OCCUPATION AND YOU SAY IT IS RIGHT....</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Angie M Bishop </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22678" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22678" name="comment-22678" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">From a former USMC</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22678"><font size="2">Adam, <br> May you now RIP as your time here on earth was short, but your short life will never be forgotton. For a job well done so now go with your fellow soldiers and rest in peace.And God will watch over you untill we meet in heaven.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Norman Lamothe </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22679" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22679" name="comment-22679" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">RIP</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22679"><font size="2">Sleep well Brother. It is a shame our CIC wants these Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen to obtain Health Insurance to cover their wounds. As he is quoted as saying, "They volunteered for this, so they knew there were risks, and they should help out. Sorry POS.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">VNCorpsman </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22680" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22680" name="comment-22680" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">medically retired USAF medic</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22680"><font size="2">Rest In Peace brother. Lord I beg you to comfort the families of the brave fallen. I'll see you on the other side. Your work is done. rest easy now troop.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">OIFMEDIC447 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22681" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22681" name="comment-22681" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">medically retired USAF medic</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22681"><font size="2">Rest In Peace brother. Lord I beg you to comfort the families of the brave fallen. I'll see you on the other side. Your work is done. rest easy now troop.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">OIFMEDIC447 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22682" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22682" name="comment-22682" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Angie Bishop...get a clue</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22682"><font size="2">Yes, almost all of us proudly Support our Troops. It is not a blind support, we know and realize the sense of duty and patriotism these young men and women posess. If not for the courage and fortitude of our troops, where would our world be today? Better? I don't believe so! They will come home once the mission is complete, they know they have to stay and until that day comes they will fight with all their heart and might. They are there serving, not for some agenda, they are there for the man (or woman) standing beside them and they can do this because there is always someone there who has there back. Thank you Adam for you service and sacrifice and thank you to my son who I thank God for returning safely. God Bless our Troops and God Bless America!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">soldier's Dad </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22684" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22684" name="comment-22684" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22684"><font size="2">Thanks for the information. Our son, Army Chinook crew chief with the 4th CAB, is due to deploy to Afghanistan in the May '10 timeframe. We are concerned, of course. Your posts are always informative and sometimes heartbreaking, but I'd rather know the reality than assume anything otherwise. Thanks again. I'll keep reading. Oh, and the charge card $$ is coming your way.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Tom </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22685" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22685" name="comment-22685" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Classic reporting.</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22685"><font size="2">Mr. Yon's reporting style reminds me of classic war reporting from WWII. It is the kind of detailed, honest, unsentimental journalism, (without the anti-American slant that infiltrated reporting during the war in Viet Nam) that Bill Mauldin or Ernie Pyle would have been proud to produce.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Michael Miller 1259 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22686" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22686" name="comment-22686" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">9/11 Angie Bishop 9/11</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22686"><font size="2">Our troops are in that hostile environment fighting the Taliban because the Taliban gives aid and succor to the folks who slaughtered so many on Sept 11 in New York City. They help those who killed Americans and they are repressive to the extreme to their own people. If they did not have guns do you think anyone would pay attention to the Taliban? They are a relic from the past, but a dangerous one. They are mislead about the nature of the Divine and respect only force. If you were referring to their suicide bombers please be aware that in Palestine the only way they can now recruit suicide bombers is by thretening families or playing on the fears and fantasies of the mentally dimished or very young, ignorant people. There is not a person under the age of 40 years old who would not trade places with you to live in this country, the USA. Sure there is a lot wrong with the USA but for some reason no other nation has so many people who want to live within its borders..</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Brian </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22687" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22687" name="comment-22687" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Tragically heroic</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22687"><font size="2">My sincere condolences to his family and to his fellow countrymen. American military servicemen are good, decent and great people. Every loss is tragic.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kash </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22688" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22688" name="comment-22688" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Thankyou Adam</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22688"><font size="2">Adam I trust that you are with the Lord now and He has said "Well done" What an incredibly brave soul! You sounded like an amazing man while you were here on earth. My prayers are with your family now, that they would find some peace and comfort knowing they will see you again one day. Lord hold them close to You and give them peace like only You can.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Traci Wilberger </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22689" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22689" name="comment-22689" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Thanks, Adam</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22689"><font size="2">Thank you for your service. Rest in peace now, and God bless you.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">spratico </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22691" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22691" name="comment-22691" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Tomahawk Veteran</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22691"><font size="2">As Tomahawk Veteran of the 4-23rd Battalion in Alaska & a Vietnam Veteran as well. <br> May Sgt. Ray RIP <br><br> Our Tomahawks veterans group have sent a wreath and have men who will attend both the memorial service at Ft. Lewis and the funeral in his home state.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lem </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22692" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22692" name="comment-22692" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Do Not Stand At My Grave</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22692"><font size="2">Do Not Stand At My Grave <br><br> Do not stand at my grave and weep, <br> I am not there, I do not sleep. <br> I am a thousand winds that blow, <br> I am the diamond glint on snow. <br> I am the sunlight on ripened grain, <br> I am the gentle autumn rain. <br> When you wake in the morning hush; <br> I am the swift uplifting rush <br> Of quiet birds in circling flight. <br> I am the soft starlight at night. <br> Do not stand at my grave and cry. <br> I am not there, I did not die. <br><br> -Anonymous <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Deeply Saddened </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22693" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22693" name="comment-22693" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22693"><font size="2">I am keeping this soldier's family in my prayers, along with the troops that are fighting for us. Thank you troops and May God always be with you and protect you. You are in my prayers daily!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lillie M. Shoptaw </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22694" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22694" name="comment-22694" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Ray</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22694"><font size="2">I enjoyed having you as one of my soldiers at Madigan Hospital when you were a 68G (Patient Admin), you always asked me how it was when I was Infantry, and I told you how it was, you still wanted to reclass to Infantry, and I told you to becarefull at Fort Benning, since I know a lot of Drill Sergeants there. Then I stopped off at Fort Benning to visit one of my buddies and then saw you when you were going through AIT for 11B, I asked you there if you still wanted to be Infantry or go back to the hospital were you work indoors, dont have to worry about the rain or being cold outside... You replied back saying "Yes SGT Weinle, I still want to be Infantry" .. <br> You know what brother, Stand At Ease, Relax and take the heavy load off, the Mission is Complete for you, Thank You for Your service and Sacrifice to the US. Rest In Peace inside the Gates Of Heaven for You Have Done Your Time In Hell My Brother, YOU WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. We all will link back up with you in the future. Take care of all of our other brothers and sisters that will be showing up at the Gates of Heaven, show them around and just wait for the rest of us to show up...</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">SGT Weinle </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22695" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22695" name="comment-22695" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">This is great reporting</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22695"><font size="2">I repeat what many have said before, but thanks for your very sensitive writing about this war that appears almost forgotten here in the US. Michael has real talent and he reminds me of the best dispatches from WWII by Ernie Pyle. If interested in reading about WWII with this level of sensitivity check out: <br><br> http://www.amazon.com/Ernies-War-Ernie-Pyles-Dispatches/dp/0394549236 <br><br> His pieces on N. Africa, D Day and the death of the captain in Italy are real classics. <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">syvanen </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22696" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22696" name="comment-22696" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">We sacrifice for freedom</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22696"><font size="2">So many will go and sacrifice and those in this lost land, that remain will be better for it and the country they sacrifice for will not know what they have given, but we that have served before know and will remember. God Bless them, they are our youth and our future lost to protect others who will never know..and don't have a clue to the world around them....PH</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Phil Hoza </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 18, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22697" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22697" name="comment-22697" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Adam, Ray ray</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22697"><font size="2">Dear Adam, I have relived our time together over and over again with alternate endings, very much different to the one you encounter. I always admired your love for the Army, because you were born with it, I learned it along the way. I remember those long nights at the hospital and the training for our so called upcoming deployment, and our happiness when we both got accepted to school, and the double cheese stackers with bacon for breakfast, the pizza, the sunflower seeds, the long days playing my version of scrabble, all the cokes, and the strawberry smooties, and the mango smoothies, the french fries at midnight, teh movies, the james dean stuff, the different color tapes we dealt with fro mthe other shifts, your stories, your 21st b-day story in particular, how much you love your family, and your easy going spirit. i will forever miss you, u have left an emptiness in my soul that i cannot explain. thanks for everything we lived together, thanks for the lessons learned, i will not let you down. i promise. SGT Pin. see you later, hugs my dear ray ray.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Adriana M. Pin </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 19, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22699" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22699" name="comment-22699" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">So sickened by the senseless of this entire occupation</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22699"><font size="2">I Fear that now the casualties are many and often, and that the conflict has been so prolonged, we are in danger of forgetting the point of why we are in Afganistan. <br><br> Whether or not you agree with the motives for going in, we are now committed. It is no supprise that domestic security in Afganistan is at present ropey at best, despite the best efforts of the coalition. what may not be fully understood is that Pakistan is also at threat from domestic Terrorism, in fact it is well known that there are large sections of eastern Pakistan where the Taliban can move freely and with impunity. <br><br> Why is that of concern to us you may ask? well the madrassa's of the eastern border region are known to be a breeding ground for islamic extremeism, where young muslims are radicalised. Currently, those Talib's and islamic fundamentalists has us to fight. if we were to leave now, the government of pakistan which has proved itself to be a great ally would be unstablised, the fundamentalists now without the western devil to fight would no doubt settle old scores which may in turn destablise the country possibly followed by the rest of the region. <br><br> What we must not forget is that Pakistan is a nuclear state. And the only thing worse that is worse than islamic fundamentalist terrorists is an islamic fundamentalist terrorists with a nuclear arsenal. <br><br> I have myself lost friends and former colleagues, in fact you may have read Michaels stories of Oz Smidt and Rainbow team in his previous dispatches, and of Oz's ultimate sacrifice. But despite the losses, I believe we must see the mission to the end, for the alternative is inconceivable. <br><br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mark R (Ex British Army Bomb Disposal) </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 19, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22700" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22700" name="comment-22700" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Gone But Never Forgotten</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22700"><font size="2">Adam will never be forgotten.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Cpl. Beddoe </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 19, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22705" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22705" name="comment-22705" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">this says it all about his character</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22705"><font size="2">"was known to ask less popular girls to dance at school events"</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">pbordes </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 19, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22706" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22706" name="comment-22706" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22706"><font size="2">God bless you Adam and your loved ones. I'm so greatful for your courage and your sacrifice. You died so that the rest of us could live free and most Americans can keep taking our great country and what you gave us for granted. There are but a few that are willing to fight for freedom while most want to enjoy it, talk trash about our country but would never defend it much less fight for it. Thank you and rest in peace!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Rod Rodriguez </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 20, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22707" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22707" name="comment-22707" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Prayers Sustained</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22707"><font size="2">For you and all our warriors, continued prayers!</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Virginia Gentleman </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 20, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22709" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22709" name="comment-22709" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Do Not Stand At My Grave</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22709"><font size="2">The poem attributed above to "Anonymous" was actually written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye. <br></font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 20, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22710" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22710" name="comment-22710" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22710"><font size="2">Adam, you were truly a man of God. I can't thank you enough for your sacrifice. For me personally, you put a face to the war and made everything that I've heard since I was a kid a reality. You woke me up to something that needs to change. My heart breaks for all the families who have lost loved ones. Your family especially. They are wonderful people and I know you know how much they love you. You are a hero. It was said over and over again at your funeral today, but it can't be said enough. You were, and are, and always will be so loved by your family and friends and by all the people who's lives you touched without even knowing them. Thank you Adam, for being who you were. <br><br> And thank you to Mr. Yon for writing this and for honoring Adam as the brave soldier he was. God bless you.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Meg M. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 20, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22714" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22714" name="comment-22714" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22714"><font size="2">My dearest Adam... I am a better person having known you. You were an amazing person and a wonderful friend. You truly lived life to the fullest. Even before your untimely death, you taught me that life is short and how to live with no regrets. You never let an opportunity or experience pass you by. If you had the chance to do something that no one else would do, you would take it. Mundane concerns, such as "can I really do this?", "am I capable?", "will I get in trouble?" always went way over your head. As for if you could do something or if you were capable- the answer was always YES! And as for getting in trouble- well, sometimes it is better to ask forgiveness than permission. I am almost ten years older than you are, but this is a lesson that I learned from you. Your funeral yesterday pained me to my soul. Your family's grief and sense of loss was almost unbearable to watch. I pray that the Lord will offer them comfort in this time of sorrow and I pray that, they will have some comfort knowing that their son touched so many people's lives. So, here's to you, SGT Ray, to a life filled with no regrets, for always rooting for the underdog, and for making the ultimate sacrifice. You are truly a hero, both in life and in death... You will never be forgotten...</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Stephanie </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 21, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22715" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22715" name="comment-22715" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">Prayers are with Adam and his family</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22715"><font size="2">I know the pain is terrible to lose Adam, but he died for all of us. We appreciate and love him for his sacrifice. He joins the hundreds of thousands who have gone before in making the ultimate sacrifice that makes this beautiful country possible. With love in our hearts.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">sam </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 21, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22717" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22717" name="comment-22717" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">To Honor Adam and His Family</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22717"><font size="2">Twenty-three is so young, too young to be leaving us. But in that short amount of time, he has lived a life of great purpose and meaning that few others will ever be able to lay claim to. You did a good job Mom and Dad. I pray that the Lord will comfort you now and through the years. I cannot imagine the unbearable sorrow. I did not know Adam, but I feel the pain of that loss. May God bless you.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">stryker guy's mom </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 21, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry2" id="pc_22718" style="background-color:#fcfcee;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22718" name="comment-22718" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#999966;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">RIP SGT Ray</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22718"><font size="2">I didn't know you, but I shall not forget your sacrifice. Rest in Peace, may your family and friends find comfort in your memories. <br><br> Thank you for writing about this brave Soldier, Michael. Prayers out for your safety.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lorene </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 21, 2010</span></font></div></div></div><p></p><div class="jomentry1" id="pc_22721" style="background-color:#f7f6f6;background-repeat:repeat no-repeat"><a id="comment-22721" name="comment-22721" style="color:#006699"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="color:#666666;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><b><font size="4">RIP Adam Ray</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-22721"><font size="2">Sincere condolences to the Ray Family....... <br> Another young man cut down in the prime of his life. <br><br> Rest In Peace Adam.</font></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color:#999999;float:left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">bsmarrt </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">February 21, 2010</span></font></div><font size="2"><br></font></div></div><a id="comments" name="comments" style="color:#006699"></a><font size="2"><br></font><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif"></a> </font></b></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></font></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></font></font></div><font size="2"><font size="2"><br></font><font size="2"><br></font><font size="2"><br></font><br></font><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"> </p><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-27217376854076824302010-02-23T07:53:00.001-06:002010-02-23T07:53:36.481-06:00Patterns<p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6101a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Arghandab, Afghanistan</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Written: <i>19 December 2009</i><br> Published: <b>15 February 2010</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This is a story of warfighting and technology, and what life is like on the ground for our troops, as they do their best in war.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Last night a soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division was killed. The attack occurred just hours before the 82nd was to relieve 1-17th Infantry from duties in portions of the Arghandab River Valley near Kandahar.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Earlier that morning, soldiers from 1st Platoon, B-company (1-17th) had taken me on a short, easy mission out to a micro-base called “Brick 1.” The Platoon leader was 1st Lieutenant Ryan Fadden, while SFC Dimico was the platoon sergeant. The platoon was ready. Despite the filthy environment, weapons were clean, the gear was sorted and the men were in good spirits and a business-like frame of mind. They seemed confident. It looked like Lieutenant Fadden and SFC Dimico were on their jobs. The battalion had lost 21 men KIA during the first several months of combat—the Brigade lost 31. An article was about to be published in the Army Times which might lead one to believe that the 1-17th is not combat-ready. The author, Sean Naylor, is as highly respected as he is experienced, and so his words are taken seriously. Yet during my first week, despite serious stresses in some places, the men seemed ready.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And so 1st Platoon drove in their Strykers from COP Jelawur, stopping a couple kilometers away from a small ANA (Afghan National Army) base just on the edge of the Green Zone of the Arghandab River near Kandahar. The heavy Stryker ramps hissed and dropped with a dull thump. The soldiers piled from the backs of the four machines. Two white dogs with wagging tails greeted the men, and the men greeted the dogs as if they were old buddies.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Chaplain Gary Lewis said a prayer, then 1st Platoon left the Gate heading to ‘Brick 1’." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6912-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="Chaplain Gary Lewis said a prayer, then 1st Platoon left the Gate heading to ‘Brick 1’."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Chaplain Gary Lewis said a prayer, then 1st Platoon left the Gate heading to ‘Brick 1’.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The soldiers checked weapons yet again and adjusted gear, and we walked out the gate, keeping intervals so that a single bomb couldn’t get many of us at once. Sometimes enemies “daisy chain” bombs together like a trotline, killing or wounding many soldiers simultaneously.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The morning was cool, bright and dry, and so the fine dust left perfect boot prints. This was to be the final mission for 1st Platoon in the area before the 82nd Airborne would take over responsibilities at around midnight.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">As we walked out the gate, the older female dog which, by her looks, apparently had nursed dozens of suckling puppies in her years, decided to stay behind. The younger white dog trotted out the gate with us.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We walked on the road for a short distance under the direct view of a machine gunner on the perimeter. The roads, trails, and any places that are easy to walk are dangerous. Some bombs have been planted for months and the rains and winds have erased visible signs. The enemy will fire rifles or machine guns, trying to use American aggressiveness against our troops by luring young leaders into traps. The enemy has frequently succeeded in planting bombs very close to American and British bases, and so the minute you step out that gate, watch out. Some of the most dangerous places are closest to the bases where movements are most predictable. In Sangin, a guy tried to plant a bomb in clear view of a British guard tower, so close that the sentry could have killed him with a bow and arrow. Some people believe the Taliban are cowards, but in fact they are audacious and brave.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6920a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We moved off the road and patrolled across a freshly ploughed field of rich brown soil, soft as cotton. A shovel lay in the field. The brown boots of soldiers ahead raised dust puffs that caught in the gentle breeze. To attempt to mimic steps of the soldier ahead would glue eyes to ground, away from potential firing points. And besides, the bombs often kill someone far back in the patrol, even in places where others clearly have stepped. British and American soldiers have seen men killed after others had walked directly on a bomb maybe twenty times, until finally a friend disappears on what seemed safe ground. The enemy plants bombs at obvious choke points, but also in random places such as the middle of fields. Planting bombs in covered places drives us into the open, making it easier to ambush with rifles and machine guns. In war, this is fair play.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">No matter how hard soldiers try to vary their routes, patterns are set that transcend particular units. The 5/2 SBCT is using an interesting method to avoid making patterns called the “Honesty Trace."</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Our vehicles carry various tracking gear, one of which is the “BFT,” or Blue Forces Tracker. We are the Blue Forces. A “blue on blue” incident usually means we accidentally attacked our own people or allies, which we try hard to avoid. The BFT has many functions, but the prime function is to track the friendly vehicles, representing each with a circular blue icon on the screens.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Soldiers in 5/2 also use something called “Land Warrior,” which includes a small backpack with GPS, radio and soldier-worn computer, similar to a BlackBerry but not as sophisticated. The entire system with batteries weighs about nine pounds. The Land Warrior (LW) is potentially an incredible system, but it “breaks a lot,” according to one soldier. Major Doug Copeland, the Assistant Product Manager for Land Warrior, said we have over 800 LW systems in the field, which have experienced a 3% component failure rate during about seven months of combat. Soldiers report the systems are not yet fully waterproofed, and they're too heavy for comfort. (Infantrymen think in terms of bullets, and nine pounds equals about 270 bullets.) As the system matures, it should greatly increase our effectiveness.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">An eyepiece fits on the helmet with a tiny computer screen that replicates a 17” monitor. The soldier uses the display when he needs to view friendly and enemy forces, which can be populated by the user, HQ, or other units. In other words, a Predator or helicopter could spot and report enemy forces and those enemy forces would appear on the “common operating picture.” The user can navigate, send/receive digital orders and messages. Importantly, the user can send/receive graphics and images. Images are important. I recall a case in Mosul, Iraq in which a key figure was detained and released even though a soldier thought he recognized the man. Had the soldier been able to quickly send an image to HQ, the terrorist would have been arrested. Instead, he was released.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">When viewing the display, the soldier wearing Land Warrior looks like a cyborg. The eyepiece displays his exact location, and that of other Land Warrior equipped soldiers and vehicles, including Strykers. Lieutenant Ryan Fadden, leading the patrol, keeps all the previous IED strikes programmed into his Land Warrior, and so he can see the exact location on the screen, and HQ can see the precise location of each Land Warrior-equipped soldier, as can our A-10C and F-16B30 pilots, though most aircraft cannot see the Land Warrior or BFT.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The Land Warrior and BFT can be coupled with current, already-installed communications systems. This is largely the baby of Captain Jared Cox, who as a lieutenant made a connection that aircraft should be able to track the BFT and Land Warrior. Captain Cox had been the unfortunate victim of a U.S. airstrike during a training mission at home. An American jet destroyed the car that he and an NCO were driving in. It’s a wonder they survived with only scratches. Captain Cox and some A-10C pilots answered my questions about this new system. I wondered how Captain Cox, as a young lieutenant, got enough leash to run with such a wild idea without the Pentagon first spending millions on a feasibility study. His answer was simple: Colonel Harry Tunnell, the Brigade Commander at 5/2 SBCT, thought he was on to something, and so let him try, but with specified goals and conditions. Result: we are using it in combat right here, right now.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Why is this important? Many reasons. We frequently use airpower to help level the extreme terrain advantages the enemy enjoys. In addition to trying to avoid civilian casualties, we try to avoid blue on blue, which, despite precautions, still occur. For instance, a British unit that I was with in Helmand was aggressively pursuing the enemy during a firefight. They British soldiers had located the enemy and pinned them, and were assaulting in. Meanwhile, an Apache helicopter strike was called. During the interim minutes, the ground forces had closed on the enemy, and they had gotten so close so quickly that the pilot thought they were the enemy. The British Apache wounded British soldiers while the enemy got away.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Below are the first unclassified images, released to me by the Air Force and Army, of this system at work in combat.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/OEF-British-2a-730.jpg" style="height:450.410959px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">American A-10C spots British vehicles that were not seen by naked eye. In fact, the British probably do not realize that our A-10Cs have spotted them using the British BFT. Result: the British ground commander can bring our A-10C aircraft to bear with less delay.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/OEF-British-3a-730.jpg" style="height:451.232877px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Again, through the haze and difficulty, British vehicles can be spotted, allowing for faster, safer airstrikes when British call in American aircraft. It’s important to note that the British don’t have to invest a dime. Most British and American forces don’t know about this emerging capability—just make sure to keep your BFT on and the A-10C and F-16B30 can see you. Apaches and other aircraft cannot as of this writing. When soldiers are dismounted and using the Land Warrior (LW) system, the LW can relay through the vehicles to the A-10C/F-16B30, so the pilots can also see our dismounts, and the vehicles, on their HUDs (Head’s Up Displays).</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In Afghanistan, we continue to have “DUSTWUN” calls. DUSTWUN means Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown. These have happened especially near rivers, and in the mountains. We lose soldiers, especially after bombings. If the soldier was wearing a LW, we would either know his location, or his last known location. The LW also has a “call for medic” feature. The soldier can push a button that reports location and need for a medic. If he or she is good to type or talk, details can be transmitted.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="American A-10Cs and F-16B30s can now track many vehicles from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/OEF-British-4a-730.jpg" style="height:450.410959px;width:600px" title="American A-10Cs and F-16B30s can now track many vehicles from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">American A-10Cs and F-16B30s can now track many vehicles from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">An A-10C commander told me about an instance where American forces had called him in. The man on the ground insisted they were at point “A,” but the A-10C had picked up his LW, and said, “No, that’s not where you are,” and they quickly figured it out and kept working.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Between data from BFT and LW, headquarters can track just about every step soldiers take, and they can see stigmergic “ant patterns” develop. And so the Army hired a civilian expert who creates a pattern analysis to work at 5/2 HQ, and his reports warn unit leaders when they are setting patterns. This applies over time. <br> Just because 1st Platoon didn’t repeat a certain route doesn’t mean 2nd Platoon or 4th Platoon didn’t already set that same route. A unit that was there two years ago will have already created a pattern, and if the enemy paid attention—this enemy pays very close attention—they don’t need to wait until we draw a map with our boots. The enemy will predict how we move based on previous units. (Emergent patterns transcend particular persons or units.)</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Explosives for sale in market in Sangin, Helmand. Ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer but was recently outlawed in Afghanistan. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_3150a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Explosives for sale in market in Sangin, Helmand. Ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer but was recently outlawed in Afghanistan. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Explosives for sale in market in Sangin, Helmand. Ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer but was recently outlawed in Afghanistan. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The enemy sets patterns. The primary indicator that an IED is present is that an IED was there before. In this war, lightning strikes the same places repeatedly. Explosives are cheap. To avoid bombs, instead of going through doors, soldiers blast holes. They avoid paths, avoid bridges that are not observed, avoid the obvious. Some choke points are unavoidable, and so often the best course of action is to spend extra effort on nearby families, trying to develop relationships so they will give tips. By far, the number one counter-IED strategy is cultivating local people. If the local people don’t want you to get blown up, there is a strong chance you won’t get blown up, so long as they feel safe in passing the information. We saw this landslide of support occur in Anbar Province, Iraq, in late 2006, then spread through much of Iraq during 2007. As we pushed more troops into neighborhoods and lived with the people, the people flooded us with information.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="There were farmers and kids in the immediate area." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6922a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="There were farmers and kids in the immediate area."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">There were farmers and kids in the immediate area.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This morning, we crossed the first field, and an irrigation canal. "White Dog” stepped daintily stepped across the stones. Our soldiers have been killed at canal crossings. When there are bridges, the explosives often are just off the bridge, apparently because the enemy doesn’t want to blow up the bridge.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Farmers worked close by—and so we kept going through a hole in a wall, but only because there were farmers right there beside it, who smiled as we stepped through.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The next fields were vineyards, but unlike American vineyards where vines often are trained on wires, these vines are trained on low mud walls that would easily stop cannon fire from an Apache or A-10.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6925a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">When the Soviets attacked in this same area, Mujahedeen recounted hiding under garlands of grapevines. They waited until soldiers got close and shot them. A 5/2 soldier was shot from up close in the area. The bullet nailed his front plate and knocked him flat but he was okay. Later, an IED took him out of the fight, though comrades say he is doing fine. During winter, the vines are dormant and so there is little cover.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Moving through the vineyards, we walked single file on a hump between rows. The soil was hard as cinderblock. A few hundred meters later we came to Brick 1, the patrol base that had been set up in an abandoned farm compound.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">At Brick 1, soldiers had cut down the pomegranate trees inside the compound walls, saying the owner was living in Kandahar and he knew we had occupied his compound and that he would be compensated. Nobody knew the price per tree. During 2008, when I was with British 2 Para in Helmand, a farmer was shooting at us nearly every day. SIGINT (voice intercept) was clear that he was shooting because the British cut down his trees but offered meager compensation. Shortly after I left, a soldier was shot in the head but I do not know if the death stemmed from the trees.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The Stryker soldiers said they typically stay at Brick 1 for about two weeks with no showers, though there is a foreign-built well. They didn’t have a Stryker, just an MRAP, and all their supplies get humped in by foot. They tried to drive in resupply but got blown up, they said. They eat MREs, and there is little going on other than attacks and missions. Inside the compound were bullet holes and marks where RPGs had come in.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" id="r79v" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7011a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Soldiers had collected the expended white casings from mortar illumination; the enemy uses the cases for bombs. </font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Soldiers can be seen in the field moving closer to the IED." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6966a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="Soldiers can be seen in the field moving closer to the IED."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Soldiers can be seen in the field moving closer to the IED.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">At Brick 1, everything seemed fine; soldiers were cutting up, saying Perez the sniper couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We walked to the roof of Brick 1 where Perez had his calculator out, doing the math for a long shot, and I wondered who he was going to shoot. Turns out he was only preparing to fire at an IED that had recently been placed within direct sight of patrol base. A patrol had moved out to get a closer look at the bomb.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Though December is dry and brown, the micro-terrain in the valley is like a Harry Potter invisibility cloak. The enemy can still sneak around. And so the area immediately outside the perimeter is likely to have a bomb that wasn’t there the day before.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">A couple of helicopters could be seen in the far distance, doing who knows what.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6977-730.jpg" style="height:900px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">A fat puppy slept on the roof near one of the machine guns, while a brown sheep was running around in the courtyard below. Keeping dogs on base has been against regs since at least World War II, yet I have never been to a single base in Afghanistan or Iraq that doesn’t have at least one. It’s highly doubtful that Secretary Gates or Admiral Mullen really care about the dogs. At these isolated, small posts, dogs have probably saved a lot of American lives, but mostly they just make good pals. Families send puppy chow through the mail and it’s common to see soldiers with bags of dog food and puppy chow.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">On the roof were two interpreters. One “terp” wore the nametag “Tarzan,” saying an American captain had given him the name and he liked it. Afghan men tend to be fanatics for professional wrestling, so there was little doubt he tried to live up to his appellation. He seemed very proud to be called Tarzan.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The soldiers and terps were joking, despite the new bomb nearby which indicated that someone in the neighborhood wanted to kill them. Only the lone sheep seemed unhappy in his loneliness. There was an explosion in the far distance. There were no birds in the air, other than helicopters in the distance. The day before, the Dutch had come in with a giant helicopter to FOB Frontenac and picked up one of their helicopters that had come back from a mission with bullet holes. The Dutch took off the rotors, drained fluids, and flew it away.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Roof of Brick 1: Kandahar Airfield, and Pizza Hut is only about 10 minutes away by helicopter, though these soldiers go weeks eating MREs. Everyone’s war is a snowflake; no two wars are the same. One of Mullah Omar’s wives came from just a few minutes away." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_6999a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="Roof of Brick 1: Kandahar Airfield, and Pizza Hut is only about 10 minutes away by helicopter, though these soldiers go weeks eating MREs. Everyone’s war is a snowflake; no two wars are the same. One of Mullah Omar’s wives came from just a few minutes away."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Roof of Brick 1: Kandahar Airfield, and Pizza Hut is only about 10 minutes away by helicopter, though these soldiers go weeks eating MREs. Everyone’s war is a snowflake; no two wars are the same. One of Mullah Omar’s wives came from just a few minutes away.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7001a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Soldiers at Brick 1 said a mortar strike made this hole in their roof but that fight happened before they arrived. There is the saying that war consists of long periods of sheer boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Here there’s something pretty much always going on, though often we don’t know what it is. You can hear explosions or firing, or see the helicopters or jets up to something, but you don’t know what.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7016a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">1st Platoon prepared to depart Brick 1, leaving the current inhabitants nearby.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="We moved through fields and four men were searched but mostly the soldiers just smiled and kept moving." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7072a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="We moved through fields and four men were searched but mostly the soldiers just smiled and kept moving."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We moved through fields and four men were searched but mostly the soldiers just smiled and kept moving.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="We didn't see girls or women during this part of the walk." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7026a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="We didn't see girls or women during this part of the walk."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We didn't see girls or women during this part of the walk.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="This soldier noticed that the wall on the left had been patched since the last time he was there. The enemy often plants bombs in walls." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7040a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="This soldier noticed that the wall on the left had been patched since the last time he was there. The enemy often plants bombs in walls."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This soldier noticed that the wall on the left had been patched since the last time he was there. The enemy often plants bombs in walls.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We walked for maybe another half-mile through a small village that Lieutenant Fadden said previously had been abandoned, but after soldiers had moved into Brick 1 and began regular patrols, families starting coming back. This is a good effect of our work. Creating safety for the local population is the basis of an effective counterinsurgency strategy. LT Fadden’s statements are consistent with observations I’ve made elsewhere in Afghanistan, and also what we saw in Iraq in 2007. Despite much grim news from Afghanistan, there is clear progress in some areas.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This same confusion was evident nearly every step of the way in Iraq between 2004 and mid 2007: clear progress in some respects with clear backsliding in others. This is the nature of progress in face of opposition. It’s like a ship whose engines are pushing one way, while the currents are flowing another, while the changing winds are blowing yet another, and it’s all happening at night, and there is no GPS. You just have to wait for clear nights to check the stars, and, as it has been said, smooth seas never made a successful sailor. This military has weathered ferocious storms over the past eight years, more than even they can remember, often enduring setbacks and tragedies, sometimes blown off course. Over that time, there has been movement toward our goals, but not enough, and the enemy is strengthening.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Along the way, young boys wanted their photos taken, but girls were nowhere to be seen." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7088a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="Along the way, young boys wanted their photos taken, but girls were nowhere to be seen."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Along the way, young boys wanted their photos taken, but girls were nowhere to be seen.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This village had water wells similar in form to what can be seen in many villages in Afghanistan.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="The base of this water well indicates the Danish installed it back in 2003, when the world seemed to know that the Taliban were whipped and we decided to attack Iraq." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7083a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px" title="The base of this water well indicates the Danish installed it back in 2003, when the world seemed to know that the Taliban were whipped and we decided to attack Iraq."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The base of this water well indicates the Danish installed it back in 2003, when the world seemed to know that the Taliban were whipped and we decided to attack Iraq.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Elsewhere in Arghandab are plentiful signs, apparently erected by us, which today mock our ‘progress.’ People say that Americans, British and others are losing patience with our progress here. It's reasonable that citizens at home expect demonstrable progress in 2010, after 8 full years. People at home have a right to know how we are spending the lives of our people, and our money." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/2Y4Q9717accC-730.jpg" style="height:437.260274px;width:600px" title="Elsewhere in Arghandab are plentiful signs, apparently erected by us, which today mock our ‘progress.’ People say that Americans, British and others are losing patience with our progress here. It's reasonable that citizens at home expect demonstrable progress in 2010, after 8 full years. People at home have a right to know how we are spending the lives of our people, and our money."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Elsewhere in Arghandab are plentiful signs, apparently erected by us, which today mock our ‘progress.’ People say that Americans, British and others are losing patience with our progress here. It's reasonable that citizens at home expect demonstrable progress in 2010, after 8 full years. People at home have a right to know how we are spending the lives of our people, and our money.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7121a-730.jpg" style="height:399.452055px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We walked back to the ANA base without incident. Some 82nd Airborne soldiers were preparing for a mission. They had no way of knowing that an earthquake was brewing in Haiti and other 82nd soldiers would soon be swooping in there to save lives.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Tonight, 18 December 2009, their unit would take command of the area, and the 1-17th would go out to FOB Frontenac to take a different area. Stryker soldiers from the 1-17th talked quietly about the Humvees, sadly predicting the loss of 82nd brethren, and then changed the subject to more lighthearted matters.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/patterns/IMG_7136a-730.jpg" style="height:382.191781px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">A few minutes later, I joined a different Stryker convoy for the several-hour journey back to FOB Frontenac. We would travel through the area where five Canadians --four soldiers and a journalist -- would soon be killed. This was shortly before the suicide bombing at a base that attacked CIA officers, killing eight people. The CIA is out here working hard but they don’t get much credit. That’s the way it must be.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">As we crossed dangerous terrain, a helicopter from some unknown country swooped over the convoy a couple times. The Strykers are bad about getting stuck in the desert, but are better than the heavy humvees, and so we crossed some wadis at 90 degrees. Over my headset, soldiers talked about the high danger of this area. Later that night, we got back to FOB Frontenac and learned that an 82nd Airborne Convoy had been hit in a wadi that we had crossed. The humvees cannot cross wadis like Strykers can. A ranking soldier explained that the humvee had driven in the wadi and been hit. Two soldiers were wounded. Sergeant Albert Ware, an 82nd Airborne soldier from Chicago, had been killed. Albert was originally from Liberia and on his second tour in Afghanistan. A story in Chicago would say the following:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Tragically, the war monument in the Pullman neighborhood will soon bear another name, after a 27-year-old father of three was killed this week by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Sgt. Albert Ware died after his Humvee was blown up while he was on a secret mission…When Ware told his parents he'd joined the military after the Sept 11 terror attacks, they were angry that he voluntarily chose to go to war.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">"I was afraid," said his father, Thomas Ware."</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Sergeant Albert Ware died in service to the United States. He is an American hero. Since this mission, the Coalition has lost about a hundred more. The war goes on.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</u></a></b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a> pages.</b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><br></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><br></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif"></a> </font></b></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" id="axu9" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><div style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" id="wiq2" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><div style="text-align:center"><br></div><br><p></p><font size="2"><br></font><p></p><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-23238998547886187002010-02-23T07:52:00.001-06:002010-02-23T07:52:39.574-06:00Whispers<p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Flight Medics prepare the aircraft to receive patients." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9720a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Flight Medics prepare the aircraft to receive patients."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Flight Medics prepare the aircraft to receive patients.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Around Afghanistan</i><br><b>22 February 2010</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Johnny Boy” Captain John Holland was walking out to the aircraft just as I arrived at the flight line.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Captain Holland asked, “Are you ready?”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Yes Sir.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The Marjah offensive—billed as the biggest US/NATO/Afghan assault on the Taliban ever—had begun. With it, the attention of nearly all the reporters covering Afghanistan is focused on Marjah. Yet fighting continues across the country, in provinces with names unfamiliar to most people. Men and women are wounded. Some die. Some are saved by dedicated medical crews, and by the pilots who fly into combat to ferry wounded to some of the best trauma facilities in the world, right here in Afghanistan. This story is about the people who care for our troops, wounded correspondents, and many other people, day in, day out.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Pre-flight preparations before loading wounded troops." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9722a-730.jpg" style="height:409.315068px;width:600px" title="Pre-flight preparations before loading wounded troops."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Pre-flight preparations before loading wounded troops.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The C-130J can be outfitted to perform many sorts of missions, one of which is medical evacuation, which they call “aerovac.” The flight medics say that starting from scratch and not rushing things, they can outfit the aircraft for aerovac in about 45-60 minutes.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Inside the cockpit is a hatch to the roof of the C-130J" border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9806aC-730.jpg" style="height:392.054795px;width:600px" title="Inside the cockpit is a hatch to the roof of the C-130J"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Inside the cockpit is a hatch to the roof of the C-130J</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This particular C-130J crew had already taken me on a “<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/special-delivery.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Special Delivery</u></a>” mission: a night parachute resupply near the Turkmenistan border.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Pre-flight preparations and checks are exhaustive. SSGT Gabe Campbell took me to the roof of the aircraft to explain a few procedures.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Gabe cautioned that when walking on top, one should make sure to stay within the black lines. The airplane is big, and the flight line is made of concrete. People have fallen off the aircraft (and continue to do so), though today was sunny, dry and not windy. But imagine doing these checks on a dark, freezing, windy night, on the icy fuselage of a giant C-17.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Stay between the black lines and don't step on anything that says 'no step.'" border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9740aCR-730.jpg" style="height:368.219178px;width:600px" title="Stay between the black lines and don't step on anything that says 'no step.'"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Stay between the black lines and don't step on anything that says 'no step.'</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I had never been atop a C-130 and the sun was in full cooperation for good photographs. “People at home will like this,” I said to Gabe.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="The runway at Kandahar Airfield was busy." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9744a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="The runway at Kandahar Airfield was busy."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The runway at Kandahar Airfield was busy.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Gabe Campbell shows important hidden chambers." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9751aC-730.jpg" style="height:438.082192px;width:600px" title="Gabe Campbell shows important hidden chambers."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Gabe Campbell shows important hidden chambers.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="The 14mm lens stretches the wing." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9759a-730.jpg" style="height:900px;width:600px" title="The 14mm lens stretches the wing."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The 14mm lens stretches the wing.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Gabe explains the de-icing mechanism on the tailfin, which the lens distorts to look like a shark fin. ('Fish-eye' effect.)" border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9777a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Gabe explains the de-icing mechanism on the tailfin, which the lens distorts to look like a shark fin. ('Fish-eye' effect.)"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Gabe explains the de-icing mechanism on the tailfin, which the lens distorts to look like a shark fin. ('Fish-eye' effect.)</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Gabe smacked the rear section, saying that birds often nest in this area and when you smack it they fly out. He said nesting birds aren’t a big problem in Afghanistan, but can be in some places." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9783a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Gabe smacked the rear section, saying that birds often nest in this area and when you smack it they fly out. He said nesting birds aren’t a big problem in Afghanistan, but can be in some places."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Gabe smacked the rear section, saying that birds often nest in this area and when you smack it they fly out. He said nesting birds aren’t a big problem in Afghanistan, but can be in some places.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Back to the front. The sun has moved and is no longer perfect." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9785aCR-730.jpg" style="height:355.890411px;width:600px" title="Back to the front. The sun has moved and is no longer perfect."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Back to the front. The sun has moved and is no longer perfect.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="That little membrane tears off and reveals a handle for the life raft, which pops out of the wing just behind Gabe's left arm." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9791a-730.jpg" style="height:900px;width:600px" title="That little membrane tears off and reveals a handle for the life raft, which pops out of the wing just behind Gabe's left arm."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">That little membrane tears off and reveals a handle for the life raft, which pops out of the wing just behind Gabe's left arm.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Pilot Captain John Holland pops out from the cockpit. Maybe he was wondering why we were playing on the roof." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9795aC-730.jpg" style="height:346.027397px;width:600px" title="Pilot Captain John Holland pops out from the cockpit. Maybe he was wondering why we were playing on the roof."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Pilot Captain John Holland pops out from the cockpit. Maybe he was wondering why we were playing on the roof.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Around back, more preparations were underway." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9839a-730.jpg" style="height:446.30137px;width:600px" title="Around back, more preparations were underway."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Around back, more preparations were underway.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p id="dcd1" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We crawled back down into the cockpit. Specialists of various sorts were loading all kinds of gear, most of which was so foreign to me that it might as well have been space gear. TSGT Matt Blonde said the gear weighs about 800 pounds and has the capabilities of a hospital intensive care unit.</font></font></font></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="An ambulatory patient strapped on his seatbelt and a sedated Canadian soldier was loaded." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9848a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="An ambulatory patient strapped on his seatbelt and a sedated Canadian soldier was loaded."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>An ambulatory patient strapped on his seatbelt and a sedated Canadian soldier was loaded.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">After detailed preparations, checks and rechecks, they were ready to receive a critical care patient. Medical staff explained that this Canadian soldier had been wounded during training by a Claymore mine. In total, four Canadians were wounded when another Canadian soldier, Corporal Joshua Caleb Bake, was killed near Kandahar.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Doctor Chris Ryan works with the wounded Canadian soldier. During flight from Kandahar to Bastion to Bagram, the team was at his side constantly checking this or that." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9861a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Doctor Chris Ryan works with the wounded Canadian soldier. During flight from Kandahar to Bastion to Bagram, the team was at his side constantly checking this or that."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Doctor Chris Ryan works with the wounded Canadian soldier. During flight from Kandahar to Bastion to Bagram, the team was at his side constantly checking this or that.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The CCATT (Critical Care Air Transport Team) consisted of Tech Sergeant Matt Blonde (respiratory therapist); Major Debbie Lehker (nurse); and Lieutenant Colonel Chris Ryan (doctor). I asked Doctor Ryan what precautions troops should take to reduce the wounds he is seeing. Some of the advice was obvious. NCOs push soldiers to wear their ballistic glasses, for instance. Burns were a constant, serious problem in Iraq, but less so in Afghanistan, due to the nature of the bombs.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Dr. Ryan mentioned that Special Operations folks often take the worst injuries because their body armor offers less coverage, and so they often take from 1-3 amputations. He gave considerable credit to special operations medics. “They are studs,” he said. High praise indeed, coming from someone with his experience.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Strykers are great vehicles, but none of our vehicles is ideally suited for combat here. Stryker vehicles typically have about three soldiers standing up in hatches, sometimes on MRE boxes. Dr. Ryan said that when the bombs detonate under the vehicles, soldiers often suffer 5-7 fractures in each leg. Other fractures include feet, pelvis, back, ribs, arms, and neck.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Doctor Ryan stressed repeatedly the value of wearing seatbelts. The bombs smash you into the vehicle. Dr. Ryan served with Dustoffs during the worst times in Iraq. He’s seen many more wounds than most soldiers will ever see. So I listened to him. But often when soldiers see me putting on a seatbelt in a Stryker, they warn me to take it off. “Wear it if you like,” they say, but they warn that if we get launched and are upside down, I’ll be stuck in a possibly burning vehicle. This has happened plenty of times. So we all carry seatbelt cutters that can also be used to strip off boots and uniforms of wounded soldiers. But the soldiers are adamant that wearing seatbelts worsens your odds. I do not know who is correct. You get thrown hard without them, and stuck with them.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">So, I asked Command Sergeant Major Jeff Mellinger, who served almost three straight years in Iraq. We drove thousands of miles around the country, visiting units everywhere. CSM Mellinger also visited Combat Support Hospitals twice per week. He read every single casualty report—thousands—and was the CSM for General Casey then General Petraeus. In short, CSM Mellinger knows the combat side, and the statistical side. Today he is the CSM for AMC—Army Materiel Command—with responsibility for every bean, bullet, bandage, helicopter, tank and seatbelt in the Army inventory. He talks bluntly and I take his word as the final statement. CSM Mellinger emailed about the seatbelt question with the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">"BLUF - only a fool would ride without seatbelts. The feeling of not needing seatbelts started in MRAPs started as troops got to feeling invincible because they were riding in the beasts. Fact is there are lots of casualties that survived the blast, but did not escape unscathed by being thrown around during the blast or rollover. The first two soldiers killed in MRAPS were thrown free and rolled over by the vehicle.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I have high speed video showing 250 pound dummies being slammed to the floor, then the roof, then the floor again in blast simulation after blast simulation. Many of these crash-test dummies sustain breaks of arms, legs, necks and backs.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Far more likely than being trapped in a seatbelt is being upside down in your belt due to rollover. To prevent that being a problem, each troop was issued a webbing cutter. I am the guy who demanded cutters (2005) that everyone would be issued and keep on their body armor in order to cut themselves or anyone else out should the highly improbable happen. But if you are riding without seatbelts and rollover, you will surely have injuries.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Not long ago at Walter Reed, I visited most of the crew of a vehicle that had rolled over, and none were wearing seatbelts. Every single member of the crew had injuries, from open fractures to missing teeth. The squad leader told me that he was solely responsible for their injuries, as he had told them they didn't need seatbelts, and he knew that they would likely have escaped unhurt had seatbelts been worn.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Please look at the NHTSA link on seatbelts </font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/buasbteens03/index.htm. Also see the Snopes link http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/seatbelt.asp.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Use your belts, and try to get those who do not to see the error of their thinking. You will save lives!"</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Jeff emailed another important missive just before this dispatch went to press:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“From my personal notes gleaned from reading every casualty report during my MNF-I CSM time (1 August 2004 - 6 May 2007):</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We had 56 killed and 190 injured in rollovers -- thrown free from the gun turret or out the doors. Rollovers, Michael, not IEDs, not enemy action, rollovers. Add to that another 39 killed and 186 injured in vehicle accidents, I think one can safely say there would be more alive today were all wearing belts!”</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">That matter is settled: I’m wearing the seatbelt.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Co-pilot Captain Tanner Bergsrud spots fighter jets coming out of the sun." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9894a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Co-pilot Captain Tanner Bergsrud spots fighter jets coming out of the sun."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Co-pilot Captain Tanner Bergsrud spots fighter jets coming out of the sun.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We took off from Kandahar and headed west toward Camp Bastion in Helmand. The sun was blindingly bright at times and there was much air traffic, and so the pilots were on sharp lookout. We could hear radio traffic from all sorts of aircraft, and air traffic control alerted our pilots about some fighter jets that happened to be coming out of the sun at approximately our altitude. Despite the bright sun, co-pilot Captain Tanner Bergsrug somehow managed to spot the aircraft.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-9908aC-730.jpg" style="height:427.39726px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Lieutenant Colonel Ash Salter is the Commander of the 772 Expeditionary Airlift Squadron and he came along for the mission. He answered all one hundred questions I threw at him, while keeping watch for undeclared aircraft. Like all the other pilots and crew, LT. COL. Salter gives high marks to the C-130 platforms; it’s conceivable that C-130s will eventually have been in the American inventory for over a century.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0009aC-730.jpg" style="height:378.90411px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We landed at Camp Bastion, and another C-130 pulled up behind us, and then came this ambulance. Two Apaches flew over to land and LT. COL. Salter noticed that their Hellfire rails were empty. Aircraft were coming and going as if this were the Atlanta airport.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0035a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We picked up two wounded Afghan soldiers. This one didn’t speak English but he was happy when I stopped a couple times to say hello and give a thumbs up.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0042a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Another C-17 comes in. By now, we must have seen every C-17 in the American inventory. Many of the wounded are first picked up by helicopters such as “<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/pedros.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Pedros</u></a>, ” and then transported via C-130J, and then to these C-17s or KC-135s. I once flew <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/under-distant-stars.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Under Distant Stars</u></a> from Iraq with Jeff Mellinger on a C-17 to Landstuhl. Patient treatment was attentive and top-notch. The wounded also say Landstuhl treatment is great, but when they get back to the United States the treatment can be shamefully poor.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="We fly ammunition into Afghanistan on C-17s. Senior Airman Joe Hawkins, closer to the C-17, is the silent crew member. Joe is quick with a smile but doesn’t say much." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0062a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="We fly ammunition into Afghanistan on C-17s. Senior Airman Joe Hawkins, closer to the C-17, is the silent crew member. Joe is quick with a smile but doesn’t say much."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We fly ammunition into Afghanistan on C-17s. Senior Airman Joe Hawkins, closer to the C-17, is the silent crew member. Joe is quick with a smile but doesn’t say much.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="After a patient is loaded, Tom Parsons gives the signal that they’re ready for the next." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0049aC-730.jpg" style="height:424.109589px;width:600px" title="After a patient is loaded, Tom Parsons gives the signal that they’re ready for the next."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>After a patient is loaded, Tom Parsons gives the signal that they’re ready for the next.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In addition to the doctor, nurse and respiratory specialist, there were five other medical specialists on the flight: TSGT Kat Hamblin (flight medic); TSGT Mark Russak (flight medic); MSGT Garry Sheets (flight medic); 1st LT Tom Parsons (flight nurse); and Major Marsha Schuman (flight nurse).</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">All are reservists and some have considerable other military experience. Tom Parsons said he spent 20 years as a reserve SEABEE and was in Ramadi, Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005. That was a period of serious danger. He’s also spent three years in the Air Force reserve, and mentioned that he works in the Butler VA hospital north of Pittsburgh, and that he will take care of these troops when he goes home.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Marsha Schuman did a tour in Iraq and this is her second in Afghanistan. Marsha was so busy we didn’t get to talk much. Marsha’s colleagues said she has been in the Air Force 24 years and is a wealth of knowledge, having worked with all the aircraft.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Kat Hamblin is the baby on the trip. She had been a cheerleader at Sacramento State and is now studying online. Kat said she did a back handspring on an A-10 wing and I asked what she would have thought if she broke off the wing. (A-10s are mighty sturdy and Kat looks light as a gnat.)</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Gary Sheets was in the Marines for nine years and is on his first deployment to Afghanistan. Gary said that being a flight medic is “the best job in the Air Force.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Mark Russak was in the Army for eight years and did 364 days in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, from June 2005 to June 2006. Mark said he was at places like Habbaniya, so I asked if he had been to nearby Coolie Village. Mark said his group lost four soldiers in Coolie, and I told him that I went there in 2007 with Marines after it was flattened by a truck bomb, described in “<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-ghosts-of-anbar-part-i-of-iv.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Ghosts of Anbar</u></a>.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><br>This is Mark’s second Afghanistan tour in the last year. His personal motto: “It’s all about the man in the litter.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">TSGT Matt Blonde did three deployments to Iraq at the trauma center in Baghdad and up at Balad, one tour in Oman, and this is his first in Afghanistan. “Iraq in ’07 is the most memorable part of my career. Trauma non-stop. I worked every day. We saw at least four or five really significant mass casualties where we were nearly overwhelmed. Up to fifteen patients at once. There was not an injury type that I did not experience. If there is a worse injury to be seen, I never want to see it.”</font></font></font></p><p id="tebr" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Tom gives the okay to load another patient." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0033aC_-730.jpg" style="height:382.191781px;width:600px" title="Tom gives the okay to load another patient."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Tom gives the okay to load another patient.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Hand and arm signals are used on the flight line. The engines are running and there is another C-130 behind us, also with engines running, while jets and helicopters swoop in and out.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><font size="2"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><img alt="Afghan National Army soldier." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0035a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Afghan National Army soldier."></font><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Afghan National Army soldier.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Two wounded ANA were loaded. The crew didn’t know how or where they were wounded. Maybe they had come from the Marjah fight just nearby. When I spoke English to them, neither seemed to understand, but this one seemed very happy and broke out in a grin every time I said “Okay?” and gave a thumbs up.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="This ANA soldier responded with anger in his eyes. His face radiated hatred." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0052a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="This ANA soldier responded with anger in his eyes. His face radiated hatred."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">This ANA soldier responded with anger in his eyes. His face radiated hatred.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0139a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The two ANA are loaded on the left (we are facing the cockpit), with two U.S. Marines loaded on the left behind them. The Marines are in the foreground. The feet on the right belong to the wounded Canadian soldier, so now we have five litter patients, one ambulatory, and eight medical staff. Care was close and constant as we flew from Camp Bastion to Bagram. From Bagram, those who were going home would get on a C-17 and probably stop in Landstuhl, Germany, before making the cross-Atlantic journey.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0146aC-730.jpg" style="height:401.917808px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The Marine on the top was not wounded. Something went wrong with his leg. The malady remained undiagnosed. We talked for a few minutes and he seemed to be in good spirits.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Kat Hamblin came up to administer medicine and suddenly it was like the Marine had five cups of coffee." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0164aC-730.jpg" style="height:376.438356px;width:600px" title="Kat Hamblin came up to administer medicine and suddenly it was like the Marine had five cups of coffee."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Kat Hamblin came up to administer medicine and suddenly it was like the Marine had five cups of coffee.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="He sat right up." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0170aC-730.jpg" style="height:385.479452px;width:600px" title="He sat right up."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">He sat right up.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Kat started helping other patients, which seemed to pull out his power pack." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0175a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Kat started helping other patients, which seemed to pull out his power pack."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Kat started helping other patients, which seemed to pull out his power pack.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">In the bunk below was Corporal Tommy Michael, U.S. Marines, from St. Louis, Missouri. Tommy had a thick bandage on his right hand and a nasty nose wound. I asked what happened and Tommy said his platoon had been fighting near Marjah, in a firefight that had been going on for about ten minutes. Tommy said he was in a 4x4 MRAP, in the hatch putting down suppressive fire with his .50 cal when he heard a whistle and BANG! Some kind of round, maybe a mortar, struck the MRAP and fragged his right hand and nearly blew off his nose. I asked if all his buddies inside were okay and he said they didn’t get a scratch. I asked if that sort of MRAP is any good, and Tommy thought they were. I asked if his hand is bad and he said there is some nerve damage. As for his nose, he said it was like a horror movie where the guy gets his arm cut off and it’s squirting blood across the room. It took 200 stitches to close or sew back on. I said to Tommy that his nose didn’t look so hot and he was going to have a cool scar, to which Tommy laughed and grinned and said, “Yeah.” He seemed sad for just a moment, because he wants to go back to his platoon. We both knew it wasn’t going to happen with that hand or nose. Tommy had done a light tour in Iraq in 2008-2009, but this was his first in Afghanistan. He said he is now with the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion with Route Clearance Platoon 4. Though he just got wounded, Tommy already missed his buddies. “Are you married?” I asked. “No Sir.” “Did you call your mom and dad?” “Yes, I called them.” “Good,” I said, “because if you don’t they will go crazy. Make sure to call them again from Bagram.” Tommy said he would.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Some troops don’t call their parents or loved ones when they get hit. Then the loved ones get the word from the Department of Defense that “your son got shot,” and it freaks them out. When you get hit, it’s important to call home ASAP to avoid stressing out your family.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0180a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The medical staff never stopped working. I didn’t even get a chance to talk with Major Lucy Lehker because she was so focused on the Canadian soldier, who was the only truly critical patient. When the Canadian soldier began to wake up, Lucy caressed his head, and whispered to him where he was, how he got there, who she is, and what his injuries were.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Lucy kept whispering." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0208aC-730.jpg" style="height:411.780822px;width:600px" title="Lucy kept whispering."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Lucy kept whispering.</font></font></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="She kept talking until the soldier relaxed." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0209aC-730.jpg" style="height:409.315068px;width:600px" title="She kept talking until the soldier relaxed."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>She kept talking until the soldier relaxed.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Later, it was revealed that “Lucy’s” real name is Deborah, but her Air Force friends call her Lucy, as in “I Love Lucy.” They say she is lovable and naïve, just like Lucy. This is Lucy’s 4th activation (she is AF Reserve) since 9/11, and her third overseas tour, having served in Kuwait and Iraq. Her time in Iraq was at Balad from September 2006 to February 2007. Those who know something about the war will recognize that Lucy was at a four-way intersection of trauma during some horrible times. Despite all that, she is the one whispering into a soldier’s ear.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We landed at Bagram and Tommy gave me a thumbs-up and a smile as they hauled him out. Boy his nose looked bad, but he’s going to have bragging rights with that scar.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The crew grabbed dinner and we actually picked up a patient to fly from Bagram to Kandahar. The patient was Australian. An Australian nurse was by his side. I asked what happened to his eye and he said it got blown out by an IED. He had been wearing ballistic glasses, and suffering no other wounds, but the eye was gone. He seemed in good spirits. The Australians have an excellent reputation here.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">During the flights the pilots had adjusted the temperature to keep the patients comfortable, but something was wrong with the system and the cockpit was very cold. The pilots’ feet were freezing. When the Australian’s eye started hurting because of the altitude, the pilot adjusted the cabin pressure to mimic 5,000 feet above sea level. There are quirks to aerospace physiology requiring specialized training, and the airplanes complicate matters. Cabin temperatures can swing dramatically which can have particularly detrimental effects on burn patients. </font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Pressure changes and gas laws must be considered, while vibrations and noise are big stressors. Matt Blonde said that during CCATT flights using KC-135s, which typically are refuelers, his feet might be freezing while his forehead is sweating. So, in addition to knowing their medicine, air medical technicians must understand the nuance of various aircraft, and the impact on patients’ injuries or illnesses.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">During the flight back to Kandahar, alerts kept coming in about new RAZs (restricted air zones) as jets and an AC-130 went “hot” on different targets along the way. We diverted at least once. Closer to Kandahar we could see the eerie orange glow from artillery illumination rounds, floating down under parachutes in several areas, far below us and distant.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And then a radio call came in. The mission was “refragged,” meaning it had been extended. The crew was to drop off the Australian patient in Kandahar, pick up four more patients and fly them to Bagram and then return to Kandahar.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Four wounded US Army soldiers are carried into the C-130J." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0325a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px" title="Four wounded US Army soldiers are carried into the C-130J."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Four wounded US Army soldiers are carried into the C-130J.</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><i><br></i></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We landed in Kandahar and the first critical care team disembarked. The Canadian had been their 70th patient.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The new patients were all U.S. soldiers from the same unit. Two were critical and came with a new CCATT. The two soldiers with lighter wounds were loaded first, and the one on the bottom litter kept turning around, straining to see when the two critical patients would be loaded. He obviously was their superior. I’d seen that look of deep concern many times. A leader was looking out for his boys.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The soldier in the top bunk was named Steve, and he was from 1-12 Infantry of 4/4. Steve said they had been hit by a suicide bomber earlier in the day on Highway 1 in nearby Zhari District. The bomber was on a three-wheeled motorcycle and when he detonated it killed three buddies, and wounded the four on this airplane. Two kids, about five years old, apparently also were wounded. Steve wanted to talk but he could hardly keep his eyes open so I left him alone.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The lightly wounded soldier who was concerned about the two behind him was Staff Sergeant Joshua Danison, the acting platoon sergeant. Josh said the attack had occurred at about 10:15 in the morning. The bomber approached on the 3-wheeled motorcycle, with the bomb hidden under bags of the colorful homemade chips that are sold in markets.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Josh said his wounds weren’t bad—he got a frag behind a knee—and he was still able to treat wounded. While that was going on, at least two other enemy tried to plant another bomb about 50 meters away and our guys caught them. Luckily the medevac birds were very fast, landing in about 25 minutes.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="color:#666666;float:center;margin-right:1em;text-align:left"><img alt="Tom Parsons on paperwork." border="0" class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/whisper/2010-02-Whisper-0369aC-730.jpg" style="height:420.821918px;width:600px" title="Tom Parsons on paperwork."><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Tom Parsons on paperwork.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And that’s really about it. This crew and medical personnel say this is a normal day for them.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"> </p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><blockquote style="background-color:#ececec;background-image:initial;color:#333333;margin-left:50px;margin-right:50px"><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</u></a></b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a> pages.</b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:center"><b><font color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif"></a> </font></b></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></font></div><p></p><font size="2"><font size="2"><br></font><br></font><font size="2"><br></font><p></p><font size="2"><br></font><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-12910130263628299272010-02-12T09:44:00.001-06:002010-02-12T09:44:05.039-06:00Seven<font size="4"><font face="arial">Hello from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1265827549_1">Afghanistan</span>,<br><br> Attended a "ramp ceremony" at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1265827549_2">Kandahar Airfield</span> this evening honoring two soldiers who were killed yesterday. Their flat draped coffins were loaded onto an <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1265827549_3">Air Force jet</span> for the journey home. They have finished the race. At this moment, they are flying to the United States in a C-17.<br><br> The Marjah offensive is set to begin. It could be argued that it has already begun. Intel estimates that about 2,000 mines and IEDs await our troops and that some <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1265827549_4">Taliban</span> plan to stay and fight.<br><br> The latest dispatch is up. Please read <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1265827549_5">SEVEN</span></u>.<br><br> Please remember that help is needed to continue this expensive work.</font></font><font size="4"><br><br><font face="arial">-- <br> Very Respectfully,<br><br><span class="yshortcuts" id="pfw5">Michael Yon</span></font></font><br><font size="4"><br></font><div><font size="4"><font face="arial"><span class="yshortcuts" id="c9em">* * * * *</span></font></font></div><p id="" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9280a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Left seat Pilot Thomas Sonne; Right seat: Major Bill Tice.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><i>Kandahar, Afghanistan</i></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"><b>10 February 2010</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">American forces are stationed at bases far and wide around Afghanistan. Some bases are like towns, such as Camp Bastion, Kandahar Airfield, and Bagram Airfield. But mostly they are small, often occupied by only a handful of troops.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Logistics into Afghanistan is a nightmare, and it only gets worse after you cross the border from the North or from Pakistan. By comparison, Iraq “logs” was like a run to a convenience store down the road. Afghan logs are more like driving from Miami to Seattle for grocery shopping, and then driving the groceries back to Miami while under threat of attack. Not a speck of exaggeration in that statement. Enemy logs interdiction was a large constituent of the Soviet defeat, despite that the Soviet Union comprised the entire northern border of Afghanistan. When the Soviet hammer tried to crack the Afghan rock, the hammer shattered. The Soviets can easily put people in space and keep them there, but they couldn’t handle backdoor logistics during their Afghan war. It’s easier to keep people in space than to supply our war here.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Our Coalition is stunningly more effective at logistics than were the Soviets. For instance, when the British were resupplying small FOBs near Sangin last year—just a short drive from the origin at Camp Bastion—the monthly convoys were major operations that drained needed combat power, and still vehicles were destroyed with casualties. So powerful are some of the bombs that they can launch the ultra-armored American MRAPs into the air, flipping them like turtles, often breaking the backs of soldiers. Even today, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is making moves to facilitate allies to get more counter-IED gear, such as MRAPs, which seems like a good move because some allies are risk-averse to the point of being ineffective (not that MRAPs are going to save them). By air, when a civilian helicopter was trying to resupply at Sangin, it was shot down just outside the base, killing the crew and at least one child on the ground. Make no mistake: this is a worthy enemy.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Without the U.S. Air Force, we would need thousands more troops here just to run convoys, and bringing in those troops would require more convoys to supply their needs. It’s okay to use contractors to bring supplies in from Pakistan or from the north, but driving up into those mountains and other remote locations would be suicidal.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9288a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The United States Air Force invited me on a resupply mission, and when I showed up at 0400 to the trailer where the crew lives, one of their doors had been blown off the night before, leaving all else intact. Nobody knows what caused the door-ripping, though SSG Michael Jeffries was outside and said he got pounded in the face by gravel. Michael Jeffries said the winds were at least 60MPH and lasted only a few seconds. The pilots inside hit the deck. Anyway, Afghan mysteries aside, we drove to a chow hall, got breakfast to-go, and drove to the flightline.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The 772 Expetionary Airlift Squadron (EAS), from Little Rock, is comprised of elements from the 19th Airlift Wing, which they call the “Black Knights.” During January 2010 the 772 EAS conducted 119 missions in Afghanistan that comprised 454 sorties. That’s a lot of convoys saved.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Today’s mission would consist of six sorties. A sortie consists of a takeoff and landing, and hopefully the landing was controlled. We would fly from KAF to Shindand to unload supplies, pick up passengers, then fly back to KAF. That would be two sorties. The crew would pick up more supplies and passengers and fly to a small base in Farah Province, then back to KAF to pick up another load, then fly to Camp Bastion, then back to KAF—mission complete—for a total of six sorties. Arguably this could be called three missions, but the Air Force is conservative and calls it one mission. The pilots would not shut down the engines which would be running all day.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Before starting engines, Captain Thomas Sonne, the pilot, adjusted an oxygen mask and showed me how to use it. He handed over a Bose noise-cancellation headset, then plugged it into the comms and demonstrated how to adjust volume on several radios and the internal.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I asked Captain Sonne if we have enough C-130 lift in Afghanistan (knowing we don’t have enough helicopters). Captain Sonne said we had enough C-130 lift—not extra capacity, but enough, which coincides with what others have said. “Is the Haiti relief hurting us here?” Captain Sonne confirmed what others have said: no, they can’t feel the Haiti mission affecting our effort. Captain Sonne explained we are short on ramp space to park the aircraft, so they are busy building more ramp. This coincides with something General Petraeus told me in late 2008.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The pilot and copilot started through the strange checklist. The instrument panel showed we had 24,590 pounds of fuel. The weather was looking dicey for the landings on the rough airstrips, but takeoff would be easy, the pilots said. There were eight passengers and eight crew; three of the crew were FAST personnel (Flyaway Security Team) with body armor and weapons, and they would disembark on landing to guard the aircraft. Was good to have them along. Finally the crew got to the pre-taxi checklist. I understood a few words on this one:</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Brakes.”<br> “Brakes clear.”<br> “Copy.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Captain Sonne was wearing night vision goggles while Major Tice, copilot, was going without. Captain Sonne’s voice came over: “We’ve got a 135,000-pound airplane,” and then he looked back over his right shoulder at me, saying, “If you have any questions, go ahead and I’ll alert you if we are busy.” “Roger,” I say in the microphone.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And now they are talking to each other again, “We’ll try to get up to 265 tactical,” says Captain Sonne.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">My pen was too slow, especially in the dark cockpit, but I got some snippets:</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Pre-flight checks complete,” says Major Tice.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2"> “Pressurized.”<br> “Roger.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">They talk quickly, succinctly, all business, and rumble down the dark runaway and lift away, “Gear’s up.” “Gear’s up.” The flight computer has a female voice that commands attention, and she kept saying, “Altitude, altitude, altitude, altitude,” and then much later, the computer woman says, “Thousand to go.” This has to be about one of the coolest jobs in the military. As we roar into the sky, it occurs to me that a young person with brains and a sense of adventure would be crazy not to consider joining the Air Force. This is fun!</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9304a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">I ask through the headset if the HUDs are classified and if it’s permissible to make photos so people at home can see. Captain Sonne and Major Tice said there is nothing classified. Have at it.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9311a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We descend into Shindand by first coming over the base, and doing a hard corkscrew down, wings sometimes tipped at 45 degrees, to avoid ground fire. The cockpit is armored against SAFIRE, but there are people in the back and it’s never a good idea to get your airplane shot.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9319-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We come down to the skinny runway, apparently made for Russian figthers, some of which were sitting near the runway. The Taliban had gotten their hands on old aircraft years ago, and somehow got them flying. Today, Taliban Air Force consists of kites and carrier pigeons. I’ve photographed a kite in downtown Kandahar that was flying in the dark with a dim strobe. Was it a signal? The pilots intended to land at about 120 knots.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9345-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We landed and the pallets were removed by forklift, followed by the “pax” (passengers).</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9349-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The crew had a couple of flags hanging in the back. The pilots said they fly flags on missions for people at home, and send each flag back with a little certificate.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9354-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">More passengers were loaded up and we rumbled away at about 0730, and someone said from the back that a flock of birds was off to our right. After we were safely airborne, and the pilots finished their checklists, I asked about bird strikes. “How high do bird strikes happen in Afghanistan?” Major Tice had heard of a strike that occurred at over 20,000 feet. Everyone seems to have high regard for the C-130J. The pilots explain that older variants required six crew members, but the “J” only needs four. The Navigator and Engineer no longer are needed, and so this cuts one officer and one NCO, both of whom require much expensive training. A four-man crew beats a hundred-man convoy.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9370-730.jpg" style="height:409.315068px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">And that was it; we landed back at KAF, the first two sorties complete.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9396-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">KAF doubles as a civilian airport with traffic including 747s. This is the civilian side of the terminal. We can’t do a lot of top secret stuff on the airfield because civilian planes land every day and everyone can take photos.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Captain Sonne and Major Tice parked the airplane, left the motors running without the props turning, and while loadmasters re-loaded the C-130J, I got coffee.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9410-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We loaded back up and taxied to the runway for the second part of the mission: take supplies and pax to Farah Province. On the taxiway, we waited for this 747 to take off. ATC (Air Traffic Control) said something about a 747 “heavy” taking off. I asked the pilots what “heavy” means, and they answered that any aircraft weighing more than 250,000 pounds is considered “heavy,” and there are special rules at KAF for heavy. For instance, after he takes off, a truck must drive the runway to clear debris that the giant engines often blow onto the runway. The debris will not damage the C-130 (after all, they land on gravel airstrips), but a rock sucked inside an F-16 engine is a bad thing, and we don’t want to see pilots ejecting off the end of the runway while one of our jets crashes in the desert. Another rule is that we have to wait for three minutes after a “heavy” takes off because the giant airplanes leave dangerous vortices that can cause us to crash.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9416a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">While we rumbled toward the FOB in Farah, the pilots were curious about the ground war and I offered a few vignettes. There are thousands of wars going on here. Everyone’s war is a snowflake.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9439-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">As we approached the airstrip, the pilots put the nose down and we dived into the soup of clouds. The biggest threat in Afghanistan for fixed-wing pilots is terrain. It’s easy to eat a huge mountain over here.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">“Flaps 50% please.”<br> “Roger.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:left"><img border="0" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/seven/IMG_9440a-730.jpg" style="height:400.273973px;width:600px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">Now over Farah and approaching the strip, we kept going down, down, down and the clouds were looking brown. Occasionally the clouds winked and we could spot the earth momentarily, until the instruments said we were a thousand feet up. The pilots could not see the ground. The ATC said visibility was less than two miles, and Captain Sonne said he could not see a half-mile ahead. A loadmaster called up saying he could barely see the ground at 1,000 feet. I just kept saying to myself, “They know what they are doing. They know what they are doing. They know what they are doing.” Captain Sonne reported we were getting some rain, and finally, at four miles out, he said “Abort,” and I drew a breath of relief and we climbed away. As we climbed out, Captain Sonne said, “A little bit of rain, I’m going to switch back to weather.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We continued to climb away, when on another channel a pilot was talking to the ATC behind us. ATC crackled to the pilot, “Runway unsafe to land. Report your intentions.” Captain Sonne explained that the ATC can advise the pilot about unsafe conditions, but the decision to land rests with the pilot. The other pilot aborted. ATC called saying it could be 2-3 days before the sloppy runway was dry enough for safe landing.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">The computer issued an alert about a fuel imbalance. Captain Sonne explained that in older C-130 variants, the flight engineer would have been aboard to monitor this, and then he explained some details about fuel balancing and why it’s important to stay within constraints to maintain stability. He reached around to his left and pulled out a book, explaining the different sections. Some alarms were critical and could mean life and death, but this was just an alert to take care of some housekeeping. He read the procedure, which he probably already had memorized, and dialed four overhead knobs to redistribute the fuel, explaining each step.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p id="cjabiokabamngnbigeeibddnihgllkggmousedown-target-element" style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#333333"><font size="2">We landed back at KAF and prepared for the sortie to Camp Bastion, but got a report that an aircraft had a problem on the runway, and so the Bastion runway was shut down and there was a delay. Meanwhile, a rocket attack occurred and so we ended up on the ground, and there was a nearby boom (maybe a few hundred meters or more). We wasted time in the bunker (somebody’s rule up top) and the senior officer took inventory of his people, and finally the all-clear was sounded. We learned that the runway at Bastion was still closed. That was it. Mission was over. Not every mission goes perfectly, but then you can’t control the weather, or acts of God. And in any case, this was seven doing the job of a hundred.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"> </p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <u><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color:#006699" target="_blank">I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</a></u></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" style="color:#006699" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a> pages.</b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" id="hong" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"></p><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><b><font color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" id="w5-v" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div style="text-align:center"><b><font size="1"><font color="#783F04"><i>As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif"></a> </i></font></font></b></div><font size="2"><br></font><p></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></p><p></p><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-52791290960125472072010-01-17T14:20:00.001-06:002010-01-17T14:20:48.877-06:0015 January 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><b><font size="6">Spitting Cobra</font></b></div><div style="text-align: left"><br></div><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_6340aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 406.849px"></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>15 January 2010</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><b><font size="2"><br><br /></font></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Cobra Battery at FOB Frontenac<br><br /><i><a id="gns0" href="http://www.sofmag.com/wp/2010/01/afghan-coalition-forces-foil-taliban-ied-efforts-in-arghandab/" title="Afghan, Coalition Forces Foil Taliban IED Efforts in Arghandab">Arghandab, Afghanistan</a></i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Artillery is called <a id="uan9" href="http://www.cannonartillery.com/index.cfm" title="Cannonartillery.com">“The King of Battle.”</a> When it comes to the delivery of force, probably nothing outside of nuclear weapons can outmatch the sustained delivery of extreme brutality. Cannons also can deliver small atomic weapons.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/2Y4Q9579a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Aircraft and missles have range and other profound advantages, yet on a tactical battlefield these guns are like a force of nature.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/2Y4Q9585a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They can fire in any weather that man dares to stand in.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5834aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 373.151px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">American artillery can destroy a parked car with the first shot from twenty miles away. No sniper has ever lived who can shoot so well.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/2Y4Q9592aCR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 383.836px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The red glow is caused by an approaching humvee whose lights were dimmed by red filters, yet the sensitive camera collected light over time.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/2Y4Q9593a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Calculations for shots are extremely complex and include dozens of factors, such as windspeed, barometric pressure, humidity, altitude of the gun and the target, temperature, and the earth’s rotation, and the specific lot number of the ammunition. Every gun is different and so the calculations for one gun would lose accuracy in another. The guns are brutal and rugged, but also high-tech, precision machines that took centuries of science, engineering and experience to reach the current state.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/2Y4Q9594aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 374.795px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The guns have reached such a high level of evolution that despite the extreme complexity, within minutes of receiving a “fire mission,” a good crew will reliably deliver accurate shots with help from the computer.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5820a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 398.636px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sometimes missions are pre-planned, while at other times crews must wait close to the guns for hours, even days, without a break. There was some base in Iraq—I went there with CSM Jeff Mellinger but have forgotten where it was—and the base was taking rocket or mortar fire on a frequent basis from a certain area. And so the cannoneers slept just next to the guns, and finally the enemy fired and was killed because the guns were pointed at the exact predicted firing point. The cannoneers just loaded and counter-fired and finished them. Probably few people on base realized that the “cannon cockers” had conducted an ambush-by-howitzer. (Maybe the crew who was there will recall this and set the facts straight.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/img_5823ac-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 329.589px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Cobra battery, <a id="kbze" href="http://117afghanistan.blogspot.com/" title="1-17 Infantry / Afghanistan">1-17th Infantry</a>, fires illumination.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5824aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 317.26px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sometimes the crews fire “H & I” or “terrain denial” missions. <a id="chdi" href="http://www.vietvet.org/arty.htm" title="Artillery Terms & Tactics">Harassment and Interdiction missions</a> are fired at terrain known to be used only by the enemy at certain times, and so anytime the enemy feels like rolling the dice, they can move into that terrain. Such missions also provide influence for “shaping” the battlefield. If the commander is trying to flush the enemy into a blunder—maybe an ambush—or maybe to cut them off from an escape route, he can have the guns pound into a gorge, say, that is used as an enemy route. Or maybe he just tries to persuade the enemy to take a route where we have sniper teams waiting. The battery can be used in many ways that do not include direct attacks on enemy formations.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5828-1aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 293.425px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">Bringing ammuntion to Afghanistan is far more expensive than most places—all is brought in by air. Pakistani and Russian officials understandably don’t want our explosives traveling through their territory; nor do we. I once flew from Kuwait to Bagram in a C-17 that was filled with 155mm projectiles and a couple of passengers.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5825-1aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 459.452px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">The cannons can be towed or picked up by helicopters and moved many miles within an hour, and so it’s possible to stage a long-range attack with the guns by suddenly moving them. The guns can wait quietly for months or years without need of refueling or runaways. The crews are small, and the ammunition is hardy and can be stored for a lifetime.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5827-1aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 356.712px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">Some muzzle flashes are not bright because the target is near, requiring little propellant.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_6335a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">The Dragon roars: This was an HE mission and the target was far away requiring a larger charge. Sometimes they are even brighter.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5829-1aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 313.151px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">The guns are dangerous, so the crew must be well trained, and they must frequently drill. Recently, a soldier got hit in the helmet by a recoiling <a id="kubx" href="http://www.bravecannons.org/the_gun/m1a1.html" title="M1A1 Cannon Technical Data, Specs">155mm cannon</a>. He escaped with no injury but was lucky not to be killed.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/spittingcobra/IMG_5830aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 346.027px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="2">Shots can be directed through many methods. Aircraft such as A-10s or Predators can spot targets, as can soldiers on the ground. A satellite could just as easily spot targets. There is no “best way;” each situation is different. However, it’s tempting to say the “best way” to call in the guns is to have highly trained troops on the ground who can get eyes on the target. These troops train specifically for calling such strikes. Their jobs require great preparation, including much classroom time, physical ruggedness, and coolness in the face of getting killed. But that’s a different story.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are more pictures and information that can be found on Michael Yon's article. To read the rest of the story, please click </font><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0)"><font size="5"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/spitting-cobra.htm" class="contentpagetitle" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none !important" title="Michael Yon Online">Spitting Cobra</a><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">.</font></font></span></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#CC6600"><font size="5"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="5"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">* * * * *</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font size="2"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>The Wall Street Journal</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><br><br /></b><i>OPINION</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>JANUARY 6, 2010, 9:45 P.M. ET</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><br><br /></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><font size="4">Wahid and the Voice of Moderate Islam</font><br><br />Indonesia's first democratic president espoused a philosophy of religious and ethnic tolerance.</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><br><br /></b><i>By PAUL WOLFOWITZ</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><br><br /></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Abdurrahman Wahid, who died last week at the age of 69, was the first democratically elected president of Indonesia, the world's fourth largest country and third largest democracy. It has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. Although he was forced from office after less than two years, he nevertheless helped to set the course of what has been a remarkably successful transition to democracy.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Even more important than his role as a politician, Wahid was the spiritual leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, and probably in the world, with 40 million members. He was a product of Indonesia's traditionally tolerant and humane practice of Islam, and he took that tradition to a higher level and shaped it in ways that will last long after his death.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Wahid recognized that the world's Muslim community is engaged in what he called in a 2005 op-ed for this newspaper "nothing less than a global struggle for the soul of Islam" and he understood the danger for Indonesia, for Islam and for all of us from this "crisis of misunderstanding that threatens to engulf our entire world."</font></p><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">* * * * *</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font size="2"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"><font size="2"><b>The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. <u><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…</a></u></b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"><b><u><br><br /></u></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"><font size="2"><b>Please consider joining my free <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Facebook</u></a> and/or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/Michael_Yon" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Twitter </u></a>pages.</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"><b><br><br /></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"><b><br><br /></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: left"></p><br /><b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font size="1"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </font></font></i></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></div><br /></b><br /><p></p><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="text-align: center;margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="dd8z" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#7F6000"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /></font></font></font><br /><p></p><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-73111425896984220402009-11-08T15:38:00.001-06:002009-11-08T15:38:46.947-06:00Britain Loses One Of Its Finest<div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-6ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Olaf in Combat." title="Olaf in Combat." style="width: 600px; height: 399.452055px"></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Olaf in Combat.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>03 November 2009</b></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">British soldiers at war are an incredible group. Courageous, competent, and committed in very difficult conditions. An email came today from London, from a BBC correspondent who has been to Afghanistan saying that Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid had been killed.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-4ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Olaf and his crew already destroyed many bombs just this single August morning in Sangin." title="Olaf and his crew already destroyed many bombs just this single August morning in Sangin." style="width: 600px; height: 426.575342px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Olaf and his crew already destroyed many bombs just this single August morning in Sangin.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">To see the article in the BBC was deeply saddening: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8338220.stm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Soldier Killed While Defusing 65th Bomb.</u></a></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On a side note, the British soldiers are conservative. Though this is not very important, it’s difficult to imagine that Olaf had only destroyed 64 bombs before being killed. Just on this single mission, during which all these photos were taken, and during the surrounding few days, his crew must have destroyed several dozen bombs. You had to be there. By the time the mission in these photos happened, the crew was very experienced.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-3ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Olaf walking back from the latest bomb of many that day." title="Olaf walking back from the latest bomb of many that day." style="width: 600px; height: 405.205479px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Olaf walking back from the latest bomb of many that day.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-7a-730.jpg" border="0" alt="The day was blazing hot but these explosives specialists must concentrate." title="The day was blazing hot but these explosives specialists must concentrate." style="width: 600px; height: 400.273973px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The day was blazing hot but these explosives specialists must concentrate.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-5ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Just now, the team is clearing a British vehicle that was blown up and now booby trapped." title="Just now, the team is clearing a British vehicle that was blown up and now booby trapped." style="width: 600px; height: 417.534247px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Just now, the team is clearing a British vehicle that was blown up and now booby trapped.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-9ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Hundreds of soldiers are being killed each year with bombs, and these men go into the thick of it." title="Hundreds of soldiers are being killed each year with bombs, and these men go into the thick of it." style="width: 600px; height: 702.739726px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Hundreds of soldiers are being killed each year with bombs, and these men go into the thick of it.</font></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-1ac-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 521.917808px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Courage is as common as boots among these soldiers, but Olaf stood out even in that company. You could tell that Olaf knew his business from mean experience, and that he was ready for battle. His mind was very quick.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-2ac-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 495.616438px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">His crew was competent and confident, and worked faster to clear bombs than any I had seen. If not, the soldiers could never have completed this mission, because there simply were too many bombs. They say all beekeepers get stung, but these are not bees. These soldiers were facing an extraordinary number of bombs and booby-traps that are designed to kill the team.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-8a-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Another bomb destroyed." title="Another bomb destroyed." style="width: 600px; height: 400.273973px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Another bomb destroyed.</font></p></div><p></p><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to the <a href="http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4715385.Didcot_bomb_disposal_expert_killed_in_Afghanistan/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Oxford Mail</u></a>,</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“During the course of his tour, he attended 41 tasks, rendered safe 64 IEDs and attended 11 finds of bomb-making equipment.”</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The married father-of-one lived with his family in Winchester. His wife Christina said: “Oz was a phenomenal husband and loving father who was cruelly murdered on his last day of a relentless five-month tour."</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-9ac-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 702.739726px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Olaf was lost on his last mission. The enemy are blowing up civilians everywhere, and taking a toll on our folks.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-10ac-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Lt Col Rob Thomson, commander of 2 Rifles, consults will Olaf before destroying the next bombs." title="Lt Col Rob Thomson, commander of 2 Rifles, consults will Olaf before destroying the next bombs." style="width: 600px; height: 410.136986px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lt Col Rob Thomson, commander of 2 Rifles, consults will Olaf before destroying the next bombs.</font></p></div><p></p><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to the BBC:</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lieutenant Colonel Robert Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles Battle Group, said: "Staff Sgt Oz Schmid was simply the bravest and most courageous man I have ever met."</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"No matter how difficult or lethal the task which lay in front of us, he was the man who only saw solutions."</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"He saved lives in 2 Rifles time after time and for that he will retain a very special place in every heart of every rifleman in our extraordinary battle group."</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britainlof/michael-yon-11ac-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 584.383562px"></div><p></p><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to the <a href="http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4715385.Didcot_bomb_disposal_expert_killed_in_Afghanistan/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Oxford Mail</u></a>,</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lt Col Robert Thomson, the commanding officer of the 2 Rifles Battle Group, said: “Staff Sgt Oz Schmid was simply the bravest and most courageous man I have ever met."</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“Under relentless IED and small arms attacks, he stood taller than the tallest. He opened the Pharmacy Road and 24 hours later, found 31 IEDs in one go on route Sparta. Every single company in 2 Rifles adored working with him."</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They really did. Everybody liked to see not just Olaf, but his entire great team. The mission succeeded that day. For more about the lives, and missions of these excellent soldiers, please read <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/bad-medicine.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Bad Medicine</u></a>.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i></b></span></font></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-right: 3px; margin-left: 3px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial"></a></p><div style="text-align: center"><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>Please support this mission by making a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</b></span></font></div></div><div style="text-align: center"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b><br></b></span></font></div><div style="text-align: center"><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a target="_blank" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com/">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</b></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b><br></b></span></font></div></div></span></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p></span><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-59242759718423389372009-10-30T17:05:00.001-05:002009-10-30T17:05:29.735-05:00U.S. official resigns over Afghan war<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><p><font size="2">U.S. Foreign Service Officer Matthew Hoh has resigned his position in Zabul, Afghanistan over protest about the direction of the war in Afghanistan. His protest is not about how the war is being pursued, but is about the why and to what end we are still involved. </font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">Mr. Hoh, 36, is an intelligent man with Marine Corps combat experience in Iraq. Plus he has served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. Until his resignation, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">He has stated in an interview that there are others who are considering the same step he has taken however, he is the first to have done so.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">A traitor? Did he jump ship too soon? Or is he a hero who has brought the feelings of many to the attention of the general public?</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">Let's discuss. I would love to hear your opinions.</font></p><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif"><b><font size="6">U.S. official resigns over Afghan war</font></b></h1><h2 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font size="4">Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting</font></h2><div><br></div><div><div><font size="2"><div id="byline"><i>By <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/karen+deyoung/" title="Send an e-mail to Karen DeYoung" style="color: rgb(12, 71, 144)"><u>Karen DeYoung</u></a></i></div>Washington Post Staff Writer <br>Tuesday, October 27, 2009</font><p></p></div><div><font size="2"><br></font></div><div id="n04_"><p><font size="2">When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in </font><u><font size="2">Iraq</font></u><font size="2">, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a</font><u><font size="2"> four-page letter</font></u><font size="2"> to the department's head of personnel. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">The reaction to Hoh's letter was immediate. Senior U.S. officials, concerned that they would lose an outstanding officer and perhaps gain a prominent critic, appealed to him to stay.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff. Hoh declined. From there, he was flown home for a face-to-face meeting with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and </font><u><font size="2">Pakistan</font></u><font size="2">.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">"We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer," Holbrooke said in an interview. "We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him."</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">While he did not share Hoh's view that the war "wasn't worth the fight," Holbrooke said, "I agreed with much of his analysis." He asked Hoh to join his team in Washington, saying that "if he really wanted to affect policy and help reduce the cost of the war on lives and treasure," why not be "inside the building, rather than outside, where you can get a lot of attention but you won't have the same political impact?"</font></p><p><font size="2">Hoh accepted the argument and the job, but changed his mind a week later. "I recognize the career implications, but it wasn't the right thing to do," he said in an interview Friday, two days after his resignation became final.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the "second-best job I've ever had," his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.</font></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><p><font size="2">But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there -- a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the corrupt, U.S.-backed national government is rejected. While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.</font></p><p><font size="4"><br></font></p><p><a id="ot_c" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html" target="_blank" title="U.S. official resigns over Afghan war continued..."><font size="2">U.S. official resigns over Afghan war continued...</font></a></p><p><font size="2"><br></font></p><font size="2"><a id="hb05" href="http://original.antiwar.com/news/2009/10/27/resignation-letter-from-us-foreign-service-officer-matthew-p-hoh/#at" target="_blank" title="Resignation Letter from US Foreign Service Officer Matthew P. Hoh">Resignation Letter from US Foreign Service Officer Matthew P. Hoh</a></font></div><div id="aefo"><font size="2"><br></font></div><div id="x:7."><font size="2"><br></font></div><div id="vnnz"><b><font size="3">Related Commentary:</font></b></div><div id="bczn"><font size="2"><br></font></div><a id="z5qz" href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/garrison_keillor/2009/10/27/matthew_hoh/index.html" target="_blank" title="Time to move on from Afghanistan - We don't admire quitters, but no one wants to be the last person to believe in a mission, either - by Garrison Keillor">Time to move on from Afghanistan - We don't admire quitters, but no one wants to be the last person to believe in a mission, either - by Garrison Keillor</a><div id="a2vm"><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif"><h2 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><a id="w7th" href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/christopher-buckley/" target="_blank" title="It's Time for Us to Go by Christopher Buckley - Get out of Afghanistan now, Mr. President. And here's why."><font size="2">It's Time for Us to Go by Christopher Buckley - Get out of Afghanistan now, Mr. President. And here's why.</font></a></h2></span></div><div id="gwsc"><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif"><a id="abf_" href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/christopher-buckley/" target="_blank" title="It's Time for Us to Go by Christopher Buckley - Get out of Afghanistan now, Mr. President. And here's why."></a><h2 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman', times, serif"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#222222" face="georgia, serif"><b><u style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif"><div class="byline" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(153, 153, 153)"><h1 style="text-decoration: none; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><a id="y36x" href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/10/reporting-one-side.html" target="_blank" title="Reporting One Side - Andrew Exum takes a swipe at Greenwald, among others:"><u><font size="2">Reporting One Side - Andrew Exum takes a swipe at Greenwald, among others:</font></u></a></font></h1></div></span></u></b></font></font></h2></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman', times, serif"><div><span style=" color: rgb(48, 48, 48)"><blockquote style="margin-right: 20px !important; margin-left: 15px !important; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-color: rgb(233, 233, 233)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">I like how pundits who spend their time casting doubt on the assessments and opinions of those with in-depth understanding of Afghanistan and NATO operations there jump at the chance to sing the praises of others with in-depth understanding of Afghanistan and NATO operations when they conveniently advance assessments and opinions that match up with conclusions they themselves have already reached. (Here's but </font></font><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">one example</font></font><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">.)</font></font></p></blockquote></span></div></font><p></p></div></div></span><span style=" color: rgb(76, 76, 76)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">On</font> </font><font size="3"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/obama-should-tear-up-matt_b_336173.html" target="_blank" title="Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson urged the president to listen to Mr. Hoh"><u><span style="text-decoration: none"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0B5394"><font size="2">Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson urged the president to listen to Mr. Hoh</font></font></span></u></a></font><font size="2"> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">lest Afghanistan ruin his domestic agenda and severely wound Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections.</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="3"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malou-innocent/matthew-hoh-a-great-ameri_b_336283.html" target="_blank" title="Malou Innocent of the libertarian Cato Institute"><u><span style="text-decoration: none"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0B5394"><font size="2">Malou Innocent of the libertarian Cato Institute</font></font></span></u></a></font><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">, also writing on Huffington Post, said that Mr. Hoh had largely echoed her view that the conflict involves “a local and regional ethnic Pashtun population fighting against what they perceive to be a foreign occupation of their region; that our current strategy does not answer why and to what end we are pursuing this war; and that Afghanistan holds little intrinsic strategic value to the security of the United States.”</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333" face="georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif"><font size="3"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">But on his blog Forward Movement,</font> </font><a href="http://www.julescrittenden.com/2009/10/27/resignation" target="_blank" title="Jules Crittenden argues" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118)"><u><font size="2">Jules Crittenden argues</font></u></a><font size="2"> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">that Mr. Hoh has given in to despair, that defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda will require far more patience and resolve and that drawing down in Afghanistan now will show America’s enemies that “If you bleed them, they will run.”</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><div><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.captainsjournal.com/2009/10/27/resignation-at-the-state-department-over-afghanistan/" target="_blank" title="On The Captain’s Journal" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118)"><u><font size="2">On The Captain’s Journal</font></u></a><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">, TSAlfabet wrote, “As I predicted months ago, this Admin will not commit the resources to win this fight, so getting out, as horrible as that would be, is less evil than sacrificing troops to a half-hearted approach that is under-resourced and, therefore, doomed to failure.”</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></font></p><div><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Andrew Exum, an occasional adviser to General McChrystal who blogs at </font></font><a href="http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2009/10/two-things-annoy-me.html" target="_blank" title="Abu Muqawama"><u><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Abu Muqawama</font></font></u></a><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">, counseled caution in making too much of Mr. Hoh’s resignation.</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">A summary from the</font> </font><a id="tzne" href="http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/state-dept-on-matthew-hoh.html" target="_blank" title="Diplopundit" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)"><span style="text-decoration: none"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0B5394"><font size="2">Diplopundit</font></font></span></a> <font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">says:</font></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><div><span style="color: rgb(76, 76, 76)"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Resignation of Matthew Hoh /Admire Mr. Hoh and Respect Sacrifices Made for His Country / Take His Opinions Seriously / Senior Officials Have Spoken With Him / Respect His Right to Dissent /Had Limited, Non-Career Appointment / Political Officer in PRT in Zabul/Believe We're on Track to Achieving Goals President Has Set Before Us/No Resignations By Career Foreign Service Officers Over Afghanistan/Allegation of Desecration of Qu'ran Denied by Pentagon</font></font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="2"><br></font></font></div></span></div></div></div></font></font></div></span><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-46899895478908561182009-10-29T11:30:00.001-05:002009-10-29T11:30:41.992-05:00Colors<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">Greetings,<br><br><br />Just landed back in Laos, this time doing research on an important dispatch regarding </font><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256747270_1" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><font size="2">energy sources</font></span><font size="2"> for </font><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256747270_2" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><font size="2">Afghanistan</font></span><font size="2">. Much research on this piece.<br><br><br />Meanwhile, just published a short piece at National Review. Please read "</font><br /></span><u><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">Colors.</font></span></u><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">" <br><br><br />Probably will land back in Afghanistan next week, but might delay that slightly for an energy conference in </font><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256747270_3"><font size="2">Kathmandu, Nepal</font></span><font size="2">. In any case, will be back in Afghanistan soon.<br><br><br />Your Writer,<br><br><br />Michael</font><br /><br /></span></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="4"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="4">* * * * *</font></span></font></span></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="4"><font size="4">Colors</font><br /></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="4"><br></font></font></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="4"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="3">A military watchdog gets it wrong on the debate over camouflage.</font></font><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="3"><br></font></font><br /><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">By Michael Yon</font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br><br />Some things are not as they seem. Many people, for instance, seem to think </font><br /><a href="http://www.stripes.com/" target="_blank"><u><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0B5394">Stars & Stripes</font></i></u></a><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0B5394"> </font><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">is a military lapdog, but this is untrue. If Washington had a yearbook, </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Stars & Stripes</font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> might be voted “most apt to slam the military.” </font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Stars & Stripes</font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> is a watchdog.<br><br><br />Drew Brown is a </font><br /><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Stars & Stripes</font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> writer with much battlefield experience. Drew’s stories on Iraq have always rung true, as have his stories on Afghanistan. However, his recent story from Afghanistan about Stryker camouflage left room for respectful disagreement, or perhaps a “context adjustment.” One might suspect that the editorial process changed the tone.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The story begins:</font></font></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65642" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Army to phase in tan-colored Stryker vehicles</u></a><br><br /><i>By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes</i><br><br />Mideast edition, Monday, October 26 2009</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan — More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq.</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The tone here is off, depicting the situation without the context or dimension that it deserves.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Long-time readers are aware that I do not hesitate to bite the Army when the watchdog hat is on. Given my frequency in combat with our folks, any lack of gear, or poor gear, is as bad for my health as for the troops’. Hence I have been yelling at Washington that we need more troops in Afghanistan, and more helicopters.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">However, controversy should only grow in fertile ground. And having spent more time in combat with U.S. forces than any writer/journalist/photographer during the Iraq War — something likely to be duplicated in Afghanistan — my observation is that the U.S. military, on the whole, is incredibly well resourced. I have probably spent more time with Stryker units than any journalist living or dead, and the fact is that while it may now be the case that Strykers should be painted brown, there are good reasons this wasn’t done earlier.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The story is datelined to Zabul Province, Afghanistan, and true enough, the color out there should be desert brown. (Or perhaps, in some places at some times, white.) But elsewhere in Afghanistan, as in Iraq, civilians mostly live near water, so colors around their homes generally are green during the green months. In Afghanistan, the “Green Zone” (GZ) is the area around the rivers and lakes, and much or possibly most of the fighting occurs in these green areas. The enemy fights more when the GZ is green than during the winter brown.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Just as important, predicting camouflage needs for Strykers can be incredibly difficult. Stryker units tend to get moved around more than other combat units because Stryker units can project so much force quickly. Afghanistan’s geography doesn’t help: Down in the Helmand River valley where Brits, Danes, Yanks, and others are fighting, you can go from strict GZ to 100 percent desert-brown conditions in just a few seconds. The border between verdant and seemingly endless cardboard brown is usually only the width of an unpaved road — literally, a line in the sand and rocks. One side of the road can be dry as bone, while just meters away on the other side of the road, the mud tries to suck the boots off your feet. (The Brits have the opposite problem; they have very good desert-brown camouflage, but do most of their fighting in the GZ.)</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Also, even if brown is a better overall camouflage for Afghanistan — though this is unclear even to many experienced soldiers and me — it is unfair to imply (by datelining the story to Zabul Province and referring to more than six years of Strykers in desert combat) that the Army has had Strykers there during the entire war. The first rotation of Strykers to Afghanistan arrived only some months ago; before that, they were in use only in Iraq.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">In Iraq, Generals Casey and Petraeus wisely used Strykers as their “QRF” (Quick Reaction Force) during the severe fighting of 2006–2007. Stryker soldiers fought all over the place. They moved constantly. The brigade commander would have needed ESP and the vehicles chameleon skin to keep up with the changing environments.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Drew and I both covered Operation Arrowhead Ripper with Stryker units during the scorching summer of 2007. We spent far more time in the cities than in the desert. Some Stryker soldiers might have had different experiences, depending where they fought.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Also, Stars & Stripes’s insinuation that U.S. military leaders would leave our troops without appropriate materiel does not square with those leaders’ recent performances. I am confident that if commanders were screeching about getting those Strykers painted, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would get it done, and bets are on that the next rotation will be brown if that is what commanders want. General Petraeus, meanwhile, is the boss of CENTCOM, where all Strykers in combat are operating. In Iraq, it was common to see General Petraeus on the battlefields, and he rode in a Stryker on at least one occasion during Operation Arrowhead Ripper. I saw him there. And though I don’t know Gen. Stanley McChrystal, he has a solid reputation. He wasn’t shy about asking for more troops, so it’s hard to imagine he would hesitate about getting some buckets of paint.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Command Sergeant Major Jeffrey Mellinger, an ex-Ranger like McChrystal, is the senior NCO at Army Materiel Command. AMC oversees all Army materiel ranging from bandages, night vision, and weapons to tanks and helicopters. CSM Mellinger has seen a lot of combat, and I have done countless missions with him in Iraq, including missions in Strykers. Never once during that time did I think that Strykers should be brown, and if CSM Mellinger thought they should have been brown, he would surely have told his successive bosses, Generals Casey and Petraeus. CSM Mellinger still regularly travels to Iraq and Afghanistan and would not hesitate to recommend a change if soldiers on the ground were asking for it.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">CSM Mellinger knows more about Army gear than anybody I know, and he’s my number-one source for advice on what to wear during fighting. When I asked Mellinger about camouflage, he said that “what works today won’t work tomorrow,” and that “there is no perfect camouflage.”</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The CSM for the Strykers now in Afghanistan is Robb Prosser. I’ve done probably 100 combat missions with Robb in Strykers in Iraq, and now he is the senior NCO for those Strykers in Afghanistan. Never once did I hear Robb say that Strykers needed to be brown.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The Strykers currently in Afghanistan probably should be painted brown, but it is not true that the military dragged through these years without noticing, or that Gates, Petraeus, McChrystal, Mellinger, and Prosser didn’t ask for something they needed. Stars & Stripes plays a valuable role as a military watchdog, but this time, they’re barking up the wrong tree.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">COMMENTS:</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font size="2"><br /><div id="pc_21368" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">LTC (RET)</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21368"><font size="2">Strykers are what, 10' tall. You could paint them day-glow orange and it would not make a difference. THe enemy is not engaging from the air or frim 3000 meters away, They are within RPG range and color of the vehicel will not make a differenct in detection at that range. Color of the vehicle is a tempest in a teapot argument. OD Green or Brown is not goin to make a signifant difference on vehicles beeing seen or engaged.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Craig Maefs </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21369" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21369" id="comment-21369" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21369"><font size="2">Again, those who aren't in harms way critiquing how the government should outfit it's soldiers without the input of those commanders (or soldiers) who are actually in the battlefield. They then complain about how much it costs to outfit and the military.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ms. Tamara Montgomery </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21370" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21370" id="comment-21370" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Why is this even an argument?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21370"><font size="2">Craig Maefs is right, Strykers stick out like a sore thumb no matter what color they are. Having them painted tan, or OD green, most likely makes zero difference. I am a HUGE fan of Michaels but any more I'm starting to wonder why A. This warrants a blog posting, B. Why Michael has to constantly remind us that he's covered more combat than any other journalist in Iraq and A-Stan. For a former Special Forces guy he seems to have been lacking modesty more and more over the past few months, starting with that British embed situation. Michael's done a lot, he shouldn't have to beat his chest. Just my opinion.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Matt von H </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21371" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21371" id="comment-21371" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">From a serving soldier</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21371"><font size="2">In the British Army we use a lot of cam nets on our vehicles. They are cheap and easy to change depending on the situation, you can also make up mixed brown and green nets as a kind of all purpose cam when going in and out of the green zone. The texture and change of shape that the nets give really does make the vehicles blend in surprisingly well.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Rob Ferguson </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21372" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21372" id="comment-21372" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Here, Here!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21372"><font size="2">I couldn't agree more about Star's and Stripes. Not sure if I would characterize them as watch dogs... at times just Dogs. More times than not I have found myself at odds with their depictions of what just happened. Next to you Michael I have probably done the second most mission in a Stryker. In fact I will be back in Iraq the following week with... you guessed it. Another Stryker Battalion. Personally I think they should be painted like NASCAR race cars. Give the boys something to do in the off time. Because it is an Urban combat vehicle and most of the time the color doesn't matter. The power of the Stryker is its speed and ability to deliver the Warrior at the critical point of battle faster than the enemy can react. Taking the initiative in any fight and destroying them at a time and choosing of the commander in charge. <br><br /><br><br />How do you like me now Drew? The battlefield commanders have more on their minds than picking out the drapes and accessories. Find something else to write about. This isn't a body armor story.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Michael Slee </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21373" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21373" id="comment-21373" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21373"><font size="2">"my observation is that the U.S. military, on the whole, is incredibly well resourced. " <br><br />But evidently not with boots. <br><br />http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/afghanistan_october_2009.html#photo14 <br><br />That's ridiculous.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">xoxoxoBruce </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21374" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21374" id="comment-21374" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Former Cav Scout</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21374"><font size="2">I can only say thank you. You back up your well written piece with actual facts. Bravo! I hope that your piece is read by more eyes than Stars and Stripes. <br><br /><br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">J. F. Sucher, MD http://hightechsurgeon.blogspot.com </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21375" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21375" id="comment-21375" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Give Him A Break</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21375"><font size="2">Matt von H it's his blog. He can write whatever he wants to in it. Not all of his stories are going to be of interest to everybody, but it will to those that care. I am sure some Stryker team would have a fit if their vehicles were painted day-glo orange. The enemy doesn't always get within RPG range. Camoflauge does serve a purpose in the military, even on vehicles and aircraft!!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David Weirich </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21376" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21376" id="comment-21376" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">xoxoxoBruce</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21376"><font size="2">That's a context-free photo. It doesn't tell us anything about why those boots are in that condition, or how normal that is. For all we know, they were replaced the second he got back from patrol. Or, maybe, they're that guy's 'lucky boots' that he refuses to replace! The point is, that photo in itself is meaningless.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21377" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21377" id="comment-21377" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Stripes is anti-military</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21377"><font size="2">Agree Stars and Stripes is a rag not a watchdog. I glance at it in Iraq or Kuwait only because it is free. Most stories are from LA Times or AP (we think that means anti-American Press) and is surprisingly anti-military and will lead with any story that puts the military or the war in a bad light. Anyone wonder why stars and wipes has never published one of Michael Yon's dispatches? They ain't interested in anything positive about the ground-pouders or the Generals. Keep it up Michael</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mick </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21378" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21378" id="comment-21378" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Spare us</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21378"><font size="2">If someone think (or it's their "opinion") that Michael is "chest-beating" when he mentions the fact that he knows two of the most senior NCO's currently responsible for Strykers, it's hardly "lacking in modesty". In other words, Michael has access to two guys who a) know what they're talking about b) will talk to him about the relevant subject then it's merely responsible to cite sources. In a field where most "sources" are anonymous, it's refreshing to have people like CSM Mellinger and CSM Prosser go "on record". It ain't chest-beating; it's responsible journalism and bloody well hard to find these days except in these pages. I haven't seen it in Stars and Stripes (at least the European edition I used to read) since Bill Mauldin was their cartoonist. <br><br />One has to wonder about the current tone about the Afghan theater found in most media and the "elites".</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Boat Guy </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21379" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21379" id="comment-21379" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Not to change the subject, but...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21379"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />I just read a fairly troubling article in the Washington Post about a former Marine and Iraq combat veteran who resigned from his State Department post in Afghanistan in protest of how the war effort is being conducted. The article is available at the following link: <br><br /><br><br />http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603394.html <br><br /><br><br />There is a link within the article that leads to a PDF of Koh's resignation letter. <br><br /><br><br />I know that your researching energy sources for Afghanistan now, but would you consider a dispatch with your take on Koh's resignation and point of view? I am a tremendous fan of your work, both dispatches and books. Keep up the great reporting! <br><br /><br><br />V/R, <br><br /><br><br />James</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">James </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21380" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21380" id="comment-21380" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Boots</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21380"><font size="2">jic, That's the norm for some areas of operation, the photo is not meaningless. We are the best funded, most highly trained military in the world, and I just saw $7000 disappear out of my account for replacement gear from my husband because not all members of the Army are getting what they need. That was part of McChrystal's point, and Congress just raided the defense fund for earmarked memorials and stuff. I'd rather have had it go to better quality ammo, replacement clothing, and food. The photo has meaning.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">casstx </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21381" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21381" id="comment-21381" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">optical illuisons</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21381"><font size="2">While we're on the subject ofocolor schemes, maybe we should be taking a different approach, say by projecting optical illuisons that make the vehicle appear farther or smaller than it actually is. I saw a t-shirt once that you couldn't look at for more than a few seconds because the optical illuison played havoc with your vision. The netting idea makes perfect sense also, since it can be changed readily and is simple to adapt. Ghillie suits are remarkably effective. But to be perfectly honest I don't see how any paint is going to make a difference under 100 yds. with someone shouldering an RPG at you.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Leonard </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21382" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21382" id="comment-21382" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Camo?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21382"><font size="2">So we're going to paint our 2-ton vehicles a color that actually blends in with the surroundings while the troops on the ground who actually need to hide from the enemy at times have to keep wearing the assinine ACU pattern? This makes total sense. <br><br />How about we quit worrying about trying to hide the strykers and start worrying about a good camo pattern for our personnel!!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">I hate ACUs </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21383" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21383" id="comment-21383" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">or better yet</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21383"><font size="2">Or better yet, since the ACU pattern is so great, why dont we paint the strykers digital ACU colors?</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">I hate ACUs </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21384" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21384" id="comment-21384" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Fat Rats</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21384"><font size="2">Who give a fat rats what color. The Taliban seems to know where they are and when they're going to be there, troops and vehicles. <br><br />Tempest in a teapot.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jim </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21385" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21385" id="comment-21385" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21385"><font size="2">Painting the vehicles tan is actually good for another reason than just camoflage, namely temperature. Other nations have done this and the temperature inside the vehicles dropped 10-20 degrees Celsius. White would be even better, but ISAF vehicles are no longer allowed to be white.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">E </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21386" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21386" id="comment-21386" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">It's a blog - you write about what you're thinking</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21386"><font size="2">Better yet, it's Michael Yon's blog so he can write about whatever he wants to write about. If Stars and Stripes writes a 1 page article about the color of Stryker's, then I'm pretty sure anybody else can voice their opinion about the color of Strykers too. <br><br /><br><br />Energy?? I'm big onto that. They should go wind turbines for sure.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lewis in Orlando </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21387" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21387" id="comment-21387" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">casstx</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21387"><font size="2">I said that the photo *in itself* was meaningless, because it was without context. Thank you for giving us that context.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21388" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21388" id="comment-21388" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Innovation In Time Of War</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21388"><font size="2">World War Two lasted half as long as this one and produced 500% more innovation, invention and technical ability. What's gone wrong over 60 years? Why is the scientific community now so slow in offering solutions to problems which have solutions? Is it money? Is it stupidity? Is it plain bloody bone laziness? <br><br /><br><br />As far as Strykers go - why havn't we got paint that changes colour to suit the immediate environment? Don't give me 'Star Wars'! To produce 'chameleon paint' should be no more than a weekend home work project for a sixth form chemistry class. Ye Gods! <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Gismo Fly </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21389" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21389" id="comment-21389" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">About those boots ...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21389"><font size="2">I would guess that soldier is real proud of those boots. You have to do a lot of walking to get boots to look like that. You know who has nice boots? Ans: New guys and people who live inside a safe area.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Belasarius </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 28, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. </font></i></font></b><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="2"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="2"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></font></div><br /><div><font size="2"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a id="g_pk" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="lazr" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div></div><br /></font></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></span></font></span></font></span><br><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-39321651191233896072009-10-28T21:44:00.001-05:002009-10-28T21:44:12.226-05:00The Lost History Of Helmand<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="6"><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif"><p><font size="3"><br></font></p><p><font size="3"><br></font></p><p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">This is the surreal and forgotten story of American policy in Afghanistan since the end of World War II. "Its aim was to use science to try and change the course of history and produce a modern utopia in Afghanistan. The city of Lashkar Gah was built by the Americans as a model planned city, and the hundreds of miles of canals that the Taliban now hide in were constructed by the same company that built the San Francisco Bay Bridge and Cape Canaveral."</font></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2"><br></font></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">The work of trying, with nightmarish results, to turn Afghanistan into a "modern" country patterned after the suburbs of the '50s went on for decades.</font></span></p><p><span style=" font-weight: normal;"><font size="2"><br></font></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">This article was written by Adam Curtis, a filmmaker who produced the documentary, "The Power of Nightmares." His work also includes</font></span><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2"> </font></span><u><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">The Century of the Self</font></font></span></u><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">, The Mayfair Set, Pandora's Box, The Trap and The Living Dead.</font></font></span></span></p><p></p><font size="3"><h2 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(48, 48, 48); font-weight: normal; border-width: initial; border-color: initial"><font size="5">Adam Curtis uncovers the secrets of Helmand</font></h2><p class="standfirst" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(48, 48, 48)"><b><font size="4">Heroin, hippies and hero engineers</font></b></p><p class="byline" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, Times, serif"><font size="3"><br></font></font></font></p></font></span></div>The Lost History Of Helmand</font></b><br><br><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">If you look beyond the soldiers, and into the distance, what you are really seeing are the ruins of one of the biggest technological projects the United States has ever undertaken. Its aim was to use science to try and change the course of history and produce a modern utopia in Afghanistan.<br><br></font></font><b><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">By Adam Curtis<br><br>October 21, 2009 "</font></font></b></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2009/10/kabul_city_number_one_part_3.html"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="2">BBC</font></font></font></b></a><b><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">" -- 13 October 2009 -- </font><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">When</font></span><font size="2"> </font></font></b><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">you look at footage of the fighting in Helmand today everyone assumes it is being played out against an ancient background of villages and fields built over the centuries.</font></font><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">This is not true. If you look beyond the soldiers, and into the distance, what you are really seeing are the ruins of one of the biggest technological projects the United States has ever undertaken. Its aim was to use science to try and change the course of history and produce a modern utopia in Afghanistan. The city of Lashkar Gah was built by the Americans as a model planned city, and the hundreds of miles of canals that the Taliban now hide in were constructed by the same company that built the San Francisco Bay Bridge and Cape Canaveral.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">Here is what Helmand province looks like today.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2"><br></font></font></p><p></p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">The story of this strange forgotten project started with the holocaust which had the unforeseen consequence of making Afghanistan very rich.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">The fur trade in Europe which had been predominantly run by Jews was closed down. It moved to New York where there was a growing demand for astrakhan coats - made with the fur of fat-tailed sheep from Afghanistan. Here is a classic piece of Afghan promotion of their key export. And a fat tailed sheep.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2"><br></font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">As a result dollars poured into Afghanistan and by 1946 the country had $100 million in reserve. The King, Zahir Shah, decided to spend the money on a dam. His aim was to create a modern state - and with it spread the power of the Pashtun tribes. So he hired the giant American firm Morrison Knudsen who had built the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, and they began surveying Afghanistan's biggest river - the Helmand.</font></font></p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">Here is a page from the Morrison Knudsen Magazine that expresses the ambition and scale of the project. Little America in Afghanistan.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">I want to thank Nick Cullather from Indiana University both for this and for many of the extraordinary details in this story. He is a brilliant historian.</font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2"><br></font></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><a id="lljr" href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23777.htm" target="_blank" title="The Lost History of Helmand"><font size="2">To continue....</font></a></font></p><p><font size="3"> </font></p></font></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Times New Roman'"><p></p><p><font size="3"><br></font></p><p><font size="3">Two others from this series: </font></p></font><div><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(66, 66, 66)"><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(30, 89, 0)"><b><a id="g2t5" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2009/09/kabul_city_number_one.html" target="_blank" title="KABUL: CITY NUMBER ONE"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">KABUL: CITY NUMBER ONE</font></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2"> - </font></font><span style="color: rgb(66, 66, 66); font-weight: normal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="2">I am researching the extraordinary history of the West's relationship to Afghanistan over the past 200 years. It is a very complex, and sometimes weird, story. These are notes on some of the characters and episodes involved</font></font><font size="2">.</font></font></span></b></h1></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(66, 66, 66)"><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(30, 89, 0)"><b><a id="zshq" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2009/10/kinshasa_city_number_two.html" target="_blank" title="KINSHASA: CITY NUMBER TWO"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2">KINSHASA: CITY NUMBER TWO</font></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font size="2"> - </font></font><span style="font-weight: normal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font size="2">As well as our relationship with Afghanistan, I am researching the legacy of other European empires - in Africa. We think of those empires as history but actually they still haunt our everyday lives in the strangest of ways.</font></font></font></span></b></h1><div><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Related article:</font></div><div><br></div><div></div></span><a id="s2_8" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977865825" target="_blank" title="Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Looses Spark">Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Looses Spark</a> - Michael Yon Dispatch which discusses the sad situation with the Kajaki Dam in Helmand Province:<div><br><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><i>The top-secret mission was</i></span></font><font size="1"><i> </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/where-eagles-dare.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><i>Oqab Tsuka</i></span></font></u></a></font><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><i>, involving thousands of ISAF troops who were to deliver turbines to the Kajaki Dam to spearhead a major electrification project. The difficult mission was a great success. That was 2008. During my 2009 embed with British forces, just downstream from Kajaki Dam, it became clear that the initial success had eroded into abject failure.</i></span></font></span><i><br></i><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><i>In fact Canada pledged millions of Canadian dollars to the Kandahar economy once the power was plugged into the grid and supplying business in the city. But the Canadians seem doubtful that power will be switched on before 2014—by which time they will have pulled their troops out of Afghanistan.</i></font></span></div><div><br></div></div><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-64428674293286161772009-10-21T16:59:00.001-05:002009-10-21T16:59:13.357-05:00Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark<span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3">Greetings,<br><br /><br><br />Afghan "leaders" are fighting over what little scraps of power there are to be had. Karzai is becoming a disgrace. The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154952_1">November 7</span> runoffs should be plenty interesting...<br><br /><br><br />Please see the latest dispatch. Short and sweet, this one: <br><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=e09148c344&e=ff0d6bdb57" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-weight: normal"><u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154952_2">Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Looses Spark</span></u></a><br><br /><br><br />-- <br><br />Very Respectfully,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154952_3" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br><br /></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></font></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/electrification/michael-yonacc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Anybody seen a better future around here?" title="Anybody seen a better future around here?" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Anybody seen a better future around here?</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>21 October 2009</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><b><font size="2"><br><br /></font></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In 2008, I was trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal preparing for a return to Afghanistan. A message came from a British officer suggesting to end the trip and get to Afghanistan. Something was up, and I didn’t bother to ask what. Days of walking were needed to reach the nearest road. After several flights, I landed in Kandahar and eventually Helmand Province at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The top-secret mission was <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/where-eagles-dare.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Oqab Tsuka</u></a>, involving thousands of ISAF troops who were to deliver turbines to the Kajaki Dam to spearhead a major electrification project. The difficult mission was a great success. That was 2008. During my 2009 embed with British forces, just downstream from Kajaki Dam, it became clear that the initial success had eroded into abject failure. And then the British kicked me out of the embed, for reasons still unclear, giving me time to look further into the Kajaki electrification failure.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After communications with many American and British officers, a sad picture emerged.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The following message was provided by a well-placed officer. The message has been slightly edited by me for clarification.</font></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Michael,</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">ISAF's initiative [at Kajaki] to light up southern Afghanistan following the successful delivery of a third turbine to the Kajaki hydro-electric dam has run into major problems which could set the project 24 months behind schedule.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Last September, US and British special forces spearheaded a 100 vehicle convoy from Kandahar 180 miles across open desert, much of it owned by the Taliban, to Kajaki. The Operation, codenamed Oqab Tsuka, included 4,000 British, US and Canadian troops in what was hailed as the biggest demonstration since 2006 that ISAF is delivering progress in the south.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The heavily guarded convoy contained what was called T2 (Turbine 2) and was successfully delivered to the US AID built dam after a six-day operation which saw significant fighting by British paratroopers and advance clearance operations by special forces. As it crawled north up the Sangin valley the Brits mounted the biggest deception operation seen since World War Two.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">With just one road available which was an obvious target for insurgents' IEDs, special forces located a second, more difficult and remote route. After confirmation that it could be used, a battle group was flown into the area of the main route, giving the enemy the clear perception that the convoy was heading that way. Then a dummy convoy headed up the road, while the Brits used the alternative route out of sight.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">But despite last year's success it is now becoming clear that little progress has been made. At the time of the operation a US contractor, known as Kajaki Joe, stated that the turbine would be installed by April 2009 with all three turbines in action by September 2009. However, problems with engineers and missing elements of the turbine have caused significant delays.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When the turbine was delivered only one turbine was in action, another was being overhauled on site with the aim being to install the new one and commission all three into service. Now exactly a year on a report submitted to US AID in Lashkar Gah has suggested that the turbine which was being overhauled needs replacing. Sources in Lashkar Gah say this is a gross overestimate of the situation and that there will be no mission to deliver another turbine.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In 2006 US AID representatives in Lashkar Gah asked the British to play down the project and not to raise people’s expectations about when power would be delivered. The British Foreign Office was quick to try and hijack the public relations spin of last year's success, even though the UK gave no funding to the project.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The overall aim of the turbine mission was to support the power grid in southern Afghanistan. In fact Canada pledged millions of Canadian dollars to the Kandahar economy once the power was plugged into the grid and supplying business in the city. But the Canadians seem doubtful that power will be switched on before 2014—by which time they will have pulled their troops out of Afghanistan.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="2">COMMENTS:</font></b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="2"><br><br /></font></b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="2"><br /><div id="pc_21300" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Even an idiot can see we need more troops</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21300"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As an American I am embarassed and frustrated. War is not a play toy and neither are our soldiers. This administration needs to either go all in on Afganistan or pull out. For the record I do not believe we should pull out. If we cannot provide basic electrical power in less than two years or now 4 or 5 years there is a big security issue. It is absolutely clear to the biggest idiot that more troops are needed to do in Afganistan what has been accomplished in Iraq. It blows my mind that the administrations only strategy is wait wait wait. They are getting really good at doing nothing. I just pray our men and women do not pay an extra high price for their foolishness. Let's get the troops the resources they need. I am sorry buy Biden is an bumbling idiot when compared to McChrystal or Petraeus. Petraeus' leadership and ideas turned an Iraq around that all the dems had given up on. Now they think they know better then the generals that are making things happen. Unbelieveable. I pray for our troop, and for the rest of us if Afghanistan is abandoned. Wake up Obama it is real easy listen to your generals that have proven themselves time and time again, and quit wasting time picking a fight with Fox News. Do your job for goodness sake. <br><br /><br><br />Thanks again for your reporting Michael</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21301" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21301" id="comment-21301"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ROE</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21301"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Present ROE = no more troops</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">TomasUSMC </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21302" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21302" id="comment-21302"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">More troops on a hopeless mission?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21302"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">However much I would love to sound a rousing gung-ho with a few tally-hos' from my armchair whilst watching our lads get their legs blown off, I really doubt that whatever government ends up with the reigns of power and the open tap of funding in Kabul the way or life for the afghan populace will increase. Take this issue of the turbines. I've worked on a few dam projects in the 3rd world and this type of infrastruture needs constant engineering support - and who will provide this with remnants of the Taliban roaming around? The sooner Kabul takes responsibility and gets a decent army together the sooner we can pull out - surely this must be a huge and the main priority for our 'leaders'</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pete </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21303" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21303" id="comment-21303"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21303"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is the toughest test and a nation that is so in the stone age it makes me wonder where they have been for the last 100 years. I think they will love and prosper in freedom, once they know we are there for the long haul, otherwise they are watching to see what we and the world does. If we cut and run they will go back to being mules and good peasants. If we stay and rebuild the schools and allow a glimmer of education they will grow because they have been in the dark so long. It all depends on what happens in the south with the advances of the Pakistan soldiers on the north. I hope we have an agreement to bring in the heavies and eliminate the troops that are gathering to fight the Pakistan Army.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Phil </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21304" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21304" id="comment-21304"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Remember Vietnam</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21304"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is not really much of a surprise, zero has never really promised anything to anyone other then the destruction of America. He will probably make lbj and his wiz kid, mcnamara look like real combat leaders. Anyone that actually expects anything or any action on the Afgan or any other issue that has any merit, well, it is all smoke and mirrors and not even a real good job at that.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ole Sarge </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21305" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21305" id="comment-21305"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">retired grocer from USA</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21305"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The American voter seems to get more and more stupid every election. We seem to get what we deserve. One President that`took the balanced budget he inherited and couldn't wait to give away to his rich friends only to elect a president planning to spend even more. He has two wars going on with no plan to win either one. We have a congress and senate filled with criminals,sex perverts and every other kind of scum you can think of. I am really overcome with a sense of doom. I really feel the worst for the troops that are out there fighting in this mess with no reaol leadership at the very top.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Charles </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21308" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21308" id="comment-21308"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21308"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mr Grocer, <br><br />I look at the situation and am much more optimistic. The current president is preceding at the scheduled pace for troop drawdown in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government. You say he has no plans to win either one, but the situation in Iraq is more or less going to plan. What is your definition of victory in Iraq? As for the current domestic spending, just a few months ago, economic experts of all stripes were worried about the possibility of a massive and sustained depression. Nine months later, the stock market has stabilized and hopefully employment will soon start to pick up. Its a big concern though. As for Afghanistan, I would much prefer a deliberate and thought out strategy. McChrystal has given his military requirements to the president who then has to look at the entire political-economic-military situation to determine what is in or country's best strategic interest. Michael on this very site has suggested that any commitme to this region has to be generational and the outcome would still be in doubt. Not many Americans are probably willing to bet our treasure and troops on such a bet. Lets see what the Afghan political situation is before we commit more troops to this difficult situation.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Drew </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21309" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21309" id="comment-21309"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He hates our Military as Clinton did.</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21309"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I knew if this man got in our Men and Women were in trouble so Please pray and pray hard for their safety and keep their families in your Prayers.Thank you Michael for keeping us informed of the problems that are facing them. <br><br />GOD BLESS THEM AND KEEP THEM SAFE.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jean</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21311" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21311" id="comment-21311"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Double Bogey</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21311"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hey all, even Tiger doesn't birdie or par every hole he plays. Be positive, we kicked butt militarily and I bet the additional transport General Patraeus is sending might improve the dam completion projections. <br><br /><br><br />Michael, thanks for the full disclosure. <br><br /><br><br /><p></p><br />I feel like this needs to be a Monty Python moment...Allllllllll-ways look onnnnnn the bright side of life...do do...da do do do do do... <br><br /><br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21312" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21312" id="comment-21312"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21312"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">what happened to working together? A year ago, they were being 'hailed' but now they seem to be walking away, hands in pockets, whistling contently like it's not their problem. Where is ISAF-NATO in all this, what's their stance and why have they taken a back seat and let the individual parties step away. Do we need more troops there, yes. Do we need more choppers and resources, yes. But, most of all, teamwork and unity is what will win this and it's currently the missing key. Get it together guys, it's amazing what can be done as a team but individuals will be overrun.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Scott / TX </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21313" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21313" id="comment-21313"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Time to act</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21313"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The time to act is now, not later. The president has the information he needs already, this is just another example of a lot of talk and little action, a theme becoming more and more familiar as this presidents agenda is becoming more and more clear, despite what he says in public. Our troops are in trouble right now, and they need what they need RIGHT NOW, not when the president and his fine bunch of political advisors decide is right. Our guys and girls are suffering right now due to the gross ineptitude of our current administration.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Phillip </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21314" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21314" id="comment-21314"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Trackbacked / Linked</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21314"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 10/21/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/10/from-front-10212009.html</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David M </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21315" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21315" id="comment-21315"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21315"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I think you chaps have missed the point. The more troops we pour in the greater the number of targets Terry Taliban has and the greater the resentment amongst the moderate afghans, thus fueling the insurgency. Surely all efforts must be on the Afghan armed forces and also moderate warlords etc and not our costly foreign troops that have to rely on translators and stand out like a sore thumb. Surely Iraq has taught us this lesson.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pete</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21316" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21316" id="comment-21316"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21316"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I must say Childers comment ''Our guys and girls are suffering right now due to the gross ineptitude of our current administration''. Surely you mean to say ''Our guys and girls are suffering right now due to the gross ineptitude of our past administrations''</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pete</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21317" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21317" id="comment-21317"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21317"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jeeze. . . one would THINK this would be front page. One would THINK the press would be all over this. One would THINK heads would roll. I do have unlimited faith in American ingenuity, committment and purpose; that if allowed to make this happen, it would. There is something big and ugly standing in the way.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sara </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21319" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21319" id="comment-21319"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Is this an engineering issue or a military issue?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21319"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Engineering is pretty cut and dried. Engineers go in and assess a problem and find practical solutions. If Turbine 2 needed a rebuild the parts and staff and tools should have been in place 2 years ago. If that rebuild turned into a complete loss, which believe me, does at times happen, especially in the 3rd World, it should have been recognized and a report filed not long after the rebuild began. This isn't rocket science. <br><br /><br><br />getting turbines 1 and 3 on line should be another engineering job. Each is an independent unit and can provide power separately. There are plenty of GE engineers out there who can assess the situation rapidly. This sounds like more political BS. Whose engineers are responsible? Who is managing the project? This is where British and American engineers used to kick ass and take names.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">matt h </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21320" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21320" id="comment-21320"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lessons Learned</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21320"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">actually Pete; <br><br /><br><br />Iraq taught us exactly the opposite lesson. The Americans and allies were, for the most part, looked upon as honest brokers in a chaotic and sectarian environment. The Iraqis needed to build organizations that until the rebuilding of the country did not exist. Pan Iraqi, non sectarian police and militay and judicial and development organizations. They are still not there yet but it's better than it was. It could all go south again precisely because there is not a guarantor of the peace involved as we disengage. <br><br /><br><br />So far, we are still not looked upon as invaders by the majority of the people of Afghanistan. Counterinsurgency has to help stabilize the country rather than create conflict. The whole peace through strength concept. Half assed measures get half assed results as was demonstrated in Iraq.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">matt h </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21321" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21321" id="comment-21321"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Troops Now or in 3 Weeks</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21321"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">There is a lot of hand-wringing about whether we begin sending new troops to Afghanistan now or wait until after the election. <br><br /><br><br />While I certainly don't like him, President Obama is putting pressure on Karzai's supporters to keep the election clean. He's basically telling them: if you cheat on this one, you're on your own. <br><br /><br><br />An election with minimal levels of corruption is going to drastically help our troops. If the people believe the government is legitimate, then the mission has a greater chance of success. <br><br /><br><br />While I understand the need to get the 40,000 troops there and in place as soon as we can (although I don't think they really need to be there during the winters when nothing really happens), a clearly legitimate election is going to serve as a dramatic force multiplier. That multiplier should more than make up for any kind of delay. <br><br /><br><br />Openly committing now removes any leverage that we have over keeping Karzai's supporters on the up and up. <br><br /><br><br />If the Afghans in power can't put their nation's interest ahead of their own personal interests even when the result will be us pulling out and their being left on their own, then it's a good sign that those Afghans in power would NEVER have been the partners we needed to make this mission work. <br><br /><br><br />The Obama administration is (rightfully in my opinion) testing the Afghans' mettle. It needs to be done before we double down on an endeavor that has a high risk of failure already.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sean </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21322" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21322" id="comment-21322"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's a cluster f*(K!</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21322"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Chinese fire drill, FUBAR, or whatever you want to call it but the bottom line is we need to get our a$$es out of there. <br><br />Michael you do great reporting but you need to find a different area of conflict where something positive can occur. It certainly won't be Afghanistan. <br><br />True then true now. <br><br />"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier."</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jim </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></font></b></font><br /><p></p><br /></blockquote><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b><br /><div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. </font></i></font></b><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><br /><div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a direct contribution. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the Michael Yon Dispatches Gather Group</font></b></div><div><br></div></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-73152715559290659672009-10-21T16:56:00.001-05:002009-10-21T16:56:57.918-05:00Adopt-a-stan<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial">Greetings,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154945_1">On Monday</span>, <i><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154945_2">National Review Online</span></i> published <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=529f786784&e=ff0d6bdb57" style="font-weight: normal"><u><b><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154945_3"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Adopt-A-Stan</font></span></b></u></a> under the title "<b>The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154945_4" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">War in Afghanistan</span> Is Winnable</b>". Same dispatch, different title. <br><br /><br><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=84e2c0ff1d&e=ff0d6bdb57" style="font-weight: normal"><u><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Adopt-A-Stan</font></u></a> is published and waiting.<br><br /><br><br />Your writer,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1256154945_5" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br><br /></span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><br><br /></span></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">Adopt-a-Stan</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/adoptastan/michael-yon-4acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Lithuanians bring supplies to district hospital at Chaghcharan." title="Lithuanians bring supplies to district hospital at Chaghcharan." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Lithuanians bring supplies to district hospital at Chaghcharan.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><font size="3">18 October 2009</font></b><font size="3"><br><br /></font><i><font size="3">By Michael Yon</font></i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">The inbox was peppered with hyperlinks to Dexter Filkins’ story in the </font><i><font size="3">New York Times</font></i><font size="3">, </font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Afghanistan-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank"><u><font size="3"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Stanley McChrystal’s Long War</font></font></u></a><font size="3">. One message came from Kathryn Lopez at</font><i><font size="3">National Review</font></i><font size="3">, asking if I had seen the article and for any thoughts.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">It should be said that I respect the work of Dexter Filkins. Mr. Filkins is a seasoned war correspondent whose characterizations of Iraq ring true, while </font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Afghanistan-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss" target="_blank"><u><font size="3"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Stanley McChrystal’s Long War</font></font></u></a><font size="3"> resonates with my ongoing experiences in Afghanistan. Despite the great length of the article, the few points that did not resonate were more trivialities for discussion than disagreements. Mr. Filkins did a fine job.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">To be clear, I have developed a strong belief that the war is winnable, though at this rate we will lose. Mr. Filkins seemed to unfold a similar argument. In my view, we need more troops and effort in Afghanistan—now—and the commitment must be intergenerational.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">In Mr. Filkins’ article, a couple of seemingly small points are keyholes to profound realities, and to a few possible illusions. For instance, the idea that Afghans are tired of fighting seems off. Afghans often tell me they are tired of fighting but those words are inconsistent with the bitter fact that the war intensifies with every change of season. The idea that Afghans are tired of war seems an illusion. </font><i><font size="3">Some</font></i><font size="3"> Afghans are tired. I spend more time talking with older Afghans than with teenagers, and most of the older Afghans do seem weary. Yet according to the CIA World Factbook, the median age is 17.6 years; meaning half of Afghans are estimated to be this age or below. The culture is old, but the population is a teenager. Most Afghans today probably had not reached puberty when al Qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks. Eight years later, Afghanistan is more an illiterate kid than a country. The median age for the U.S. is given at 36.7. In addition to the tremendous societal disconnect between Americans and Afghans, there would be a generational gap even if those distant children were Americans. Clearly this could lead to frustrations if we expect quick results.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">We ask Afghans for help in defeating the enemies, yet the Afghans expect us to abandon them. Importantly, Mr. Filkins pointed out that Afghans don’t like to see Americans living in tents. Tents mean nomads. It would be foolish for Afghans in “Talibanastan” to cooperate with nomadic Americans only to be eviscerated by the Taliban when the nomads pack up. (How many times did we see this happen in Iraq?) The Afghans want to see us living in real buildings as a sign of permanency. The British at Sangin and associated bases live in temporary structures as is true with American bases in many places. Our signals are clear. “If you are coming to stay,” Afghans have told me in various ways, “build a real house.” “Build a real office.” “Don’t live in tents.” We saw nearly the opposite in Iraq where pressure evolved to look semi-permanent. The Dr. Jekyll–Mr. Hyde situation in Iraq seemed to seriously catch hold by 2006 or 2007, by which time Iraqis realized we were not going to steal oil and might decide to pull out while leaving them ablaze in civil war.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">A great many Iraqis wanted to know that we would stay long enough to help them stand, but were not planning on making Iraq part of an American empire. It became important to convey semi-permanence, signaling, “Yes we will stay and yes we will leave.” Conversely, Afghans down in the south, in places like Helmand, tend to have fond memories of Americans who came mid last century, and those Afghans seem apt to cooperate. That much is clear. But Afghans need to sense our long-term commitment. They need to see houses made of stone, not tents and “Hesco-habs.”</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/adoptastan/michael-yon-5acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Ghor Province, Afghanistan." title="Ghor Province, Afghanistan." style="width: 600px; height: 388.767px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Ghor Province, Afghanistan.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">It’s crucial to hold in constant memory that Afghanistan is the societal equivalent of an illiterate teenager. The child-nation will fail unless we are willing to adopt the people. Many Afghans clearly hope this will happen, though of course we have to phrase it slightly differently. Afghans are, after all, proud and xenophobic. They are not just xenophobic but also afghanophobic. Most houses are built like little Alamos.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Half-solutions failed in Iraq and are failing in Afghanistan. There will be no cheap, easy or quick compromise that will lead to long-term success in AfPak. Erroneously adopting a paradigm that scales back to a counterterrorism approach would be like dispatching the potent but tiny Delta Force to the Amazon jungles with orders to swat mosquitoes. We can give them every Predator and Reaper in the arsenal, yet twenty years from now they’ll still be shooting Hellfires at mosquitoes. Gutting mid-level enemy leadership has been very effective in Iraq and Afghanistan, but only in a larger context. Using strictly a counterterrorism approach, we’ll end up killing relatively zero mosquitoes—the birthrate alone will see that we never win—before coming down with war malaria and nothing will change. Counterterrorism in today’s context remains important but CT is only one of many subheadings in the great accounting. It’s time for CT to crawl into the backseat, not take the wheel. Afghanistan was a special operations playground for more than half a decade. Nobody can argue that special operations forces were not given plenty of assets and discretion with special affections from the White House. </font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">They also got more than a half-decade of free press passes. Many people argue that the press lost the war in Vietnam, but that argument has no fizz in Afghanistan. Nobody knows that better than Stanley McChrystal, who today is asking for more troops, not fewer. We need to provide General McChrystal with the resources to win and nobody is in a better position to know what he needs.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/adoptastan/michael-yon-3accrc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Children at school in Chaghcharan, Afghanistan. (Thanks to Lithuanians and other international support.)" title="Children at school in Chaghcharan, Afghanistan. (Thanks to Lithuanians and other international support.)" style="width: 600px; height: 414.247px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Children at school in Chaghcharan, Afghanistan. (Thanks to Lithuanians and other international support.)</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">If Afghanistan is to succeed, we must adopt it. We must adopt an entire country, a troubled child, for many decades to come. We must show the Afghans that together we can severely damage the enemies, or bring them around, and together build a brighter future. The alternative is perpetual war and terrorism radiating from the biggest, possibly richest and most war-prone drug dealers the world has ever seen, and what could eventually reverse and become the swamp that harbors the disease that eventually kills Pakistan, leaving its nuclear weapons on the table.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Adopting this child-nation means more than the relatively simple task of building security forces bankrolled by foreign governments. Afghanistan cannot finance its police and army, much less the education and vast infrastructure needed to fashion and fuel a self-sustaining economy. The Coalition has already adopted the Afghan security forces and this remittance arrangement is perpetual until we squeeze the account and watch it die, or Afghanistan stands. The illiterate people of Afghanistan are multiplying like rabbits, and so thousands of schools, teachers and entire educational infrastructure must be raised up; uncontrolled population growth, among Afghanistan’s countless other problems, is born in the bed of ignorance. Only through education and opportunity, and eventual meritorious inclusion into the international community—if meager—can narcotics production, criminality, warlordism and fanaticism be eroded and whittled back. By adopting Afghanistan, bringing peace and creating a nucleus for progress, the many private donors who profoundly help develop countries such as Nepal can operate freely to spread seeds of civilization not just in Afghanistan, but in the region.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">Finally, we are not the Russians, nor the failed Soviet Union. It is important to learn from Soviet success and failures, but comparing too closely Coalition efforts to theirs quickly becomes silly. The Coalition can succeed where the Soviets failed, and it should be remembered that the Soviets failed in the “easy” places where democracy now thrives, such as Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and a distinguished list of others who this moment are helping in Afghanistan, and whose countries are today thriving and where we are welcome.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/adoptastan/michael-yonacc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="The 'Impossible' regularly becomes common sense: former members of the Soviet empire, whose fathers fought in Afghanistan, have returned. Today they come and build schools and infrastructure, not to spread communism, but to seed freedom and prosperity." title="The 'Impossible' regularly becomes common sense: former members of the Soviet empire, whose fathers fought in Afghanistan, have returned. Today they come and build schools and infrastructure, not to spread communism, but to seed freedom and prosperity." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">The 'Impossible' regularly becomes common sense: former members of the Soviet empire, whose fathers fought in Afghanistan, have returned. Today they come and build schools and infrastructure, not to spread communism, but to seed freedom and prosperity.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">I remember Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania and others during the dark days. It is no wonder to me that the Soviets failed while freedom and democracy succeeded. People who saw Prague then and can see it today likely will have great difficulty explaining the differences to the uninitiated. The Coalition in Afghanistan is largely comprised of nations who have suffered greatly in recent times. They get it.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3">We should adopt Afghanistan for the long term. If not, there will be perpetual and growing trouble. This Coalition can succeed in Afghanistan where others failed.</font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">COMMENTS:</font></b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><b><font size="2"><br><br /></font></b></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><b><br /><div id="pc_21273" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Clarity, sweet clarity</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21273"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">After first read-through at this late hour, my gut tells me this is one of the best short pieces you've written. I've been an avid reader for years. Perhaps my senses are clouded and I'll reconsider upon awakening, but right now this hits me where it counts. Clarity is not to be undervalued, and your analogies are more than helpful. Stay safe. I'll keep praying for your safety - and for the writing "muses" to continue to bless you.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Exothermic </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21274" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21274" id="comment-21274"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the long war</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21274"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It will take at least one entire generation for this to become stable. I see and hear the detonations every day. It's hard to "build" when you have to worry about getting blown up. That being said we have to try, or get out and the whole thing will go up in smoke. It's a choice. Long and slow or get out. There is no easy middle.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Kevin </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21275" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21275" id="comment-21275"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You Get It, but will They?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="xlqe"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes Michael you have hit the nail on the head with this analysis. This is what I saw when I traveled in Afghanistan in 1987 as a traveling physician. They love Americans and wanted more of us to show up and stay. We need civilians with skills and comittment to show up. I would love to show up but I don't want to become a hostage or a headless victim of the Taliban. Until the security situation is vastly improved people like me are not going to show up. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="ocn0"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />I outlined a plan to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding this issue but have heard nothing back for 6 months now. A lot of us Baby Boomers are looking for a cause to give ourselves to similar to the Peace Corp in the 1960s. Personally I am sick and tired of catering to a bunch of 'entitled' good for nothings who complain about the free medical care I give them every day. The Afghans by contrast treated me like a true hero when I was there. <br><br />Take Care and watch your back.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">William</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21276" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21276" id="comment-21276"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sopt on mate</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21276"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mike, insightful, reasoned writing coming from someone who truly understands the country and people. But if we are to adopt Afg, it must be a determined all out effort by all countries who stand to benefit from bringing Afg into the 21st century. Can that be achieved?</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Chris in Kabul </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21278" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21278" id="comment-21278"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Permanent Construction</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21278"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I continue to be amazed at the lack of permanent structures, as you mentioned. There has been a marked change, at least on KAF, where there seems to be more permanent structures under construction than workers to build them. By what I see here, there should be almost no nomadic structures within six months, though this is not very visible to anyone not working on the base. Perhaps it would benefit for you to spend a day photographing all of the construction happening here to let the Afghani's know of the change.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Chris </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21279" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21279" id="comment-21279"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Wow</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21279"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I am ever so glad everytime I receive a new dispatch, Michael. You don't pull your punches, and no one else can even come close to the context like you do. My 2 younger nephews are both in the army; one just got back from his last tour in Iraq (3) while the younger is gearing up to afpak beginning of the year as a medic (was EOD) anyway I've told him about you, hopefully he'll be able to say hello and give you a personal "handshake" to thank you for all your hard work. Keep it up. Air Cav!!</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Phillip</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21280" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21280" id="comment-21280"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Well Done</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21280"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I follow your writing quite closely and agree that this is one of your best. This is "must read" material for our nation's leadership (political and military). I hope you carbon copied them all on this one.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">NF </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21281" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21281" id="comment-21281"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian-Grandfather-American</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="x:y8"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This makes sense. Only good argument I've heard for true nation building. Iraq was giving them the chance to build their own nation; this would give them time to see what a nation could be rather than what they've known in most or all of their history. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="vi::"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />How could our small community of Farmersville, TX adopt a community there and trade stories and finances to uplift both? Money will be the cure-all but pictures and thoughts would tie us together and make us understand the cultures that are different but have needs and even desires that are alike. What other items could we trade that could make a difference to us and them?</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bill Chambers </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21282" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21282" id="comment-21282"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian-Grandfather-American</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21282"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This makes sense, good sense. Can we as a community adopt a locale there?</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bill Chambers </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21283" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21283" id="comment-21283"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">To what end?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21283"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mike, <br><br />I agree completely with most of your assessment. However, I must ask 'to what end?' Even if we make a 50 or 100 year commitment and we 'leave' Afghanistan a perfect, secure, functioning democracy, what does that do for the US in the even-longer term? Surely denying Al Qaida a playground can't be the only thing we accomplish. Al Qaida doesn't need Afghanistan - they have almost all of northern Africa to run around. Yes, Pakistan and Afghanistan can be considered a single issue on some levels - enter the nuclear problem. But, left to their own design, does anyone beleive that the Taliban has the will or means to go after Islamabad? Would/could Al Qaida? <br><br /><br><br />Keep up the great reporting and keep your powder dry - we need you.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pencil Neck </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21284" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21284" id="comment-21284"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pictures</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21284"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mr. Yon, as always, great article. What strikes me about this article is the maturity in the eyes of those children. They have seen more adversity and destruction than anyone should. These are the future leaders of a free Afghanistan if we have the courage to continue liberating these people from the Taliban and from ignorance.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Nate </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21285" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21285" id="comment-21285"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You deserve a Pulitzer</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21285"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amid all of the political bombast and spinning your reporting is as the morning sun chasing the darkness away. Back here in the USA sometimes it is hard to know what to believe, but your vivid and insightful reporting dispells the darkness of political spin and disinformation. Until this dispatch I was wondering if we can win in Afghanistan, but you have shown the way. You put a face on the Afghan people and read the pulse of the country like no one else. They need us and we need them. We need to show them and the world that we are still the good guys. <br><br /><br><br />I know some of the Special Forces that were the first in the country and a number of the 82nd Airborne. Our country is blessed with men and women of courage and patriotism in the best sense of the word. I thank you for honoring my friends who deserve all the love and respect we can give them. But our best weapons are schools and hospitals and genuine friendship that sticks with them for the long haul. <br><br /><br><br />Thank your for having the courage to tell it without the political spin. Thank you for letting see through your eyes. You do deserve a Pulitzer. <br><br /><br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Patrick Wood </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21286" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21286" id="comment-21286"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What to do?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21286"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">There are no simple solutions. As evidenced even here. I respect that the national leadership is carefully parsing the facts to define objectives and then resources. <br><br /><br><br />If we are trying to nationbuild a democracy, it will take huge amounts of time, blood, and money (and willpower/support at home). Their Constitution will have to be radically revised. In fact, with so little to work with, we would be literally starting from scratch. <br><br /><br><br />Enemy strengths are well documented. They own the mountains and control the roads at will. They are living with the people. We play to their strengths by staying on our FOBs, away from the populations and are vulnerable when we go out. Our strengths are Satelllite, electronic, and UAV surveillance, the ability to strike from the sky at will, and much bigger bombs. Yet we handcuff ourselves with the ROE. <br><br /><br><br />If our objective is to deny AQ reentry and training sites, we have the ability to do that remotely, supplemented by CIA ground assets. <br><br /><br><br />Give McChrystal the troops he requests to blunt this fall offensive. In a month or so, it will not be fighting weather. Use the "downtime" to bribe enemy factions to not oppose us...it worked in Iraq. Develop intel assets. Convince Kharzai to fight corruption. <br><br /><br><br />Consolidate <br><br /><br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Scott</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21287" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21287" id="comment-21287"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Trackbacked / Linked</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21287"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 10/20/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/10/from-front-10202009.html</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David M </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21288" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21288" id="comment-21288"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Eventual Betrayal</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21288"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's Unfortunate that more Afghans can't read. If they could, they could read about Vietnam and how the United States of America walked away from our Montagnard allies despite well-meaning assurances from troops on the ground. <br><br /><br><br />That is the fate that awaits the foolish Afghans who trust our uncommitted nation. We will abandon them, long before the fight is over, and all those who foolishly trusted us will be slaughtered like farm animals. <br><br /><br><br />The PEOPLE of the U.S. need to commit to this fight. Not the politicians, not the military, but regular everyday Americans. If we aren't going to allow this fight to be continued, then lets not F**k over more Afghans by getting them to side with us. Afghans who could live some semblance of a life under a Taliban, which is probably better than getting your head sawn off for having trusted the words of a capricious and unprincipled nation.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sean </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21289" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21289" id="comment-21289"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Make a Video, Michael</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21289"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />Someone, and I mean you, needs to make a compelling video of the situation on the ground there to humanize the Afghans. That is really the only hope of reversing the trend of dwindling public sentiment. No news media will do it: they want out. <br><br /><br><br />I hate to say it, but if you could focus on the fact that large numbers of Aghans are, in essences, caucasians and not arab that would probably help. Watch our news channels. Little blue-eyed girls pull at America's heart strings like nothing else. <br><br /><br><br />I'm not asking you to make propaganda, but tell the story of the Afghans and what they face and why they need a generational commitment.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sean </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21290" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21290" id="comment-21290"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How can the US construct a sustainable strategy?</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="e8ic"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I get the adoption of an illiterate child analogy, but understanding the mission is not, I think the problem. Rather the salient issue is the crafting of a strategy in Afghanistan that can both win and is politically and militarily sustainable. The cold war containment of the old Soviet Union stands as an excellent example. <br><br />Now, how does this work in Afghanistan. We have been at this long war for eight years, mostly wasted in and on IRAQ. So now the American people are “tired” of the Afghanistan effort. We have been fighting with a too small volunteer Army. Grinding the volunteers and their equipment into a fine dust that mirrors Afghanistan and IRAQ. Do we need a draft to bring our forces up to the levels necessary to establish a sense of full time sustainment in Afghanistan? Can we fight this thing with a smaller yet permanent footprint? I don’t know and hope someone has the answers. <br><br /></span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="jw_e"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">Richard</font></span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">, </font></span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="2">October 20, 2009</font></span></font></span></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21291" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21291" id="comment-21291"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sean Wrote: We will abandon them, long before the fight is over, and all those who foolishly trusted us will be slaughtered like farm animals.</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21291"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sean is probably correct,unless the Obama adminand those to follow, go along with the adoption! <br><br /><br><br />Let's send enough troops. whatever it takes, to roust and kill the group of terrorists and their coalition, that flew the planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon and the plane that was downed by the passengers in PA and killed thousands of Americans and other nationals on 9/11/01. <br><br /><br><br />Remember, President Bush said he would do this that day on that pile of rock in NY and that he would go into ANY country that harbored their ilk, with, or without permission....but we stopped at Pakistan So, let's get it done and move on. We can leave a large coalition contingent of (UN) troops in Afghanistan after the war is won, to insure security and build the buildings, roads and infrastructure. <br><br /><br><br />If the current admin and others to follow, do not buy into this effort, then Sean will be right and they Afghan people will pay with their blood, just like the South Vietnamese did. I hope Sean is wrong this time! <br><br /><br><br />Thanks Michael for creating this forum with the news we need to hear! Be safe! Maddy</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">maddy </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21293" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21293" id="comment-21293"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ewakahuna</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21293"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I like best, your ability to "strike between the eyes" on this subject with clear prose and stunning photos. All of us "Yonaholics" prior to my comments seem to agree with your basic premise on ASTAN. A TV special with you as a narrator/commentator would help the public understand. Where's the MSM producer who is willing to stand up? BTW, USMC son in pipeline en route home from his FOB.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Colin</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21294" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21294" id="comment-21294"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21294"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Michael Yon, your analysis sounds correct, alas. <br><br /><br><br />I hate like anything to see America "adopt" Central Asia (...really, it's more than just Afghanistan...it's that whole tribal, medieval part of Asia) for the next couple of generations or so. Breeding like rabbits (..I'd say fish is more like it..) will create an entitled population in no time; and they will be everlastingly sending tentacles out to our Treasury and expecting America to proffer the lives of our men and women fighting on their behalf. Not to mention the inherent corruption, and pervasive drug cultivation. We can't beat that "establishment". I'm not sure we can "win" amidst that teeming cauldron. <br><br />I was taught in school way back in the middle of the last century that one cannot legislate social change. Any local governments set up in Central Asia under our auspices, judging from the media accounts about voting in Afghanistan (if these are a true indication of what's going on there now) bodes ill in this needed "social change" department. <br><br />Yes, I know our shores are in jeopardy right now and will continue to be so. But can we not isolate and contain this nasty area as we did the Soviets during that long war? Have we not advantageous technology, and superbly trained and motivated special forces? But, our resources are finite. <br><br />Realizing that these central Asian artificial borders were created by colonial French and British Foreign Offices, and recognizing that the English, at least, have troops in combat there, why must it be ....America....stepping in here, there, everywhere, and enduring the international scorn and backbiting politics, and always having to cope with all this hypocrisy? <br><br />Others are always too willing to let America do the heavy lifting. This American thinks we're being used. <br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Charles</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21295" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21295" id="comment-21295"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The American Burden</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21295"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Michael, first I want to say that, in the month or so that I have been reading your posts, I have found them all enlightening, helping this 20 year old with no connection to the military to understand to some extent what is going on, without any of the crap thrown in by most of our media outlets. <br><br /><br><br />However, while I found the substance of this post to be characteristically enlightening, the condescending tone you adopt when you refer to the Afghans seems to me like something from the days of the British Empire, like Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden." I am not comparing the U.S. to the British Empire. Just be aware that it is dangerous to think too lowly of the people there. Using your analogy, though, remember that children are the fastest learners. The people could very well surprise you, perhaps in this presidential run-off (even I think that's unlikely, though). <br><br /><br><br />That said, this article was interesting and informative, and I hope that you will continue to provide us with your excellent coverage of the situation over there. And please, if you see something wrong in what I said, correct me. You certainly know more than I do about what is going on. I just hope to give you the perspective of a fresh pair of eyes. Thank you.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Christian </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21296" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21296" id="comment-21296"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21296"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">great article. what a very awakening post! <br><br /><br><br />http://www.craigspr.org <br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">craigspr </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21297" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21297" id="comment-21297"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">looking from the outside in.</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21297"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Michael. very good read. good to have someone on the inside. who can give the folks on the outside, a view of whats happening there. but if all of the HA.workers, rebuilding teams, can't or don't leave there compounds, out of fear of kidnappings, being shot at. or whatever, then the Taliban have won one. corruption has taken hold of Afghanistan in a tight fist. and for some, i don't blame them. the need to feed a family out ways honesty. Afghanistan has learned one thing. "show me the money."</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">dennis </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21298" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21298" id="comment-21298"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">MD, FACS</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21298"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Thank you for this continued informative blog. You photo "Ghor Province, Afghanistan" reminds me of the famous Steve McCurry photo from National Geographic, published in 1985.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">J.F.</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 20, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21306" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21306" id="comment-21306"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21306"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We need to stay the course in Afghanistan regardless of what it takes. The well-being of their <br><br />people, AS WELL AS THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, is at stake. <br><br />The native Afghanistans, in my opinion, want freedom from the Taliban, who want only to use them. <br><br />They are indoctrinating children to fight and hate Americans.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ken </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21307" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21307" id="comment-21307"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Afghanistan</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="xjcu"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I disagree. In one word, 'Logistics'. The Logistics tails for any US forces in the 'stan pass thru either Pakistan or Russia. Neither is an ally nor an enemy. That means they cannot be trusted. The Maximum number of troops that can be supported thru the 1 airport capable of handling US Cargo planes is about 100,000 on US Army logistics tables. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="wivw"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />That is nowhere close to enough to 'adopt'. the 'stan. To work a Conventional CT ops plan such as McCrystal wants, it would take between 500,000 and 1 million soldiers, based on a population of 25 million. McCrystal knows that, which means he is being deceitful and trying to 'rock soup' his way up to the required numbers. That is what was done in Vietnam and labeled 'mission creep'. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="l:8s"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />Where are those troops coming from? What are they going to do when they get to the 'stan? <br><br />Nobody in this administration has ever voiced a Strategy or operational objective for the 'stan. No evidence that anyone in the White House even knows there is a difference between strategy and operations. How many riles will it take to cram democracy down the throats of the 'ganis? </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="u3:s"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />The real risk in Afghanistan isn't of another Vietnam, but another Bataan. How long would a President as weak as Obama stand up under the daily, prime time beheading of US troops? Do you think Stanley has ever heard of Yorktown or Stalingrad or any of the countless other places where superior military forces were foced to surrender by having their supply lines cut? <br><br /><br><br />Afghanistan is a fiction, not a nation. Nothing America can do will make it a nation in less then 3 generations. So forget nation building and CT. The reason we are in the 'stan is to prevent terrorist groups from using it for a 'safe haven'. So go with that and use an area denial ops plan. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="ic51"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />Get the Army out ( did you know that the US Army has a patriot battery in the 'stan? That is to shoot down all those Taliban fighter bombers!), put in Marines and Special Forces and hunt bugs. Use the 'stan as a very advanced AIT. With enough live fire drills to make everybody happy. </span></font></font></div><div class="jc_comment_text" id="h6u8"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br><br />After all, Marines love tracking down things and killing them. Gani's love tracking down things and killing them. Terorists love tracking down things and killing them. Everybody happy.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">john sanford </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21310" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21310" id="comment-21310"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Down and Dirty</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21310"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Michael, it is always a pleasure to read your dispatches. I cannot tell you how liittle quality information is distributed to us via mainstream news outlets. Foxnews does its best, but nobody, and I mean nobody, gives us the down and dirty of this fight like you. <br><br /><br><br />Permanent structures demonstrate commitment and here we have inculcated ourselves with the belief a small footprint would be necessary in this battlefront with terror. Just goes to show to win the peace all we have to do is listen to the indigenous population. <br><br /><br><br />One more thing...Great pics! <br><br /><br><br />Kudos, <br><br /><br><br />Dave <br><br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David </span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><p></p><br /><div id="pc_21318" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21318" id="comment-21318"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="4"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Logistics...</span></font></font></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21318"><font size="2"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Re: John's comment... <br><br /><br><br />I'm heartened to read here that someone remembers Bataan. Our inevitable Asian withdrawal must be organized very, very carefully and simultaneously morphed into a special ops and remote aerial-controlled leadership-killing effort without massed troops. This can also take generations, but is more efficient. Asian demographics are indeed against us. <br><br /><br><br />Afghanistan is indeed a fiction, that fictitious border hand drawn, if I'm not mistaken, by Winston Churchilll while he was Foreign Secretary. I wish people would also read up and refresh themselves on the Sykes-Picot Agreement and also the widespread carve-up of Central-and West-Asia after the First world War when we defeated the Ottomans who were allied with the Germans. Look up that old Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway....the Paris-Simplon-Orient Express to Instanbul.....other commercial tentacles, British Petroleum....Esso...on and on. A very complicated milieu. <br><br /><br><br />Remember, these remained basically tribal and ethnic and religious districts shifting over the centuries, until Colonialism settled in and made superficial alterations to suit the limited perceived needs of the day. This primitive cultural inertia remains immense; and we Americans, particularly this naive and vaporous administration, are bound for disappointment if we think we can make lasting social changes in our favor in this kaleidoscopically changing area. I've not even mentioned the American lives at huge risk in large scale battles. I think our European associates know this better than we do, they have much longer memories of ultimately unsatisfactory results. Review all the British, French, and Soviet Euro-Asian adventures here. Then, their current lukewarm participation makes more sense. But, don't expect our European associates to say this openly. But surely, that is discussed beyond the eager ears of the media. <br><br /><br><br />Lastly, that logistics morass....take a look at a globe, not a flat paper map, and a better perspective is apparent regarding the length of the supply lines required, both surface and aerial, to maintain the mountainous stockpiles of materiel an army requires for extensive mobility over difficult terrain. Forward bases in areas of questionable loyalty to America., on and on. <br><br /><br><br />And, keep 9/11 freshly in mind, don't think our Islamic terrorist enemies aren't planning more.</span></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Charles</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">October 21, 2009</span></font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></b></span><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><font size="3"> </font></font></p><br /></font></div><br /><br><br /><div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. </font></i></font></b><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial"></a></div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /><div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a direct contribution. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /><div><br /><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the Michael Yon Dispatches Gather Group</font></b></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-85195099816745150022009-10-18T12:55:00.001-05:002009-10-18T12:55:18.946-05:00Greetings,<span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3"><br /><div>LUNACY - Where do you stand as a grandchild of many great men and women who built “America” and bequeathed it to us? Does Losing a War Mean the War is Lost? - Please read this Dispatch from Michael Yon</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>Please read this latest dispatch from Michael Yon. I'm a few days late with it because, well hell, I had a birthday and got busy! But this is important information to consider regarding the war in Afghanistan and how we are directing it. Please read through the comments as many of the views are insightful and worth considering. This is very serious business and some decisions have to be made quickly from our current administration. Comments and discussion would be appreciated.<br /></div><div><br></div><div>~Cathi</div><div><br></div><div>* * * * *</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br />Greetings,<br><br /><br><br />Afghan Lunacy <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://michaelyon-online.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=53a90b7a0a9728c79342e9752&id=c40636e414&e=ff0d6bdb57" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-weight: normal"><u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255886650_1">lives on.</span></u></a><br><br /><br><br />-- <br><br />Very Respectfully,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1255886650_2" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br><br /></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">LUNACY</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font size="2"><i><font size="2"><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img alt="2y4q4304acc-730" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/lunacy/2y4q4304acc-730.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 449.589px"></div><br /><br><br />[This dispatch was written by me in December 2008 in southern Afghanistan. It was never published though I recently found it in the unpublished archives. The photos came from the same period.]</font></i></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>Published: from Nepal on 14 October 2009</u></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On May 25, 1961, the President of the United States of America said:</font></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><font size="2">And thanks to bold and visionary leadership, the collective intelligence, courage and commitment of Americans from coast to coast, America had seemed to achieve little more than a stunning list of public failures on the way to space. Our rockets exploded on the launch pad. In the air. Burned up on reentry. Or disappeared into solar orbit. But our grandparents never allowed us to be defined by our faults or failures; only how we greeted adversity. Failure after failure after failure. We got up and launched again, into failure. Fine astronauts were lost. And yet today, in 2008, after a dozen Americans have walked on the moon, citizens from no other nation have managed to land on the lunar surface. What inspiration kept the people at NASA going, when their early years were marked seemingly only by failure? The scientists, engineers and space pilots were living the American dream, not a dream of mere perfection, but of valiant and worthwhile effort. President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1910:</font><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so I write these words from Afghanistan, as a grandchild of many great men and women who built “America” and bequeathed it to us. The challenges facing us in Afghanistan, and this region in general, are monumental. We have been failing in Afghanistan. We have been losing the war. But losing does not mean lost. Failing does not mean failed. Yet if we are to succeed in this endeavor, we must be realistic that putting people on the moon was more straightforward than lifting Afghanistan from the stone ages.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img alt="0x7q8665acc-730" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/lunacy/0x7q8665acc-730.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 399.452px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“Taming” this land and its human inhabitants into a civilized country will require great investments in time, resources, imagination and intelligence. Bringing Afghanistan out of the Stone Age is not a decade-long project; we are already seven years into the war, and it’s only getting worse. Some people say it will take two generations, but more realistically, a century will be needed. Afghanistan is not Iraq. This is a very primitive, almost lunar place. Yes, cocktail party correspondents can surf their way through meetings in Jalalabad, or Kabul, or Mazar-i-Sharif, and come home with reports of success. But they are wrong. And the counterinsurgency “experts” who come here on short trips, and fly home to America or Britain with poison dripping from their lips, spitting words that we are winning, are doing Great Britain, the United States, and our allies a great disservice. Those who came to Afghanistan with open eyes and open minds, and who are not afraid to jeopardize access or careers by reporting truth, will have clearly reported by early 2006 that we were losing ground here. Who are these “experts” who didn’t see this thing for what it was, early on? And now even in 2008, some people bring home messages that this place is not as bad as it really is. Yes, it’s true that we lost but one U.S. soldier to combat in Afghanistan in November of 2008, but we should not let this number confuse us. The Af-Pak war has great potential to devolve into something far worse than what we saw in Iraq. The “experts” who did not sound the alarm by at least 2006, that Afghanistan by then clearly was slipping through our fingers, are no more useful than a fire alarm with dead batteries. A fire alarm with dead batteries is far worse than merely useless. Let the counterinsurgency “experts” step forward, and show us that they put to writing several years ago what is today obvious. We need to know who to listen to, and who to ignore.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img alt="0x7q8670acc-730" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/lunacy/0x7q8670acc-730.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 399.452px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We can succeed in Afghanistan, but we cannot pretend this will ever be the Sea of Tranquility.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img alt="0x7q8592acc-730" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/lunacy/0x7q8592acc-730.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 399.452px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Our new President will need to demonstrate wisdom and resolve in dealing with Af-Pak. The peril might not yet be obvious, but the consequences are far too grave to ignore. Enemies of humanity are trying to pull India and Pakistan into war. Ignorance is their primary weapon, and Afghanistan is merely one battlefront. Most of these kids will remain illiterate, and the children of their children likely will not be able to read. Even if they were literate, there are few books available in languages such as Dari or Pashto. This kid in Zabul Province is already lost. Afghanistan will be doing well to get his sons and daughters into a school, but more realistically it will be his grandchildren that might first be reached. We must be realistic. America did not succeed in putting people on the moon by hiring mathematicians who could not expertly use the slide rule or correctly perform the math. America succeeded in part by hiring the best mathematicians, along with the best scientists and engineers of all sorts, who possessed powerful intellects, realistic imaginations, and a volatile intolerance for anything less than pure truth. They didn’t drink anyone’s Kool-Aid.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so President Kennedy said, <i>“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.” </i>And they kept pushing through a painful series of dramatic failures, until, within that same decade, in 1969, the first words spoken from a man on the moon came beamed home to earth:</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>“Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed.”</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And soon astronaut Neil Armstrong was stepping off the ladder, and he said, <i>“That’s one small step for a man.</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>One giant leap for mankind.”</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Hard never meant impossible.</font></p><br /><div><font size="2"><br><br /></font></div><br /></span></font></font></div><br />COMMENTS:<br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><div id="pc_21195" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Just as relevant today</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21195"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thanks for once again trying to raise awareness of what faces us in Afghanistan. The half-commitment of some of our NATO allies is stunning. However, that doesn't belittle the effort put forth by all of the valiant troops fighting to defeat a brutal enemy. <br><br />The mantra 'hearts and minds' is being taken seriously by Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen who are deploying to Afghanistan. God willing they can turn this thing around... but it won't be done with the current level of troop commitments. McCain had it right the other day - half measures are not going to work. With troops strength in Iraq 135,000 and hopefully declining we can commit more to Afghanistan. <br><br />No one is quite sure if another 'surge' will work without a concurrent 'awakening' as happened in Iraq. <br><br /><br><br />Kevlaur</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kevlaur </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 13, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21197" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21197" id="comment-21197" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Execution</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21197"><font size="2">To add to the discussion, I suggest reading "One Tribe At A Time #3: The “How” of Tribal Engagment" By Steven Pressfield: <br><br /><br><br />http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Paul S. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21210" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21210" id="comment-21210" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21210"><font size="2">Thank you so much for the continued excellent reportage, Michael. <br><br /><br><br />I must raise the following concern, however: I live in Washington DC, and I just don't see the political will to stay in Afghanistan for a century. The last time we did something like that was in the Phillippines from -- 1903, was it? -- to 1946ish, when the Phillippines gained their independence. <br><br /><br><br />I believe the phrase for the kind of long-term tutelage you envision is 'colonization'. <br><br /><br><br />And that's simply a non-starter. I don't see either US party being willing to sink decades worth of blood and treasure into Afghanistan for a benefit which is not easily measurable on a balance sheet. <br><br /><br><br />Absent US government commitment to a 'century project' -- what other actor or actors could civilize Afghanistan? <br><br /><br><br />Respectfully, <br><br /><br><br />Brian P.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Brian </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21213" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21213" id="comment-21213" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Afghanistan the empire</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21213"><font size="2">Michael, I would love to have your view of the history of Afghanistan as shown in the Afghan museum in Kabul. From reports on the BBC I understand that a few hundred years ago Emperors in Afghanistan ruled the Indian sub-continent. All the peoples of the region seem to have lost sight of this. <br><br />And most westerners have no idea of this bit of the nation's history. We (the general populaation) need to be reminded that the troops in Afgahanistan are fighting poverty and ignorance as much as terrorists. <br><br />Much respect for your reporting, and perspective <br><br />Dave P.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Dave </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21214" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21214" id="comment-21214" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Corruptistan & Moon Dreams</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21214"><font size="2">Hmmm, that's interesting. I'd thought the old Soviets had placed a man on the Moon as well, but apparently all they did successfully was a "loop-around", if Wikipedia is to be trusted on this. <br><br /><br><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing <br><br /><br><br />So, the all-time score is twelve Americans actually having walked on the Moon; the rest of the world, zero. <br><br /><br><br />As for Afghanistan, I have to say that I am growing more and more convinced that it is a hopeless cesspool of corruption. I do not think this war can be really "won" in anything less than forty years, at immense cost. Yet, what can be done about it? I do not know. The prospect of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal falling to Islamic radicals gives pause to anyone contemplating a nearly complete NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Crafty Hunter </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21217" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21217" id="comment-21217" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Another one hit out of the park</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21217"><font size="2">Michael you are absolutely right! But I fear there is not a man or woman in Washington with the wisdom, spirit or strength of Theodore Roosevelt. Sarah Palin threw in the towel. I agree Crafty Hunter about the problem of corruption. It is a hopeless cesspool in Washington as well as Afghanistan. With Pakistan's nuclear capability we cannot afford to packup and go home. Hard is not impossible. My prayers are with Generals Petraeus and McChrystal.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Traci </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21218" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21218" id="comment-21218" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21218"><font size="2">Brian, <br><br /><br><br />I think (or at least I hope) there is a middle ground between a 100 year colonial project to lift them out of the stone-age and a withdraw or narrowing of the mission. <br><br /><br><br />As far as our national interests are concerned, Afghanistan doesn't have to modernize that much, it just needs to be rid of fanatics like the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and be strong enough to prevent their return, so as not to become a haven for terrorists. <br><br />Still a tall order, but hopefully not on the order of a multi-generation imperialist endeavor.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">MW </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21220" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21220" id="comment-21220" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21220"><font size="2">"I think (or at least I hope) there is a middle ground between a 100 year colonial project to lift them out of the stone-age and a withdraw or narrowing of the mission." <br><br /><br><br />I hope you're right. I think the events of the past ten years have demonstrated that anarchy anywhere is a threat to the US -- wherever there's a Somalia or an Afghanistan, there's room for the worst kind of thugs to move in , set up shop, and plan operations to fly airplanes into our buildings. <br><br /><br><br />Ergo, it is in the interest of the United States to ensure that every 'failed state' has some kind of government. <br><br /><br><br />But there's no way we can rule those countries directly; the political will isn't there. <br><br /><br><br />I guess that means finding clients, giving them arms and training, and hope like Hell they don't turn on us. <br><br /><br><br />Which means we have another couple of decades of complaining about our support of 'right wing death squads' or what not. Perhaps; but what choice is there?</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Brian </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21221" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21221" id="comment-21221" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21221"><font size="2">just as much to the point now is the resurgence of the Jihadis in Pakistan. Taken together, our enemies will only grow stronger if we fail to build some level of stability.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">matt h </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21225" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21225" id="comment-21225" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">The Gut Wrenching Truth</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21225"><font size="2">Michael; <br><br /><br><br />It breaks my heart as a warrior to see the jackassery occurring on this side of the Atlantic. The blatant transperancy of incompetence and lack of resolve present can only demoralize fellow warriors who count on their civilian authorities to have their backs and guard the sacred trust here at home. <br><br /><br><br />I watched in horror today, and I mean that as one not prone to hyperbole, I watched in horror as the CinC reported that he would have a plan in a few weeks. WEEKS? I mean we have to disrupt 1/6th of the US economy NOW, Heaven Forbid that we consider our actions but we cannot make a strategic decision with over a month of time to ponder it? <br><br /><br><br />We have met the enemy and he is us. <br><br /><br><br />Michael, remind those joes over there that they must remind themselves daily that the vast portion of the body politic is disgusted at the utter lack of anything resembling leadership in Washington and that we are behind everyone of them and we believe in their mission, whether or not the CinC actually understands what that is or not. <br><br /><br><br />In my nearly 20 years of service I have never felt that I was close to the circumstances that led to failure in Vietnam. Though Afghanistan and Vietnam have very different operational circumstances, from the standpoint of political leadership and will, I truly fear that we are revisiting 1970 right here, right now... <br><br /><br><br />...and I am sickened by the utter lack of knowledge of precedent being displayed by "the smartest people in the room" right now. Surely we have become two very different sorts of Americans. <br><br /><br><br />Godspeed man, godspeed. <br><br /><br><br />MF8</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">MountainFox8 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21226" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21226" id="comment-21226" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Afghans ruling India</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21226"><font size="2">"I understand that a few hundred years ago Emperors in Afghanistan ruled the Indian sub-continent. All the peoples of the region seem to have lost sight of this." <br><br /><br><br />Ah, the Mughals. The Mongols under Chinggis (Ghengis) Khan not only conquered Afghanistan early in the 13th century, they ruled it for nearly 500 years. Timur-e Lang claimed descent from Chinggis, and his immediate descendants conquered and ruled India where they were known as the "Mughals". Contrary to the "graveyard of empires" meme, Afghanistan has been conquered many times. Only the Mongols bothered to stay, and they actually *colonized* Afghanistan. Their descendants today remain as the Hazara people, much oppressed by the Taliban during their rule. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kasmir </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 14, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21230" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21230" id="comment-21230" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21230"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thank you for your sacrifice to bring us the truth. Reading this post brought tears to my eyes ... tears of sadness and frustration. Washington is so corrupt that I find myself pretty depressed lately. Then I close my eyes at night in my beautiful bedroom with my soft, warm bed and see our soldiers sacrificing, sleeping and living in despicable conditions. I am truly blessed that I have a great life but feel sadness every day that our troops are struggling without the support of the one man who has the control of doing something whether it's politically correct or not. <br><br /><br><br />I have figured out who really gives a damn about our brave men and women in this country. It's those who cry when each and every soldier is brought home to their resting place from the hell that is the Middle East. Every single thug in Washington should be fired (even though we know that will never happen), and if they have any conscience, they should resign. During Bush's presidency every night we heard about soldiers dying yet not a damn thing out of their mouths while our soldiers are being murdered in the Afghan war. Something is trully wrong with that. <br><br /><br><br />Keep up the good work. I will donate again soon.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Carol </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21231" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21231" id="comment-21231" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank You</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21231"><font size="2">Thank you for keeping up and informing us of the situation and I pray and pray that GOD will watch over all and to touch hearts and minds in our government to do the right thing.That was my biggest fear that when the man took office our Honorable men and women would be at greater risk now and I pray for their families as I know they are very concerned for their love ones.MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THEM ALL..</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jean </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21233" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21233" id="comment-21233" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">A quandary for sure</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21233"><font size="2">I've read your excellent posts with great interest. They're always very well-written, unpretentious, instructive and provocative. While I too see no surefire solutions, a tad more leadership, vision, reallism, and, yes, integrity in D.C. would be a good start. While our current crop of leftist politicians explore strategies to gracefully withdraw, the White House should step off the proverbial dime and timely ACT on Gen. McCrystal's recommendations. Stalling contributes nothing to the effort and merely dooms current military efforts to avoidable failure and more needless expenditures of blood and treasure. I'm afraid Afghanistan elicits a level of White House leadership and seriousness which is simply not there and won't be there for the next three years. Through no fault of our troops on the ground there, without leadership and serious commitment on the homefront, the battle there may already be lost. Very frustrating.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jim </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21235" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21235" id="comment-21235" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Moonlight and sunlight, lunacy and reality</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21235"><font size="2">Don't think we will lift that one out of its malaise--too much internal effort pulling all downward. It's just not the center of gravity for our freedom or for other people's tyranny. Knowing what fights to fight and where we put our energy is crucial for any win. As you know more than most, this type of warrior mentality has totalitarian designs and does not stick to one locale for honorable and recognizable engagement. I think it's way past time we see this human struggle between good and evil in its actual light. <br><br /><br><br />We do not have the understanding in our current administration; we do not have the will from our allies; we need to focus and act like the winners we are and be realists. We barely had sufficient focus and strength to pull off what was necessary in Iraq. The pc and 20 century overlay onto a completely different challenge knocked Mr. Bush off course more than once, and he was probably better equipped than anyone else would have been in his place. Certainly John Kerry would have thrown us to the wolves while he and that oligarchy of overlords escaped unscathed. <br><br /><br><br />Going foward in that God-forsaken neck of the woods, our military will be the continuing sacrifice for cowardice and confusion. We need such people actually protecting our freedoms at home where we have been overtaken. We need such people running for office and leading the charge. Afghanistan is not the right fight, not the right time, not the right way. Pretty much a no win, and I hope the generals pound that home. I would discourage any person from signing up under this trans-national, anti-American leadership. At some point real soon, we will have a realistic strategy for fighting this actual enemy, and we will have the people who will do it because it will be right and circumstances will have forced them all to see the light and to save liberty the right way, starting now at home. It's homecoming time, Michael.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">LadyLiberty </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21236" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21236" id="comment-21236" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21236"><font size="2">We have a huge problem; a president who is totally unqualified to lead the nation and unable to make rational decisions about Afghanistan/Pakistan. With our current leadership, we are doomed to failure there.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Joseph </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21237" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21237" id="comment-21237" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Trackbacked / Linked</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21237"><font size="2">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 10/15/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/10/from-front-10152009.html</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David M </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21238" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21238" id="comment-21238" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">erratum</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21238"><font size="2">You've confused what Armstrong meant to say with what he actually said.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">tedium </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21240" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21240" id="comment-21240" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Get Nasty or Go Home | Foreign Policy</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21240"><font size="2">Michael, Keep up the excellent reporting. I subscribe to Foreign Policy magazine and one of their latest articles may be of interest to you.<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/12/go_big_or_go_home?page=full" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/a...?page=full</u></a> <br><br />Billy</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Billy </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21241" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21241" id="comment-21241" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Your Insight</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21241"><font size="2">Your comments are even more relavent today than when you wrote them last year. Thanks Michael for your straighforwardness and at times blunt view of the truth. <br><br />I too shuddered when I heard the Pres. say he would get back to Afganistan in a few weeks. Hell, HealthCare isnt even going to be implimented until 2015. We cant wait for the stumbling, mumbling CIC to make a decision. Most of Americans (80%) dont even want HC and we are stuck with a campaign mode President who's inexperience is a danger to ALL freedom loving people. <br><br /><br><br />Will continue to be in prayer for your efforts and safety. God Bless You and your work!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Carl T </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21242" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21242" id="comment-21242" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Time</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21242"><font size="2">Thanks Michael for everything.My son ,now 1st.Sergeant, recently came back from there. His men had the highest kill of the enemy in his sector.The Taliban are no match for our troops and do not face them in open combat if possible.They prefer roadside bombs,etc.They are poor shots but have tremendous allegiance and dedication to their cause. this makes it tough.This war ,according to him is vital because because of it strategic location it will last a long time.If we fail and pull out we will not be trusted by our allies and the enemies of freedom will again take notice of our weak resolve. We will never be trusted again.We need to pull out ALL the stops and win this,no holding back of war funds and men! Only America can do this, no other Nation can stop the spreading of Terror, hate,and quest for world dominance that the Islamic terrorists want.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Joseph </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21243" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21243" id="comment-21243" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">The President</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21243"><font size="2">With obama running things I would expect little. He will do as johnson did, get many military members killed because he is way to stupid to figure any of this out. Johnson did it, carter and now obama.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Evan </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21244" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21244" id="comment-21244" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Croakers croaking</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21244"><font size="2">I'm amazed at the croaking here by people who condemn the president for spending time to make tough decisions about Afghanistan. Have you no criticism for the president who ignored Afghanistan for six years while spending a trillion dollars and nearly 5,000 lives to turn Iraq into a Shia-dominated cripple of a nation? Bush's neglect of Afghanistan may have made any sort of victory there impossible. His incompetence has certainly allowed the Taliban to recover and rebuild and present America with nothing but bad choices. And despite what the generals want, sending more troops may actually make things worse in Afghanistan if we don't change the way we fight that war.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">6x6x4 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 15, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21245" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21245" id="comment-21245" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Just have one of the two tough problems on our side in Afghanistan</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21245"><font size="2">Folks, <br><br /><br><br />I have read a lot about Afghanistan and have about five bookshelves on the subject and about a hundred magazine articles. A good 1st read about the Pashtuns and Afghanistan tribal affairs is John Masters "Bugles and Tigers" when he was young officer with a Gurkha regiment on the North West Frontier. It is still very relevant today. Back in 2002 I recommended it when I was a Sysop on Compuserve's Military Forum (back then it was the #1 military discussion forum and today is dead due to ultra-right wing take over). Some how or another someone in the US Army read that recommendation and it is now one of the ten books that is recommended by other officers who have been to Afghanistan on the private forum that the US Army runs for Afghanistan. <br><br /><br><br />But to another subject. I just wish the US could get a break on one of the two tough problems of Afghanistan. <br><br /><br><br />1> Today our major land logistic route runs through either Pakistan or Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. Both routes are vulnerable to being closed down if the Russians (Uzbekistan or Tajikistan) or Chinese (Pakistan) want to pressure the US over any issue. Those two routes are like the air hose that goes to a diver working on a ships hull and either China or Russia can step on that air line. <br><br /><br><br />2> That Afghanistan have a government that is considered something as being legit to the majority of the Afghan people. <br><br /><br><br />Again, I wish Gawd would give us a break on just one of the two items above. If he/she does not, we are in deep sh*t in the future. You can't fight a successful counter-insurgent plan without 1> a half way acceptable government as your partner and 2> A lot of boots on the ground. And we can't have a lot of boots on the ground without a half way secure land logistic route. <br><br /><br><br />Finally, just my 2 cents worth from an arm chair general. <br><br /><br><br />Jack E.<br><br /><br><br />. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jack E</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 16, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21248" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21248" id="comment-21248" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">overcomming the odds</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21248"><font size="2">In 2007 while the MSM news all said Iraq was lost I found hope talking with Iraqis in and out of Iraq. I felt they wanted peace and wanted our help. During the same time I tried to contact and speak with Afghans. I was amazed at their reluctance to speak and felt a lot of tension from them regarding our troops. . <br><br /><br><br />Many of those who wish to dislodge us from our goal (including al qaeda) and the Taliban site how we left and that we will leave again, to let the wolves kill and control the sheep. Also they made good use of the internet to push their agendas and extreemism. <br><br /><br><br />COIN does appear to be the only solution that and the new stratgeys. I do believe Taliban and al qaeda are so intertwined and even intermarried that they are almost as one now. This will take generations to change if we can not get Pakistan to do their part and reign in the tribal areas. <br><br /><br><br />I like what you said about our learning who to listen to and who not to, is indeed best advice. we often get bad info from person with personal agendas who want revenge on a nieghbor over a wedding or a goat. I think we need to look back at how Ahmed Shah Massoud fought the taliban on land and in the local Jirgas. His misttakes and success should be taught throughout our troops. If we can seperate Wahhabi from Pashtuns we can make a big change. Why the Pashtuns have been drawn to believe the wahhabi movement can bring them power and succes is nuts. The Wahhabis brought the house of Saud into power over arabian peninsula. Pakistan and its pashtuns must understand PAK nationalism is a much better vessel than a 400 year old Arab Sunni supremecy movement, that at its base says it is ok to kill any non sunni. As a Iraqi friend said to me we need to go after the wahhabi. The wahhbi first start out life hitting their parents. (the remark points to the wahhabi founder and how he killed his parents or something like that). But also address that most wahhabi recruits come from the disenfranchised and militant extreeems of the muslim populations around the world.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ian </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 16, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21249" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21249" id="comment-21249" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Outstanding Piece!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21249"><font size="2">Now if only the current White House occupants would read your blog. <br><br /><br><br />Safe Travels, <br><br />Dave</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 16, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21253" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21253" id="comment-21253" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">More reading...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21253"><font size="2">For those looking for the John Masters bio "Bugles and a Tiger" mentioned by Mr. Hammond, it's available through Amazon, as is Master's second volume, "the Road Past Mandalay", mostly set in India and Burma with Wingate's force in WWII. <br><br /><br><br />I keep refering back to Masters when looking for background on the region, and occasionally even dip into Kipling. Good information also in Schmidle's "To Live or to Perish Forever", a political history/travel book on Pakistan, with background on the origin of the Taliban, secterian animosity, the irrational international borders in the area (Pathans, Baluchi's and others divided between countries), etc. <br><br /><br><br />Keep the information flowing, Michael; will send another donation soon.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Bob </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 16, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21257" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-21257" id="comment-21257" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do you recall?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21257"><font size="2">When we had OBL pinned at Tora Bora do any of you recall the Bush Admin. decided to "outsource" that job to Afghans whose only loyalty was to MONEY? They turned thier guns on a Delta team and that was that. They played us like a piano. Then Iraq. We should be almost DONE here, but we took a detour. As for NATO, some members just are not gonna pull thier weight, and I beleive the money spent protecting W. Europe could be put to better use some other way. NATO=DISGRACE</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Robert </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 17, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_21260" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-21260" id="comment-21260" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">What did Bush do again?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21260"><font size="2">Great post again Michael, thank you. <br><br /><br><br />Boy, some of the commenters in here seem terribly eager to undermine the current democratically elected POTUS. Have they such short memories that they have forgotten who got us into this mess and who failed to kill Osama Bin Laden when we had the chance? Remind me again which president decided to impose regime change in Iraq when we could have put OBL's head on a plate? Which president said "he doesn't think about OBL anymore?" <br><br /><br><br />I'm afraid some of the folks reading this blog have missed the point that years of consistent mismanagement have caused the current problems. Afghanistan wasn't all puppies and ice cream the day before Obama was elected. <br><br /><br><br />Thank the gods Sarah Palin isn't calling the shots. What an unmitigated nightmare that would be. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Glen </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 17, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /></div><br /></span></div><br /><br><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Editor, True Journalism</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21263"><font size="2">No, nobody is undermining Obama, Glen. IMHO, most on this thread are facing reality and seeing clearly the current situation. When it comes to the military and war, most have very long memories. I don't believe pointing fingers and laying blame will help us either. When putting off decisions to send more troops, plus when diverting monies intended for the troops to pet projects within the US, government cannot say "it's not my fault! It was the other president who caused it." Let's work in the now, please.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Cathi L. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /></span></div><br /><br><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Editor, True Journalism</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-21264"><font size="2">Thank you, Michael, for doing what you do so well, which is bringing us true journalism through your eyes. Please keep safe. <br><br /><br><br />Respectfully, <br><br />Cathi</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Cathi L. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">October 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /></span></div><br /><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><i><font size="1"><br />As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.<br /></font></i></font></b><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"></a><br></font></b><br /><p></p><br /><p></p><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br />Please support this mission by making a <a id="hzdg" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" title="direct contribution to Michael Yon" target="_blank">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br></font></b></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br> <br /></font></b><p></p><br /><p></p><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="cuwx" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches Gather Group">Michael Yon Dispatches</a>Gather Group</font></b><br><br /></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-35839129564017920482009-10-14T16:00:00.001-05:002009-10-14T16:00:39.279-05:00Market Garden/Margraten<div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>This is the latest dispatch from independent war correspondent, Michael Yon. I've only included a portion of it here and have, instead, given you a link that goes back to his website where the result of the document and the more than 100 photographs of the events he has participated in. He starts out in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, where there was a kidnap attempt on he and his driver. It's a dangerous world and it's good that Yon and his driver remained flexible enough to avert this type of threat.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>The then moves to Napal and from there on to the Margraten (Market Garden) Memorial Day Observance at Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The Memorial Day Observance is the 65th anniversary of the allied liberation from Nazi occupation and they honor the British and American Soldiers as their liberators. Referred to as the Liberation of Eindhoven - 1944-2009, and held near the Margraten Cemetery, which is the only U.S. military resting place in the Netherlands.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>The Liberation of Eindhoven was a part of what was known as Operation Market Garden (September 17-25, 1944) and an Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in World War II. It was the largest airborne operation of all time. It required the seizure of bridges across the Maas and two arms of the Rhine as well as several smaller canals and tributaries. Crossing the Lower Rhine would allow the Allies to outflank the Siegfried Lane and encircle the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. It made large-scale use of airborne forces whose tactical objectives were to secure a series of bridges over the main rivers of the German-occupied Netherlands and allow a rapid advance by armoured units into Northern Germany.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Many veterans travel there to take part in the observance and the day is filled with parades and other activities. Even some of the original members of the invasion force parachute in as a part of the day (you'll get to see one of the two veterans who parachuted into Overasselt. One is 90 years old, the other is close to the same age but unfortunately suffered a severe concussion and a broken shoulder.</span></p><br /></span></div><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>Some of the celebrities included Queen Beatrice of The Netherlands, England's Prince Phillip and our own General Petraeus. Michael Yon asked General Petraeus about his dad, and the General said his dad was a Dutch ship captain and was at sea when the Germans invaded Holland. <i>And so he sailed to New York and there eventually met his American mom. (Touchdown for the United States.) His dad joined the Merchant Marines, who suffered more casualties per capita than any other service during the war. </i></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>Also, as part of the celebration, a contingent from the 101st Airborne Division and the 82nd Airborne Division were there. <i><span style="font-style: normal">General Petraeus had long-commanded the 101st, including in combat in Iraq, and had briefly been acting commander of the 82nd (the All American), the two principal divisions being honored today. The 101st (the Screaming Eagles) liberated Eerde and so the people put on a parade and there must have been a thousand thank yous. <font size="2">Veterans of the 82nd and 101st whose forerunners had helped liberate the land.</font></span></i></div><br /><div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a id="rpsb" href="http://www.campbell.army.mil/units/101st/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank" title="101st Airborne Division History"><font size="2">101st Airborne Division History</font></a></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><a id="d5uc" href="http://www.bragg.army.mil/82DV/History.htm" target="_blank" title="82nd Airborne Division History">82nd Airborne Division History</a></font></font></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><div><font size="2"><br><br /></font></div><br /></span><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>General Petraeus mentioned during the talk that the Washington Post had just released the classified message from McChrystal to the White House. The memo has since set Washington ablaze, yet the McChrystal document delivered news so old and parched that Indiana Jones might find it more useful for finding hidden treasures. That Washington finds the ideas new or shocking only shows that Washington is shot full of painkillers and can’t feel a thing. The report should have been submitted by the Commanding General in Afghanistan in 2006.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div>Be sure to note in Michael's dispatch that “Roadside bombs” are nothing new to warfare. The Iraqis did not invent IEDs. Similar bombs were used during World War II.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><b><a id="gs9-" href="http://www.fallennotforgotten.nl/" target="_blank" title="Telling the Life Stories of the Fallen at Nijmegen" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)"><font size="2">Fallen But Not Forgotten</font></a><font size="2"> - A website that tells the life stories they have collected of each of the fallen service personnel buried at Netherlands american Cemetery and Memorial.</font></b></div><br /><div><br /><h3 style="color: rgb(0, 17, 102); font-family: Verdana"><b><a id="xcmz" href="http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ne.php" target="_blank" title="NETHERLANDS AMERICAN CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)"><font size="2">NETHERLANDS AMERICAN CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL</font></a></b></h3><br /><div>David Axelrod info@messages.whitehouse.gov - please petition to get us out of Afghanistan/Pakistan and bring our military home.</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div>Thank you,</div><br /><div>~Cathi</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><b><font size="2">* * * * *</font></b></div><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><b><font size="4">Market Garden/Margraten<br /></font></b><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3">Greetings,<br><br /><br><br />Am in Nepal on research for Afghanistan. While here will walk back up to Everest for a quick workout and some fresh air, then fly back to Afghanistan to embed with Stryker Brigade and others.<br><br /><br><br />A new dispatch is up. More than a hundred photos...this is a big one! <br><br /><br><br />Your writer,<br><br /><br><br />Michael<br><br /></font></span></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><h1 style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Market Garden<i><br><br /></i></font></h1><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>A Remembrance During Time of War</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-25.jpg" border="0" alt="Published: 12 October 2009 from Nargarkot, Nepal" title="Published: 12 October 2009 from Nargarkot, Nepal" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Published: 12 October 2009 from Nargarkot, Nepal</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u><b><br><br /></b></u></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u><b>Kandahar City, Afghanistan</b></u></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Slowly, surely, the city is being strangled. Signaling the depth of our commitment, security forces are thinner in Kandahar than the Himalayan air. During the days and evenings, there were the sounds of occasional bombs—some caused by suicide attackers, and others by firefights. The windows in my room had been blown out recently and now were replaced. We came here to kill our enemies, but today we want to make a country from scratch.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A world away from Afghanistan, over in Holland, was approaching the 65th anniversary of the allied liberation from Nazi occupation, and I had been invited to attend by James “Maggie” Megellas. Maggie, who had fought his way through Holland and is today remembered there as a hero, is said to be the most decorated officer in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division. Now 92, Maggie has recently spent about two months tooling around the battlefields of Afghanistan, and though it would be an honor to finally meet him, there was the matter of extracting myself from Kandahar City and getting through about forty minutes of dangerous territory to the military base at Kandahar Airfield.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-1.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so a friend and I donned local garb and loaded into the car.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-2.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Criminals and Taliban were on the lookout for westerners to kidnap, and unknown to us an intelligence report had just been issued that men in a stolen Toyota Corolla were on the prowl in Kandahar City.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-3.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The camera was mostly kept down but occasionally I lifted for quick shots. Kandahar City, like other main Afghan cities, belies the fact that most Afghans will never have one minute of electricity, nor will they ever see a westerner.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-4.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Afghan police love to jet around at high speeds in their trucks, often with powerful machine guns mounted on back.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-5.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Shortly after this photo was taken, my friend, who had been a South African cop for 16 years, spotted two men in a white Toyota Corolla who had locked onto us. They drove swiftly by for a look-see, then hit a Y intersection ahead on the right. They tried to get back in, but traffic slowed them by about ten seconds. I was watching over my shoulder when they dangerously bolted back into the traffic a couple hundred meters behind us. The camera was on the floorboard. I had picked up a pistol and rested it on my right thigh. My friend rolled down his window and I rolled down mine. They were moving in. In less than a minute, someone probably would die. The car was speeding closer when per chance a green Afghan police pickup rocketed by the pursuers. The green police truck was mounted with a machine gun, and a long belt of ammo was dangling, while a policeman kept his hands on the gun. I hid the pistol. The pursuers slowed. We continued at about 40mph as the police swooshed by. The police pulled off the road a few hundred meters ahead of us and the white car fell back more, until it passed the police and began to speed up, but that was it. The pursuers were caught behind too many trucks and fell away. I put down the pistol and picked up the camera.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-6.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">None of the paved roads in Afghanistan were built by Afghan vision with Afghan resources. If not for the many foreign invaders, this land would be road-and runway-free.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">An American convoy of MRAPs approached from the front and a soldier in the lead vehicle shot a pen-flare, causing everyone to pull off the road. The convoys are more menacing from the outside and in fact I kept the camera down and this is exactly why Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is concerned about adding too many troops. Can’t argue with his reasoning; convoys and troops truly are menacing despite that U.S. and British soldiers are very disciplined. It must look far worse to Afghans. Most Afghans never talk with foreign soldiers and those who do normally only see us in passing. In fact, most soldiers never leave base. Our forces at KAF (Kandahar Airfield) have a base so large that this commercial jet is about to land there after flying dangerously over this unsecured road.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After arriving at Kandahar Airfield, the Dutch Air Force took me, and long after midnight we boarded a Canadian C-130 and flew to Dubai.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-7.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">From Dubai, the Dutch soldiers got onto a chartered flight to Eindhoven, Netherlands.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-8.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Over the Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, skirting Iraq.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-9.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Finally into Holland, we landed at the Dutch Air Force Base at Eindhoven, where families and others were waiting for Dutch soldiers. Someone shoved a rose and a gift into my hand and I smiled, protesting that I am only a writer, and tried unsuccessfully to return the rose and the gift.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There was a short taxi ride to the hotel.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/Marketgarden/Michael-Yon-10.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 399.726px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And right there in the lobby was a throng of World War II veterans whose first trips to Europe had been either under parachute into combat, or by gliders into combat. (As would be revealed over the next five days.) So I sat down with Guadelupe Flores because he was sitting alone while people crowded around other vets. His grandson Matt came over. I hadn’t even fully checked in yet. Guadelupe said he was from Texas originally but now lived in Ohio, and he’d just arrived. “Did you parachute in this time?” I asked. Guadelupe only chuckled, “Not this time,” and chuckled some more. Please have a look at Guadelupe’s left eye. This is the last picture before he got the black eye, which is a funny story. (Guadelupe was on the Army boxing team, he would later say.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Maggie Megellas was there along with a large group of American university students who had broken off with small groups of veterans. A man said that General Petraeus’ staff was here and General Petraeus was coming to stay at the same hotel.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Finally I got to the room and there was an email from Afghanistan:</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>I've heard we had to be on the lookout for a group of kidnappers, targeting expats in Kandahar. Apparently they are using a stolen white Toyota Corolla station wagon and a red Toyota Surf. Wonder if we “met” them yesterday?</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Actually there had been two suspected vehicles that seemed like they might be working together, but I didn’t mention the second vehicle. Every day in the war is a close call.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Market Garden remembrance was to begin in the morning.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a id="qb-v" href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/market-garden.htm" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon - Market Garden, A Remembrance During A Time of War"><font size="2">Continued......</font></a></p><br /><div><font size="2"><br><br /></font></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif"><br /><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">A Bridge Too Far - Trailer</font></font></b></h1><br /><div><font size="2"><font size="1"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DKDPX8PEiVk&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DKDPX8PEiVk&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></font></font></div><br /><div><font size="1"><br><br /></font></div><br /><div><font size="1"><br /><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><b><font size="4">A Bridge Too Far - Taking Nijmegen</font></b></h1><br /><div><font size="1"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lj6sbcyVsqw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lj6sbcyVsqw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></font></div><br /></font></div><br /></span></div><br /><div><font size="2"><br><br /></font></div><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><br><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </font></font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a id="q8.a" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="Please contribute to keep this information flowing!">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><br><br /></font></b></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="s-u4" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches Gather Group">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-9196400184447524912009-09-16T10:04:00.001-05:002009-09-16T10:04:03.619-05:00If you have a loved one in Afghanistan, you'll definitely want to<span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3"><br /><div>If you have a loved one in Afghanistan, you'll definitely want to see this! - Dispatch from Michael Yon</div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br />Greetings,<br><br /><br><br />Every day, Air Force Pararescue swoop into danger to extract killed and wounded troops. They took me on several missions. <u style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="c.lh">Ple</span><span class="yshortcuts" id="tq::">ase see "Pedros."</span></u> If you have a loved one in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252904162_2">Afghanistan</span>, you'll definitely want to see this. <br><br /><br><br />I am in Kandahar City without troops. Many bombs and gunfights around here but am feeling the pulse of the war.<br><br /><br><br />-- <br><br />Your Writer,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1252904162_3" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br><br /></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3">* * * * *</font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="6">PEDRO</font></b></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-24acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><b><font size="2">14 September 2009</font></b><font size="2"><br><br /></font><i><font size="2">Helmand Province, Afghanistan</font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><font size="2"><br><br /></font></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">With the war increasing, Air Force Pararescue has been crisscrossing the skies picking up casualties.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">That’s the Green Zone of Helmand Province, the opium capital of the world. Those fields are the great ATM of our enemies here. The fertilizer used to make those fields green is the same fertilizer used to make countless bombs.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We are flying in a special U.S. Air Force Blackhawk helicopter to fetch a seriously ill British soldier.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/michael-yon-2acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 390.411px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In Iraq, many of the casevacs were done by ground forces. In other words, if we hit a bomb or got shot, soldiers would load up the dead and wounded and rush them to the CSH (Combat Support Hospital or “cash”). But in Afghanistan most of the fighting occurs outside the cities and far away from the base hospitals. Rescue helicopters stationed at places like Bagram, Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion have been flying thousands of missions.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-47accR-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Air Force Rescue Helicopters launching on a mission from Camp Bastion." title="Air Force Rescue Helicopters launching on a mission from Camp Bastion." style="width: 600px; height: 394.521px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Air Force Rescue Helicopters launching on a mission from Camp Bastion.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are numerous helicopter rescue “services” in Afghanistan. For instance, the British have MERTs (Medical Emergency Response Teams) that fly in a <a id="wfhp" href="http://www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/ch47d/index.htm" target="_blank" title="CH-47D/F Chinook">CH-47</a>, and the U.S. Army uses <a id="gi4l" href="http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/air/rotary/sh60.html" target="_blank" title="UH-60 Black Hawk, UH-60L Black Hawk, UH-60Q MEDEVAC, MH-60G Pave Hawk, HH-60G Pave Hawk, CH-60 Sea Hawk">Blackhawk</a>s as does the U.S. Air Force. Special operations teams normally cover their own evacuations.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-YonaccR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 375.616px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This U.S. Army rescue helicopter parked at Camp Bastion (Helmand) flies with the red cross symbol allowing the enemy to get a better aim at the helicopter. Unfortunately, by displaying the red cross symbol, the helicopters are not allowed to carry miniguns or other large weapons. This seems a rather questionable decision given that the Taliban and other enemies could not give a hoot about law. It is unclear why the Army decided that a red cross provides more protection than miniguns.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-17acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">These Air Force “Pedro” rescue helicopters have two miniguns each (total of four miniguns), and the PJs all carry M-4 rifles. They do fire those weapons in combat. In July, a helicopter swooped down during a rescue and picked up some wounded soldiers and then was shot down. The second Air Force helicopter had to get the U.S. Army patients off the bird that had been shot down. But there was not enough room in the second bird for the Pedro crew. (No injuries.) So the tiny Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopters flew out—Kiowas only seat two people and both seats were full—and some of the Pedro folks had to clip onto the skids and fly out like James Bond.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The damaged helicopter was left behind. Bullets had hit a fuel line and caused the fuel to leak out, and so the pilot had no trouble landing, but the helicopter was now stuck in the middle of nowhere. So after the Pedros rescued U.S. soldiers who then rescued Pedros, other soldiers flew out to rescue the Pedro helicopter. The plan was to cut off the rotors and have a bigger helicopter use a cable to lift out the Blackhawk and fly it back to base. But when the soldiers started using a saw on the rotors, sparks hit the fuel that had leaked and the Blackhawk burned to the ground. The Army killed the Air Force’s helicopter.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-34accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 418.356px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The helicopters take hits. On another mission in Helmand, an RPG shot through the tail but luckily it missed the transmission; if the RPG had hit the transmission, the entire crew likely would have been killed. And so . . . those miniguns come in handy. The gunners are great shots and can return accurate fire within seconds.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-46acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some readers have gotten upset that I call them “Pedro,” thinking the name is secret. The concern is welcome but not warranted in this case. The Pedros don’t care and they even have a Pedro patch.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-50acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Pararescue medics are often called “PJs.” The SEALs, Delta, Rangers and Green Berets all hold the PJs in high regard. Firstly, the PJs are among the best medics in the U.S. military (we have incredible medics—so that’s a significant statement). Secondly, PJs go through just about any combat training available, ranging from HALO to mountaineering to scuba. They’ve got scuba gear here at Camp Bastion and have had to use it to recover soldiers who were killed after the enemy blew their vehicle into some water. In a different war, the Pedros would be tasked to rescue pilots who might be shot down hundreds of miles into enemy territory.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-45acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we fly out to pick up a sick soldier, the door gunners and PJs test-fire the miniguns and M-4s.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-44acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When we get low, the PJs sit with their feet hanging out the doors so they can return fire, but up high they relax and take in the scenery. That’s the Helmand River and part of the “Green Zone.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-43acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Pedro commander, Major Mathew Wenthe, said that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had issued a directive that all casualties be evacuated and arrive at the hospital within one hour of the call. Pedros intend to fulfill that directive.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Pedro crews at Bastion have three helicopters but they only take two on missions. Major Wenthe gave high credit to the mechanics who are constantly changing out parts, up to and including seven engines in the last few months. The birds are ready, and that’s the first step.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are two Pedro shifts who work 12 hours on, 12 hours off, with no days off during the tour. The first shift starts at 0200 and runs to 1400 and the second shift takes 1400 to 0200.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Inside the TOC (Tactical Operations Center; the HQ), Pedro has a big board where reports from around Helmand Province scroll down. If a British unit gets into a firefight, for instance, Pedro knows about the firefight within probably a minute because the messages are relayed to TOCs that need to know. At least one person is always watching that screen, and so you might hear a pilot say, “The Marines are in contact near such and such.” Or, “The Brits just hit an IED near Sangin.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The casualties are classified as Category A, Cat B, or Cat C. Cat A basically means the soldier is probably going to die, lose a limb, or lose his eyesight if not quickly treated. Cat B is more like someone who’s gotten shot in the foot. It’s a big deal, but not immediately life-threatening. Cat C might be some kind of non-life-threatening illness or a broken finger.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When the Pedro crews see injuries scroll down, they rush out to the helicopters like Batman and Robin heading to the Batmobile. Really, you’ve got to get out of the way or they will knock you down. Within a few minutes the rotors are spinning but the Pedros actually have not yet been tasked to go. The British-run JHTF (Joint Helicopter Task Force) is watching the same information but they also have other assets that can be sent, such as the U.S. Army of the British MERT (Medical Emergency Response Team) in the CH-47. The Pedros are always the first who are ready to go, but it might make sense for JHTF to send MERT because MERT is a bigger helicopter and so it flies faster than Blackhawks. Plus, the doctor on the MERT can actually pump blood into patients, because when the patient gets shot or blown up, medics on the scene radio the blood types, and the MERT crew can actually fly out with the right blood. Pedros don’t push blood but do start IVs. However . . . the CH-47 is a big helicopter and is easier to shoot down, and so if the landing zone is going to be tight or under fire, it might be better to send Pedro. Yet much of Afghanistan is high and hot and the CH-47 can fly in thinner air than can Blackhawks.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">While the JHTF makes a decision, Pedro is waiting with rotors spinning and all they need to hear is “Go Pedro.” Thirty seconds later they are gone. (The British MERT CH-47 flies faster, but it’s slower to start.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-42acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Every day is a “National Geographic” day. Afghanistan is incredible.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-22acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we approach the LZ, the PJs pull on rubber gloves; the helicopter is subject to getting bloody.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-21acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This rotation of Pedros had done just under 400 missions in three months. Similar crews in Iraq might do half a dozen missions in the same period.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">These PJs have treated hundreds of patients and gone into dangerous areas every day.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Typical compound.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Afghan interstate system.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-29acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Afghans call this the Dasht-i-Margo (Desert of Death).</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-27acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The roads of nowhere.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-28acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lone vehicle in the Desert of Death.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-26a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some compounds are miles from the nearest neighbor, yet they still have walls. Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-25acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When Afghans build a home, they start by building a wall. When the wall is finished, they start on the home.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The pilots swoop in for the patient. There is only one thing that British soldiers love more than mail and that’s Pedro. When I told British soldiers from 2 Rifles that Pedro was going to take me, many British soldiers asked me to say “thank yous” to the Pedros. The Pedros are a great morale booster because we know when we take casualties, Pedro is coming with miniguns and incredible medics. When other helicopters are grounded by bad weather, Pedro goes. When bullets are flying, Pedro comes in with miniguns blazing. They also rescue Danish, Americans, and others, including contractors and Afghan civilians sometimes.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-40acc-730-BLR.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We picked up a British patient from 2 Rifles, one of my favorite infantry units. The British are more sensitive about casualties than Americans (many Americans don’t care about photos if they are wounded, though some do). Although I was not embedded with the Brits and so do not have to follow British rules, I respect the soldiers.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so, without the patient’s consent (which was hard to get because he was in pain and the helicopter was loud and the PJs were working), these photos will not show his face.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-41acc-730-BLR.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The problem was apparently appendicitis. The PJs went to work and at one point a PJ smacked the bottom of the patient’s right boot. The PJs said that if his appendix is bad, smacking the bottom of his right foot should cause sharp pain in his abdomen. And true enough, when the medic smacked his boot, the soldier winced in pain.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we are flying back, vitals and other information are being transmitted back to Camp Bastion so that when we land, the right doctors and nurses will be ready.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-35acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The medical evacuation system is excellent. Our folks work hand in glove with British and Danish back at the hospital.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-36acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">During the flight, the PJs also put earplugs in the patient so that his head isn’t rattling from this very loud helicopter. When patients are brought aboard, the PJs slide the doors shut.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-39acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This was an easy mission, but at other times there will be multiple amputations and KIAs and so the helicopters can get full.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-33accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 370.685px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">British fire crews rush to grab patients.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The hospital is about 30 seconds away from the LZ and the PJs usually go inside so that they can do a handoff to the doctors. Then we fly back to the runway about half a mile away, refuel, and get ready for the next call.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-8acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The motto of Pararescue: “That Others May Live.” And they mean it.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-3acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Don’t mess with the miniguns . . .</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-16aUP-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 337.808px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The next mission took us to a Special Forces base where an ANA soldier had somehow managed to get shot in both feet. It was lucky for him that he was with Special Forces; the Green Beret medics also are tops. I’ve seen the Green Beret medics at work on countless occasions. It’s bad to get shot, but if you must, it’s best to happen in the presence of Green Berets and to get picked up by Pedros.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-15acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some Green Berets helped load the patient and then went back to whatever it is that Green Berets do out here.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-14acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The medic(s) on the scene already have prepped the patient, so the PJs don’t have to bandage him up other than plugging his ears, taking vitals and other tasks.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-13acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The pilots fly low and very hard and at times.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-12acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the way back with the ANA soldier who managed to get shot in both feet, another call came so we diverted to get two more patients.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-11acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Americans lived down here before the Soviet invasion and built much of the irrigation networks. The poppy has already been harvested this year and other crops are in the fields.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-51acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The other Pedro bird flies in to get the two patients.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-7acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We fly low and make hard turns. The PJ has to crane his neck back just to see the horizon.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-9acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In combat, the Pedro can land and get a patient loaded in about thirty seconds.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-4acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The patients are loaded and off we go. One guy had a tooth problem, and the other got bitten by a bat.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-1acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 410.959px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The last mission. Just under 400 on this tour, and I had the honor of going along. We’ll never know how many lives the Pedro crews saved this year in Afghanistan, but it was a lot. A book could be written about their tour, but alas, this is likely about all the recognition they will ever get. The two crews that I did missions with were:</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Pedro 35</b><br><br />Maj Mathew Wenthe<br><br />1Lt Josh Roberts<br><br />CMSgt Rick Nowaski<br><br />TSgt Christopher Gabor<br><br />Capt Dave Depiazza<br><br />TSgt Tom Pearce<br><br />SrA Eric Mathieson</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Pedro 36</b><br><br />Maj Mitzi Egger<br><br />Capt Adam Tucci<br><br />MSgt James Patterson<br><br />SrA Adrian Jarrin<br><br />SSgt Joe Signor<br><br />SrA Anthony Daroste<br><br />SrA Alejandro Serrano</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/Michael-Yon-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The crews assembled and asked me to make their photo, but . . .</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/pedro/michael-yon-49accc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 391.233px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Just as they were starting to line up for the photo, a call came in and the helicopters flew away.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br /><div id="toolbar-articlebody"><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>The war is intensifying month by month while support for this mission plummets. Your help is crucial to my staying in the war. 2010 will almost certainly prove to be the bloodiest even as coverage dries up. More troops are coming in. The fighting for those who are here is already as tough as any seen in Iraq. Do you trust the Government to tell the truth? Please donate today.</b></i></u></a></font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /></div><br /><div id="toolbar-article" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></div><br /></font></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /></font></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><br /><h4 class="jc_title" style=" margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(88, 89, 71)"><b><font size="3"><font size="2">COMMENTS </font></font><font size="2"><font size="2">(57)</font></font></b></h4><br /><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><br /><div id="pc_20537" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Good Work</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20537"><font size="2"><font size="2">I'm proud of these guys. Our thoughts are with you and these brave men and women every day. Stay strong.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Bryan </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 13, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20538" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20538" id="comment-20538" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thank you Michael</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20538"><font size="2"><font size="2">PJs rarely get mentioned.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Joey </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 13, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20539" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20539" id="comment-20539" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines ...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20539"><font size="2"><font size="2">Wonderful report!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">NOTR </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20540" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20540" id="comment-20540" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Secretary, Echo LRP - C75Th Rangers</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20540"><font size="2"><font size="2">Excellent photos Michael. Request to use the photos in a new video Ranger Studios is putting together, As you know, full copy right and ownership will be given to you. Also a completed copy of the Video. <br><br />Let me know one way or the other. <br><br /><br><br />Cal</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Cal </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20541" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20541" id="comment-20541" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thanks Michael</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20541"><font size="2"><font size="2">Thank you for posting all of these articles Michael, it puts everything in perspective to see the sacrifice these brave men and women make.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Aaron </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20542" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20542" id="comment-20542" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Stunning Pics</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20542"><font size="2"><font size="2">Every ISAF country's newspapers or news sites should have a Yon dispatch section, you tell it like it is, great photos and respect for the troops.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Alex </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20543" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20543" id="comment-20543" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">WPhxAmerican</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20543"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael: <br><br /><br><br />Another great post.....it really makes a difference when you see just how much these brave servicemen do each day. Thanks for the honest reporting. <br><br /><br><br />Semper FI</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Carl T </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20544" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20544" id="comment-20544" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Emergency / Urgent Care Physician</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20544"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thank you for this dispatch, it was beautifully photographed. Let the Pedros know that what they do is so essential for the physicians who are receiving the ill and the injured. Good field work gives the physicians and the patients the valuable time needed for a good outcome.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">William, M.D. </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20545" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20545" id="comment-20545" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Red Cross?</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20545"><font size="2"><font size="2">What is it about the decision making brains in the military? They paint a RED CROSS on the side of a rescue helicopter, then refuse to let it defend its self. Has no one told them that the sign of "the red cross on a white background" is also the symbol for the "Crusaders"? That symbol stirs up as much hate in the middle east as a swastika would in Israel. It makes me wonder if the "talking heads" safely cocooned in a bunker basement room are trying to lose this war! Every politician, Pentagon official and government representative who visits the troops should be REQUIRED TO FLY INTO THE COUNTRY IN A HELICOPTER WITH THE SAME MARKINGS AND LACK OF DEFENSIVE WEAPONS!!! <br><br /><br><br />War is like surgery for some people, it is only critical when it happens to me... otherwise, what ARE they complaining about!?!?!?! <br><br /><br><br />Michael, I'm still on my knees for you, <br><br />Love, <br><br />Grammy</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Grammy </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20546" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20546" id="comment-20546" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">PJ's, heros all</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20546"><font size="2"><font size="2">When you stop and think about it, these guys are doing stuff that would get normal ground combat guys medals, all in a days work for them. <br><br /><br><br />Back when I was stationed at Homestead AFB, FL, we were watching some PJ's loading gear and such, they probably figured it was hero worship, hell, we just wanted to swipe the scuba gear, they had great toys, we were all sport divers.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Evan </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20547" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20547" id="comment-20547" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Where do they operate?</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20547"><font size="2"><font size="2">Not to violate opsec, but do the Pedros fly only in the southern areas, or do they fly in the north/northeast? Are these the 160th SOAR?</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">casstx </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20548" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20548" id="comment-20548" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Amazing!</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20548"><font size="2"><font size="2">Thanks again for your amazing work. I really appreciate being privileged enough to following your courageous efforts. <br><br />Thanks to all the men and ladies out there fighting for our freedom back home. I'm on my way out this fall boys and girls, I hope to stand by your side some day!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Matt </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20549" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20549" id="comment-20549" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20549"><font size="2"><font size="2">Hi Mike, <br><br />your reports are always stunning and I really appreciate them! <br><br />Don't talk about your photos... you caught the action and took us in it! <br><br /><br><br />Thank you!!! <br><br /><br><br />Spike</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Spike </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20550" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20550" id="comment-20550" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Go PJs</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20550"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />Awesome reporting - fantastic photos - have ben following you since Iraq - keep up the great job you are doing to tell the real stories. <br><br /><br><br />Thanks <br><br /><br><br />Chris the Kiwi</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Chris the Kiwi </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20551" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20551" id="comment-20551" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20551"><font size="2"><font size="2">You can tell by looking at them that these are top notch guys. They're also American embassadors in their own right every time they go on a mission that aids allied forces and Afghan civilians since they hurt the bad guys and heal the good guys.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Blackwater </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20552" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20552" id="comment-20552" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">PJs</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20552"><font size="2"><font size="2">Excellent though the PJs are, don't forget that Brit MERTs are manned by at least one DR and one Paramedic every time they are deployed. More often than not; if they survive the initial 5 mins after the 'contact' they increase their chances of survival overall. That said, given the current preferred form of attack (multiple IED) chances grow slimmer. Great to see you supporting the guys Michael but keep it in context; MERT almost always lands; and takes the most badly injured. <br><br /><br><br />Thanks though to our USA friends.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Letterwritingman </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20553" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20553" id="comment-20553" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">speechless</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20553"><font size="2"><font size="2">a-m-a-z-i-n</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Marianne </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20554" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20554" id="comment-20554" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Once Again Michael Yon Brings to Light what Other Media Will NotL</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20554"><font size="2"><font size="2">Fantastic post Mr. Yon! Thanks. I have posted a link at my blog juggernuts.com <br><br /><br><br />Cris Yarborough <br><br />americanjarheadATgmailDOTcom <br><br />www.americanjarhead.com</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">American Jarhead (Cris) </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20555" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20555" id="comment-20555" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">chopper question</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20555"><font size="2"><font size="2">What is the long tube extending out from the front of the pedro's Hellicopter? It doesn't look like a weapon.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">david </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20556" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20556" id="comment-20556" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Mini guns or not?</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20556"><font size="2"><font size="2">Great post. <br><br /><br><br />You mention that the birds with red cross symbols are not allowed to carry miniguns but later you write that when the PJs come, they come with miniguns blazing... do the PJs fly in different or unmarked birdies? Confused... <br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Mike </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20557" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20557" id="comment-20557" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">GO PJ's</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20557"><font size="2"><font size="2">I was an Air Force Security Policeman back in the day and our barracks was just across the street from the PJ's. We stood in awe of these great men! They ran everywhere they went, they had a pull up bar at the door to their barracks and had to do pull ups to go inside or outside. Most of the time you would see them running together holding a telephone pole over thier heads calling off a cadence song. PJ's are unsung heroes! Thank you Micheal for shining a well deserved light of recognition on them!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Dale </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20558" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20558" id="comment-20558" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20558"><font size="2"><font size="2">Greetings to a Courageous Journalist! I am grateful for your reporting. this one was special and the best way to say 'thank you' is by giving monetary support.... so I will do that. God be with you and those you are with in this war. Please let them know that I am praying faithfully for you all.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Judy </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20559" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20559" id="comment-20559" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">RE: chopper question</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20559"><font size="2"><font size="2">David, that is a boom for in-flight refueling.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Sean </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20560" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20560" id="comment-20560" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20560"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thank you for the dispatch, <br><br />I am grateful for your reporting. Also true is we will never see this coverage anywhere else, God bless our Troops. <br><br /><br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Ken</font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20561" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20561" id="comment-20561" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">THANKYOU TO ALL</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20561"><font size="2"><font size="2">I want to thank Michael for all the great reporting you have done over the years! Its nice to know that we get the truth out of your stories. Also my prayers and thanks go out to our whole military for there endless service. I know all of us in Langhorne Pa are proud. Be safe and God Bless!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">A proud Marine Mom-Langhorne Pa </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20563" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20563" id="comment-20563" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Incredible Photos</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20563"><font size="2"><font size="2">Many thanks for the dispatch and stunning photos of some of the brave Men in our societies doing what some of us wish we could. God bless and protect you, the Pedro's and the MERTs, and all of the Staff that keep them safe and active.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">PhilMB </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20564" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20564" id="comment-20564" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Trackbcked / Linked by:</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20564"><font size="2"><font size="2">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 09/14/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/09/from-front-09142009.html</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">David M </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20565" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20565" id="comment-20565" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20565"><font size="2"><font size="2">HOOYAH Pedros!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">tripleA </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20566" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20566" id="comment-20566" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Pedro</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20566"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael, thank you so much for your dedication to letting the world know the reality of the war from the fighting mans perspective. Compared to the MSM and "Other" sources your voice is hearing the truth and seeing the light. I have kept track of what you're doing and whenever I mention your name to friends they all know who you are. Your stories about our troops dedication and bravery gives me hope for America. Good work.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">F M </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20567" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20567" id="comment-20567" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thank you...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20567"><font size="2"><font size="2">Thank you, Michael and all the people that we can see in the photos. It takes a different type of bravery that doesn't get enough thanks to help those far away from this country in hopes that conflict won't reach any further. There is a part of me that would love to be there to lend a hand if it is for nothing else but to hold someone's hand.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Mary D </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20568" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20568" id="comment-20568" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">That Others May Live</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20568"><font size="2"><font size="2">Your photo journalism captured it all. With a son in Farah, it eases my mind a bit to know that Perdo help isn't far away if needed. Most of all, I thank the all the casevac units of ISAF for the role they play in keeping our loved ones alive.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Colin </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20569" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20569" id="comment-20569" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">God bless You Mr. Yon</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20569"><font size="2"><font size="2">For that magnificient work you're doing out there for your readers and the cause of truth. I'm still too young to work and don't have a credit card so I can't donate, but I assure You You are in my prayers. Your staff is really wonderful - I've read it for two months, both the current and archives, and so have several of my buddies. You really improved my understanding of modern warfare, not to mention how deep you moved me. I hope You will continue despitre all the obstacles - maybe You could embbed with Polish troops for a while? There's a small FOB called Giro in Ghazni province, when they have our Polish cuisine served daily. <br><br /><br><br />Greetings from Silesia, Poland</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Maciek </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20570" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20570" id="comment-20570" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20570"><font size="2"><font size="2">I wonder if we could persuade the Red Cresent Society if we could paint their symbol on the birds, rather than the cross. Their answer to that would say volumes....</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Pat </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20571" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20571" id="comment-20571" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">In Awe</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20571"><font size="2"><font size="2">Encourage all of these people to run for Congress when they finish their tours. We need men and women like this runnning our country rather than the weak willies we've got now.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">jr </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20572" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20572" id="comment-20572" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">MD</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20572"><font size="2"><font size="2">Great post. I am an ER doc in NYC and I had the honor to spend a little time with Special Ops medics including PJ's doing a rotation in the ER. What a fantastic group of people. Smart, polite(at least in our setting)and a work ethic that for a civilian was hard to believe. Voracious desire for experience and knowledge. They knew they were going to need it. I guess that quite a few of them are out in both theaters. I can't imagine a better group of people to represent America, or for that matter the Earth. Thank you Michael for your posts. <br><br /><br><br />Darrell S</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Darrell S </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20573" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20573" id="comment-20573" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20573"><font size="2"><font size="2">MICHAEL YON: <br><br /><br><br />YOU DO WHAT JOURNALIST ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. YOU DO IT FOR DONATIONS ONLY! GOD BLESS YOU. <br><br />RIGHT NOW, The State Controlled Media is reporting almost nothing--so as not to embarass our Incompetent leader</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Dave </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20574" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20574" id="comment-20574" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">The Next CSAR Helicopter</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20574"><font size="2"><font size="2">It's important to point out why the Pedros are armed. They are part of the USAF Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) community, tasked with recovery of downed airmen from hostile territory. Hence the miniguns and air refueling probe. <br><br /><br><br />One of the recent decisions made by the SECDEF was to cancel the next CSAR helicopter program. Apparently, he thinks anyone with a helicopter can do their job. As this article points out, the SECDEF is wrong.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Trashhauler </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20575" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20575" id="comment-20575" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">The Finest . . .</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20575"><font size="2"><font size="2">MICHAEL: As usual, fantastic photos embedded with an attention grabbing story of another element of the troops doing their jobs outside the wire. Keep up the award-winning calibre work, and watch your backside. <br><br /><br><br />I would love to see you do an opinion piece on how the ISAF forces attract such amazingly capable human beings (and a few canines) to do this dangerous work. When you consider that they are risking their very lives, getting substantially less than civilian pay for comparable work, and have to put up with the increasingly stupid/dangerous ROEs as they go about their jobs . . . how does the military recruit and keep these people? As your photos and stories so clearly show, these folks are some the absolutely best and brightest that we have to offer. They will have my enduring admiration and respect forever. <br><br /><br><br />Off to the "Donate" widget to send in my monthly bribe to keep you willing to do what it is you do. Come on fellow readers . . . Michael's monetary support is crucial . . . so meet me over at the widget !</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Marine PaPa </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20576" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20576" id="comment-20576" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20576"><font size="2"><font size="2">I can be very busy, but when your posts come in, I stop and read them. Everything else in my life pales in importance and seems so ridiculous compared to what these unbelievable people are doing. It makes me so proud of my country. It also brings tears to my eyes. MS</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Mark </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20577" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20577" id="comment-20577" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">SMSgt USAF Retired</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20577"><font size="2"><font size="2">PJs were the Best in Nam. saved my tired old ass. Thanks. Jolley Green.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Jerry </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20578" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20578" id="comment-20578" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thanks to you and the Pedros</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20578"><font size="2"><font size="2">Thanks for highlighting the great work these guys do.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">fitaloon </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20579" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20579" id="comment-20579" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Wow</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20579"><font size="2"><font size="2">amazing how all work together to help on Soldier or more down. What a gift they have. Thank you for telling their story and more.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Monique </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20580" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20580" id="comment-20580" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">awesome</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20580"><font size="2"><font size="2">keep up the great work, posting news like this. rearly will you see and hear news like this story in the mainstream news. now for now, we will be inundated with news on how we should pull out. and they will fan the flames to win there point. WE TOLD YOU SO!. thanks.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">dennis </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20581" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20581" id="comment-20581" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Jolly Green - Lean and Mean;-)</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20581"><font size="2"><font size="2">I noticed one of the PJ's was wearing a similar Jolly Green patch of the ParaRescue unit that is stationed @ Patrick AFB, FL. That base was my first assignment in the Air Force with the 2nd Combat Communications Grp. We used to stare in amazement as these guys would run up and down the the beach in summer with full combat packs and combat boots. We thought we where bad ass;-). When I was assigned to the Phillipines, once again there were the PJ's running with full packs on in the brutal heat, this time around the parade field about eight times, which measures out at about two miles. <br><br />Anyone thinks they are a bad-ass, join the Air Force and sign up for PJ school. If one manages to get in, one will be surprised at how fast the troops DOR out of training. More so than the SEALS or the RANGERS!!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Tommy </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20582" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20582" id="comment-20582" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thank you!</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20582"><font size="2"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thank you for being there to cover and report the stories of these heros back to concerned americans. The way that you weave words and photographs together into a story is second to none. Most of us would not have a clue as to what really goes on over there without the work of excellent journalists such as yourself. <br><br />Thanks again!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Steven </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20583" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20583" id="comment-20583" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Too Bad Sec. Gates isn't a fan of Pedros</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20583"><font size="2"><font size="2">Just to remind everyone, one of the numerous Air force programs killed in April by SecDef Gates was the CSAR-X, which would have provided replacement helicopters for the worn out HH-60Gs (the ones you see above in Michael's dispatch). The all-knowing, all-wise SecDef is confident that anyone can do that job and feels there is no need for a dedicated organization or specialized aircraft to do these (all weather) lifesaving missions.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Rotro </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20584" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20584" id="comment-20584" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Just a thought</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20584"><font size="2"><font size="2">I say that when the Pedros are done with this assignment they hurry home and take over our government. We need their work ethic, commitment to excellence and physical stamina to do what it takes. <br><br /><br><br />Mom to Graham</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Christin </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20585" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20585" id="comment-20585" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Great Job Mike!</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20585"><font size="2"><font size="2">Great job from all of armed forces men and women! Hooah!</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">JUAN , USAF retired </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20586" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20586" id="comment-20586" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">dang, just dang</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20586"><font size="2"><font size="2">Hell, I used to think my R1 launches during the cold war on P-3's from Kef (or other places) was something; looks like these guys have it down pat. Keep up the excellent work. Sorry I couldn't have been part of this fine group of aviators but.... timing is everything.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Punkindrublic </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20587" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20587" id="comment-20587" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Unbelievable pics. Amazing. Profound.</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20587"><font size="2"><font size="2">Thank you so much for sharing. It's so profound that I don't know what to say. Thank you seems trite. <br><br />I teach high school students and share some with them. I'm sure most of them don't realize the intensity. (Nor do I) <br><br />You have our support, love, appreciation, and empathy. <br><br />Take good care. <br><br /></font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Barb </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20588" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20588" id="comment-20588" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">from North Dakota</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20588"><font size="2"><font size="2">WOW. Amazing. Profound. Intense. Thank you for the pics and commentary. <br><br />I teach high school students. I'm sure most of them do not realize all that goes on. (Nor do I) I try to make them aware... <br><br />Thank you seems trite. <br><br />However, you have our support, love, empathy and encouragement. <br><br />Take good care.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Barb </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20589" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20589" id="comment-20589" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Great Article</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20589"><font size="2"><font size="2">Mike as always you rock. You cover things that no one else seems to care about. I love the Punisher symbol one of the door gunners had on his chest <br><br /><br><br />Deuce Four Historian.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">DARREL </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20590" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20590" id="comment-20590" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Pedro's in Action</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20590"><font size="2"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWaehyJb0pg" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><font size="2">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWaehyJb0pg</font></u></a><font size="2"> - HD Footage shot this past couple of months from the Pedro's perspective. <br><br /><br><br />Awesome article Mr Yon, thanks for getting the info out straight</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Phantom </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20591" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20591" id="comment-20591" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thanks from a retired CSAR pilot</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20591"><font size="2"><font size="2">THANK YOU FOR THIS STORY! I am a retired Air Force rescue pilot and was honored to fly with PJs for over 20 years. The Combat Rescue team is truly an amazing national asset. FYI, the "Pedro" call sign came from the early days of rescue in Viet Nam, when SAR crews were flying HH-43 Helicopters. <br><br /><br><br />"These things we do, that others may live."</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Randall , Col, USAFR, Ret </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20592" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20592" id="comment-20592" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Thanks Michael.</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20592"><font size="2"><font size="2">Another great article. Those PJ's and the aircrew that shuttle them around have my respect. That's a tough job in an inhospitable area and they excell at it.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Sumpter Steve </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20593" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20593" id="comment-20593" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">...</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20593"><font size="2"><font size="2">Great report, as usual, Mr Yon. Great job by these guys, and just one more excellent story about what a kick ass job our guys and gals are doing over there. Thanks very much. - Brian</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">Brian </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20595" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20595" id="comment-20595" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4"><font size="2">Much Needed</font></font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20595"><font size="2"><font size="2">With all the bias and politics in the news, you and your honest and fair reporting are what is needed. Keep up the good work.</font></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author"><font size="2">DaveWVU </font></span><font size="2">, </font><span class="jc_comment_date"><font size="2">September 14, 2009</font></span></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /></span></font></font></div><br /><br><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b>Please support this mission by making a <a id="o1re" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b>To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="f90n" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br><br /></b></font></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-7458324898428468422009-09-10T22:41:00.001-05:002009-09-10T22:41:54.174-05:00TiwazTiwaz: (T: Tyr, the sky god.) Ho...<div><br /></div><br /><div><br /> <div><br /> <div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#330000" face="'Tempus Sans ITC'" size="4"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000" face="Verdana" size="3"><font size="2"><br><br /> </font></font></font><br /> </div><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <img src="http://www.valkyrietower.com/Tyr.jpg" style="width: 338px; height: 520px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><br /> </div><br /> </div><br /></div><br /><span style="FONT-FAMILY:verdana"><b>Tyr will help you if - and only if - your cause is just</b></span><div><b><br></b><br /><div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#444444"><br><br /> </font><br /></div><br /><div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#444444"><br /> <div><br /> <div><br /> <img align="bottom" alt="Tiwaz" border="0" height="32" src="http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/tiwaz.gif" width="32"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:'times new roman'; COLOR:#000066"><font size="3"><a href="http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/pronunciation.html#tiwazp" name="tiwazm" style="COLOR:#551a8b"><font face="Verdana">Tiwaz</font></a></font><font face="Verdana">: </font><font color="#6D0000" face="Verdana">(<a name="tiwazm"></a>T: Tyr, the sky god.)</font><font face="Verdana"> Honor, justice, leadership and authority. Analysis, rationality. Knowing where one's true strengths lie. Willingness to self-sacrifice. Victory and success in any competition or in legal matters. </font></span></div><div><br /> </div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Ok, folks, this guy, Tyr, and all these runes are pretty cool, no doubt, but are they really relevant to us today? As an individual, as a people, and as a country, the strengths of Tyr are much to be desired. Honor, justice, leadership and authority...do we teach these things to our kids? Depends on the teachers, doesn't it? And everybody in our kids lives are teachers. You and I had quite a few teachers, too. We had our parents, our educators, our neighbors, friends, co-workers, that guy in the grocery store (what? You didn't have him, too?), some had scout leaders, ministers, policemen (and I won't ask about that), relatives, etc. ALL are teachers. And think about all those teachers for just one person.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Now, multiply one of your kids, or yourself (the number should be pretty close to the same), by about 300 million. Now we're talking! US population! Ding, ding, ding! The good ol' United States of America! Does the United States have those same noble qualities of Tyr? Do we know where our true strengths lie as a nation? Is there a willingness to self-sacrifice? If we are wrong, do we say so and accept the consequences? Does America have honor, justice, leadership and authority woven within its very fabric? If you are in a different country, do you feel your country has honor, justice, leadership and authority?</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Well, dang, how can you tell me if we, as a people, have these qualities if you only know the basics about Tyr! Just for you, and no one else, a little background. <b>Read on, please:</b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><br></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><b><font size="4">Who is Tyr</font></b> - <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Tyr was the Norse warrior god. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Tyr's Germanic name is Tiwaz, the suffix -az meaning god. Tei is linguistically related to "Zeus," and means "sky" or "light." One of the Vikings' names for the North Star was "Tir," which was throught to be at the top of the world </font></span></font></font></div><img src="http://mythsoftheworld.net/nordic/images/tyr.jpg" hspace="20" vspace="20" style="width: 220px; height: 303.642px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">axis, which "keeps the cosmic forces in polarized order," according to Ralph Metzner, writer of <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Well of Remembrance (which tells of some of the mythic roots of the dominance of the Western culture's worldview; and how m</font><span style="FONT-FAMILY:verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">any individuals, tribes, and nations are struggling to free themselves from the residues of the ideological oppression practiced by what they see as Eurocentric culture.) Since Norse dragonships and merchanters steered by the stars at night, the god Tyr was associated with the ability to guide, and with the qualities immortalized in Shakespeare's phrase, "fixed and constant as the Northern star."</font></span></span></font></span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000066"><div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">A man who was considered extremely knowledgeable was called 'Tyr-wise." He was considered the boldest and most courageous of the Norse pantheon. Warriors carved his name into their swords. He was the dispenser of justice and connected to oaths, and the means by which we maintain justice and uphold the social contract. He always spoke the truth. Tyr was born to this role and he knows his role well.</font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Tyr is an aristocrats' god, a deity of the officers. He is the master strategist in the battlefield chess game and he understands what it is to have responsibility for the fates of many others.</font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><b>What did he do?</b></span></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:1xN9AtfqM-hPEM:http://www.runestone.org/images/NewPics/John_Bauer-Tyr_and_Fenrir2.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 134px; height: 107px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Tyr was well known for the story involving Fenrir, which resulted in the loss of his sword hand. That's pretty major. Apparently there was this giant wolf named Fenrir, who was one of the sons of Loki, the trickster god who was first welcomed and then betrayed by Odin. Odin had Fenrir's mother, Angrboda, killed out of fear of the powerful children she was bearing, of whom Fenrir the Great Wolf is one. Fenrir was pretty angry at this and rises up in wrath. He tears a heap of destruction all across the countryside, eating everything and everyone in his path. He is so strong that no one can stop him! An angry force of rage and fury!</font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Fenrir was SO strong that no chain could hold him, so the dwarves made a magical rope called <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:cVvyuNeQgrfXxM:http://www.holynationofodin.org/education/images/TyrTheVictor.gif" style=" border-color: initial; width: 83px; height: 126px; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Gleipnir and it was made out of six impossible things - the roots of a mountain, the spittle of a bird, the beard of a woman, the footfall of a cat, the sensitivity of a bear and the breath of a fish. Each of these items has a metaphorical meaning and put together become a recipe for stopping the World with a series of little, inconsequential, gentle things.</span></span></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:6MiVhNjs8OBUQM:http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/mythology/myths/pix/tyr.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 78px; height: 124px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The gods promised that once they saw whether the rope could indeed bind him, they would set him free, but </font><font size="2"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Fenrir was suspicious. Wary, the wolf asked that one of them put a hand between his jaws as a token of good faith. No one spoke or moved, until Tyr slowly put his right hand in Fenrir's mouth. The dwarves' rope held, but Tyr lost his right hand at the wrist—the wrist was called the "wolf joint" in Old Norse.</font></font></font><br /> </div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Pretty cool guy, huh? Gave up his sword hand to protect everybody from the "angry force of rage and fury" that was devouring the countryside. How many of you would self-sacrifice to that point? Hmmm...not many hands up. How about for grandma? Oh, come on now! How about for your kids? THAT's better! David! You've got to decide, man. Either up or down!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:BDgIZUN4A3pNXM:http://www.ilovesubstance.com/images/movies/the_dark_knight_batman_movie_poster.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 105px; height: 150px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <br><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> Honor, justice, leadership and authority. Analysis, rationality. Knowing where one's true strengths lie. Willingness to self-sacrifice. Victory and success in any competition or in legal matters. </div><br /> <div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><b><font size="4"><br></font></b></font></div><div><img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:c1BEvE0Pf4MEYM:http://www.ifanboy.com/images/ifanboy/batman10.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 93px; height: 136px; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px"></div><div><br /> <b><font size="4">W</font><font size="4">h</font><font size="4">o</font><font size="4"> </font><font size="4">i</font><font size="4">s</font><font size="4"> </font><font size="4">B</font><font size="4">a</font><font size="4">t</font><font size="4">m</font><font size="4">a</font><font size="4">n</font><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style=" FONT-WEIGHT:normal"><font size="4"> </font></span><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:normal"><font size="4">-</font><font size="4"> </font><font size="2">I wasn't as familiar with Tyr when I started this article and considered an embodiment of justice that we ALL would be familiar with would be closer to Batman, the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader. Batman is a graphic novel hero, but he is also a modern day legend. A figure of strength and an unflinching symbol of justice. He is his own judge and jury, but never the executioner. In fact, he avoids carrying a lethal weapon, although he has killed (not in continuity).</font></span></font></b></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:normal"><font size="2">He has a willingness for self-sacrifice. He has sacrificed every bit of his own humanity to become what he is. If he stops his crusade of justice, he is no more. And all <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">he is, is the Batman. Batman sacrifices his humanity, but he also sacrifices his soul. He can never be "normal." He can never experience what it is like to be a part of a family. He can't trust others beyond a close few to his true identity. He and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, remains clothed in shadow.</span></span></font></span></font></b></div><div><br /> </div><br /> <div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br></span></b></font></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><b>What does he do?</b></span></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><br><br /> </b></font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:vFNW8pClemABZM:http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd65/reallywhitemike/batman-logo-5000181.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 127px; height: 91px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Fights for truth and justice. He goes where the law cannot and exacts justice upon those that deserve it. He is a vigilante hero. But remember, he is still a vigilante, nonetheless.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><div>As Lt. James Gordon states when asked by his son why Batman is running, "Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight."</div><div><br></div></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><font size="3">How are they similar?</font></font></b><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><br><br /> </b></font><br /> </div><br /> <div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><font size="3">They are both</font></b> avengers of justice, and judgment. Both experience self-sacrifice, both pay a price to obtain their goals. They are both warriors and vengeful destroyers of evil.</font><br /> </div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Both act with authority. Tyr has natural authority. He is a god, for Pete's sake! But he carries that authority with responsibility and honor.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">The Bat has authority, but it's self-proclaimed. He's no god. He claimed authority to do justice. And he wears it in vengeful silence, in memory of his parents.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Both clearly know their true strengths.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><font size="4">So, what's the difference?</font></font></b></font></div><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><b><br><br /> </b></font><br /> </div><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:auLxG3ZyLL_ANM:http://www.deathheads.net/sale/insignias/TYR1.jpg" style="border:1px solid;" width="136" height="140"> </span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="6">VS. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: normal"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="6"><font size="2"><font size="6"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: normal"><img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:OA3w_j3tLKzYsM:http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c22/mdgcfb/Batman20Forever.jpg" style="border:1px solid;" width="150" height="113"><font size="2"> </font></span></font></font></font></b></font></span></span></font></b></font></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000" size="4"><b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b><font size="3">The biggest difference</font></b><font size="2"> in the defining characteristics between Tyr and Batman is that despite the fact they have the same goal, they go about it by different means. Tyr goes forward embodied by the law, but Batman is hindered by the law, and has, at times, gone beyond the law.</font></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000" size="3"><span style=" font-weight: normal;"><font size="2"><br></font></span></font></div></span></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="6"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: normal"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="6"><font size="2"><font size="6"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: normal"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><font size="2">Their methods</font><font size="2"> of upholding justice, and how they inspire those around them differ. Tyr upholds <i>justice</i> <i>through the law</i>, Batman upholds the <i>law through justice.</i> Tyr inspires heros around him, showing them bravery, courage, and proper judgement. Batman inspires fear in crooks and villains to do the right thing, to not commit crime. The Batman is always waiting around the corner, in the shadows. Batman does not intend to inspire others to be like himself. Batman is unnerving and unflinching in his actions, whereas Tyr is bold and charismatic.</font></span></span></font></font></font></b></font></span></span></font></b></font></font></div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Why is Batman considered a hero in today's society if he is hindered by the law? Why does he act outside of the law? Does he see himself as a more effective tool? How many of us flock to movie theaters to see Batman serve justice to the bad guys? </span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><img src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:DznHK4hzlyLWQM:http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/1995-batman-forever-batmobile_54.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 128px; height: 89px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">I can see my kids relating much better to Batman than that OLD guy. The Bat fights against current bad guys. He wears black (big one with MY kids, 19 & 22 years old). Let's add on a cool costume, really cool weapons and devices, and really, really, really cool vehicles.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">But, to be fair, let's ask the same questions of Batman that I asked of Tyr.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Is Batman's qualities relevant to us today? As an individual, as a people, and as a country, are the strengths of Batman to be desired? Does he have the same qualities of honor, justice, leadership and authority as Tyr that we find noble and that which we value? And riddle me this, would you rather go see a movie about Tyr, ripping into bad guys, or a movie about Batman ripping into bad guys? Which of the two should be our standard bearer?</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="3">Y</font><font size="3">o</font><font size="3">u</font><font size="3"> </font><font size="3">t</font><font size="3">e</font><font size="3">l</font><font size="3">l</font><font size="3"> </font><font size="3">m</font><font size="3">e</font><font size="3">.</font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="3"><br></font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><font size="3">D</font><font size="3">o we as a nation </font><font size="3">display the characteristics of Tyr? How?</font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000" size="4"><b><font size="3"><br></font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000" size="4"><b><font size="3">or</font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000" size="4"><b><font size="3"><br></font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000" size="4"><b><font size="3">Do we as a nation display the characteristics of the Dark Knight? How?</font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000" size="4"><b><font size="3"><br></font></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#660000"><b><i><font size="2">(Oh, I know there are different nations within Gather, so you don't get off by saying this is only for US citizens. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!)</font></i></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><div><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">A collaborative body of work</span></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102)"><font size="2"><br></font></span><b><font size="2">By: <a target="_blank" href="http://sites.google.com/a/loclynn.com/loclynns-hallow/" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none">Darren Lynn</a> &</font></b> <b><font size="2"><a target="_blank" href="http://sites.google.com/a/loclynn.com/dats-da-cat-s-meow/" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none">Cathi Luytjes</a></font></b></font></div></div><div>Produced in <span style="font-family: arial"><a target="_blank" href="http://sites.google.com/a/loclynn.com/gestalt-public-notice/home/about-us" title="This group is intended to help Gather members." style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: none">The Gestalt Project</a>.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></div></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><div><div style="text-align: center"><font size="2"><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977798878" title="Chapter #1 Othala" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)">Chapter #1 Othala</a></span></b></font></div><div style="text-align: center"><div style="text-align: center"><font size="2"><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977800269#cid-1688849882418812" title="Chapter #2Thurisaz" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139)">Chapter #2 Thurisaz</a></b></font><div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><font size="2"><b><b><a id="h1ly" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977801755" target="_blank" title="Chapter #3 Gebo">Chapter #3 Gebo</a></b></b></font></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><font size="2"><b><br></b></font></span></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000" face="Verdana"><br></font></font></div></div></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><br /> <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br><br /> </font><br /> </div><br /> <div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font></div></font></div></div></font></div><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-67775850229986670812009-09-10T15:00:00.001-05:002009-09-10T15:00:36.984-05:00Eight Years After 9/11<span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><h2 class="contentheading" style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font size="5">Eight Years After 9/11</font></h2><br /><div class="article-tools" style="float: left; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236)"><br /><div class="article-meta" style="float: left"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-content"><br><br /><div id="toolbar-articlebody"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-37-40acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman" title="Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>08 September 2009</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b><br><br /></b><i>Helmand Province, Afghanistan</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><i><br><br /></i></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Just before the mission, soldiers form up near the memorial for our fallen.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-39-44a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 431.507px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission was simple. Taliban had been watching FOB Inkerman and British patrols from various compounds and we were going to occupy those compounds and pick a fight with all comers.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-39-28acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission is set to begin just at sunrise, so soldiers use white lights because night vision will not be needed. (We are still well within the base.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The sounds: Muffled discussions, metallic clicks and snaps, and the sound of gear being stuffed into rucksacks. A soldier can be heard taking a long inhale from a cigarette. The tip grows brighter and he pauses; the tip dims and he exhales while quietly talking at half volume.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The task was very dangerous and we expected a fight. Ross Kemp, the famous British journalist who shot a documentary here, did a fine job in catching the truth of the Green Zone. Little has changed since Mr. Kemp came here; his work is as true now as it was then. Every British soldier knows and respects Ross Kemp—not because he made them heroes, but because he told the truth.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As a mood-probe, I posed a silly question from the darkness: “Is this dangerous?” Two soldiers burst into laughter, and a third said, “It’s stupid as shit, that’s what it is.” The mood was good. It’s when you don’t get an answer that you need to watch out.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-49-53aV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Leaving base, we pass the mortar pits where the crews are ready to support us with lethal fire. A hundred meters away, the 105mm howitzers also are prepared, as are the Javelins and machine guns and grenade launchers on the perimeter. Today, when the fighting begins, they will fire many shots.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">It’s time to head to the gate by the 611 “highway” that separates the desert from the Green Zone. FOB Inkerman is on the desert side, but just fifteen seconds’ walk from here begins the Green Zone.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The enemy owns the Green Zone and so platoons don’t push far from base. The risk of being outnumbered and outmaneuvered is evident. Some commanders might take issue with that statement, but the commanders here will not. To any commanders who are distant and would like to challenge my claim that the enemy owns the Green Zone here, they might consider accepting my challenge: When an officer of the rank of Colonel or General is ready to walk from FOB Jackson to PB Wishtan to FOB Inkerman and walk back to FOB Jackson, please call and I’ll walk with you.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Yes, if they accept this challenge and spend the day to walk this route, their words will stick. Yet today, even with so much immediate support from the mortars, guns and Apaches and jets, little imagination is required to envision losing most or all of a platoon within a couple miles of a base.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-52-09accCV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 332.055px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Despite all that, the morale of British troops is unmistakably good, which cannot be attributed to the terrible rations they eat. After more than a month with British combat troops in the Green Zone, I hadn’t seen a piece of fresh fruit on a base, despite that we are surrounded by farms.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-00-52-18accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 393.699px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Riflemen Ben Taylor and Aaron Jones always seem ready to roll. Moments before we head into the mission, I say, “Don’t worry men. If there are any dramas, just fall behind me and obey my commands.” Their eyes go wide, then Ben laughs loudly and Aaron goes “Kookoo, Kookoo,” while twirling a finger close to his ear.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-02-36acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We snap on helmets and enter the Thunder Zone. Lance Corporal Johnston takes file behind Ben Taylor. Two soldiers wearing at least three types of camouflage because the British Army has not properly outfitted its soldiers. Missions here range from Brown Zone to Green Zone back to desert brown within minutes. The soldiers need camouflage similar to what special operations folks wear. British and American special operations folks use camouflage suitable for both environments. It’s cheap and every combat soldier should have it.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image015lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image015730.jpg" border="0" alt="Please click on Image for Higher Resolution." title="Please click on the Image for Higher Resolution." style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><br /><font size="2"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><u><br><br /></u></p><br /></div><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We have so few troops that we cannot even control the veins of Green Zone.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image017lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image017730.jpg" border="0" alt="Please Click on Image for Higher Resolution." title="Please Click on Image for Higher Resolution." style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><br /><font size="2"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><u><br><br /></u></p><br /></div><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we step off base from FOB Inkerman, we are immediately subject to coming under small-arms attacks.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-28-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We walked off base, briefly along the 611 “highway” that runs just by that power line. On the hill, just this side of the mosque, are approximately 35 men and boys. They are watching us. The speakers mounted on the mast above the mosque are used for the call to prayers.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image021lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/image021.jpg" border="0" alt="Please Click on Image for Higher Resolution." title="Please Click on Image for Higher Resolution." style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><br /><font size="2"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><u><br><br /></u></p><br /></div><br /></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Is it a security violation to print Google maps? Those men up on the hill and the farmers in the fields see every move we make. If this were the opening stage of the war, it would be a mistake to print such a map. But not now. The people here know exactly what we do and where we do it. The people at home are in the dark, but not the Afghans.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-28-46acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We move through the corn and other crops under the eyes of the Afghan men on the hill. Soldiers on point mark a possible bomb.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-29-08a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the sun rises, the variation in from Brown Zone to Green Zone becomes evident.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-30-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Rifleman Jack Otter is in the file just behind me. It seems that the most dangerous place in the file is at the point, but after that everywhere is probably about equal. The battle spaces around Afghanistan are very different. Here at Inkerman, for instance, the fight is remarkably different than the fight four miles away at Sangin. At Inkerman there are bombs, but it’s still mostly a gunfight, whereas in Sangin most of our KIAs come from bombs.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-37-35a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The opium has been harvested and these fields have been sowed with corn and other crops. Farmers are not happy with this year’s opium prices.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-49-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The corn provides great cover for the enemy and for us. Operating in the corn is like being aboard a British submarine while we cruise around for Taliban subs. We can’t see more than a few meters, and so it’s particularly important to be quiet and try not to ruffle the corn stocks which jiggles the tassles. Even in this kelp-like maize, we are subject to being hit by bombs. There are so many IED attacks that it’s hard to keep track. A special operations unit was attacked in late August resulting in one KIA, some amputations, and a soldier who lost his genitals, which happens more often than one might think.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-01-55-57acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Land mine? Nail?</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-05-57-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The PKM is a common enemy weapon that packs a wallop. It can penetrate our helmets. Untrained fighters typically will fire high during night time, or in places of limited visibility such as in the corn. Good fighters often use “grazing fire,” so that even when the enemy is lying flat the gun can get hits. During our ambush on 20 August, four days earlier, the enemy had used good fire discipline and it was only due to pure luck that none of us were killed. Our guys are better shots and more tactically sound, so whereas the terrain definitely belongs to the enemy, when firefights actually start, the smart money is on the Brits or Americans, not the Taliban. They might kill a few of us, but if they stick around and fight we will wipe them out.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-17-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lately the Green Zone has been flooded by the farmers and the fields have been muddy, yet today the irrigation had shunted and the irrigation ditches were mostly dry for this mission. Sometimes the enemy plants bombs in trees, or stretches tripwires high so that antennas will catch, which is part of the reason why being on point is not always most dangerous. Often, the point elements miss the bombs which then hit the main body. IED strikes are not like the war movies where somebody gets shot, falls down dying in his buddy’s arms saying, “Tell Lara…cough cough… Tell Lara…I love her.” And his buddy says, “No Jimmy, hang in there! Tell her yourself! Tell her yourself! Don’t die Jimmy! Don’t die you bastard!”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">No, that’s not how it is at all. After an IED strike you are using sticks to knock body parts and gear out of trees, and you are collecting arms, legs, and helmets splattered with brains. Bodies get blown from one compound into another compound, and parts land on roofs. Weapons are completely lost or shattered into pieces. There is nothing romantic about the bombs. It’s straight up combat. Body parts we cannot find get eaten by dogs and nobody wants that, so we try to find every little piece—if time permits, and if there is enough light. Lately, the enemy have often been killing more of us with the second bomb than the first. After we get blown up and start collecting casualties, BOOM, other bombs start exploding.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-18-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="'Bale' from Fiji." title="'Bale' from Fiji." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">'Bale' from Fiji.</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are loads of Fijian soldiers in the British Army. The Fijians make good soldiers and they also are very friendly and easy to get along with.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-23-03a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When firefights start, maneuvering can be tricky; the “cleared” lane is only a few feet wide.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-26-27a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Nearing the objective. We had split into several elements for mutual fire support.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-30-15a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we approached the compound that was our objective, the point elements kept sweeping for bombs. Often there will be a metallic ping on a corner. I went around a corner a month or so ago, and found a sheer hole that might have been forty feet deep. Just how many soldiers have fallen into holes in this country is unknown, but it’s got to be a lot. Afghans are liable to dig holes just about anywhere, and you can bet that the holes will be unmarked. The deep holes around here are wells. Perfect tiger traps in the making.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-36-28accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 417.534px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We enter the compound and find this man. He looked familiar. As it happens, he had come to FOB Inkerman on 21 August along with nine other men, when an elder asked to be compensated for a generator that got shot on the 20th by a Javelin missile. (I had photographed the Javelin shot and can confirm that the big fireball seemed to have come from a hit on fuel.) Captain Ed Addington asked for his ID, and other details. The man claimed not to know any Taliban, though of course he probably is part of the gang. He seemed friendly and self-assured, and despite that he probably is the enemy, I would end up sitting with him for about an hour. When he learned I am American, he smiled and said “Barack Obama President.” The man said he had never heard of Michael Jackson. Just behind the man is a hole that’s about 10m deep, and about 8m x 5m on the surface. (About 30x25x15 feet.) At the bottom was water. The massive hole was dug by hand—about 4,000 cubic meters—and the whole hole was inside his compound walls. I asked how long it took to dig that hole, and he said six men would need two months.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-38-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Information flow from locals is tantamount to zero. There are some local sources, but on a scale of 1–10, information flow is probably about a 2. The other 8 must go to the Taliban, though the more time I spend in the Green Zone the more I begin to think we are fighting the people in general, and not some small group of Taliban. The British government insists that British must guard Kajaki Dam (just upriver from here) or the Taliban will destroy it because the Taliban does not want people to have electricity. This is untrue. The Taliban had years of control over Kajaki and never destroyed the dam. British officials also tell me that it would do no good to build an electrical grid because the Taliban would destroy the grid. This is patently false. The power lines in this area – under Taliban control – are in fine condition. The Taliban controls the electricity and shuts it off at night, along with cell phone towers in many places. We generate the electricity and the Taliban collects money for wattage.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-50-39accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 430.685px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Water well in the compound.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-12-51accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 389.589px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers occupied the walls and watched for attacks, while I sat with the two men in the compound.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-03-29accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 423.288px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">He was all smiles and then asked for his photo. When the camera was brought to bear, he got the serious look. The moment the photo snapped he was all smiles again and wanted to see the photos on the screen.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-02-52-21accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 429.863px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I counted five kids. They never avoided us but never approached us and never smiled. If the kids were a barometer of the house, this house did not like soldiers.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-35-44acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The children’s dollhouse also had walls.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-36-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The handmade dolls might have reflected a census of the household.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-37-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Even the dolls had sleeping mats.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-40-22accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 390.411px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The younger man watched the soldiers while holding a wrench that I figured was for hitting us if he got in the mood. The soldiers found an ammunition carrier in the house but no ammo.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-47-19a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We had reliable information that the enemy was moving in on us.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-01-07accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 376.438px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Shots were fired by us on several occasions but the firefight had not yet started.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-03-28-04a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We kept getting information that the enemy was moving in on us. The machine gunner in the background fired at men who were maneuvering in. The soldiers were very confident that we would be attacked on the way out. As we moved into the corn, a shot rang out and I fell flat and a soldier behind me said, “That was impressive,” and I said, “I told you I am always the fastest to the ground.” Turns out it was just a warning shot . . . but nobody warned me! A couple minutes later a proper firefight broke out and we were all on the ground but we were not actually in contact. Another element was shooting at the enemy with machine guns, rifles and grenade launchers. The mortars began firing and we moved to contact, and along the way encountered what appeared to be an IED laid out for us. We went around and ended up with the element that was doing all the shooting. The 81mm mortars and the 105mm howitzers were firing dozens and dozens of shots into a compound where the enemy had disappeared.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-04-37-28acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lance Corporal Lee Casey stays on the gun. After each firefight, the soldiers redistribute ammo so that the loads are more even.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-04-45-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lance Corporal Gareth Prior</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-04-45-53acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lance Corporal Michael Pidgeon</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-04-43-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Behind the dust is the compound we were hammering. We got intelligence that some enemy might have been killed or wounded, so the British commander said, yeah, right, hold on. Cease fire. Let’s give them a chance to send a recovery party and when they’ve had time to get there, unleash again with the mortars and guns. And so that’s what happened. The next barrage was intense and on target. Again, dozens of howitzer and mortar rounds landed inside the compound and a B-1B was said to be in the area, and there were hopes that we could drop a bomb in there, too. No bomb was dropped.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-05-28-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After the fighting, we moved back to Inkerman, and along the way we kept getting reports that the enemy was trying to hit us with bombs they had hidden. We got lucky this time.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">More than two years ago, Ross Kemp, an outstanding British journalist, filmed a documentary series here. I have recognized many of the scenes in his footage. Little has changed other than it’s more dangerous here now. If you want to see what it’s like here through a video camera – Ross Kemp and his crew have done an incredible job. His facts and the tone were just right.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/mancorn/2009-08-24-at-05-36-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And that was it. We came back to base and I received a message. The British Ministry of Defence had canceled my embed. Here we are, eight years after the attacks on 9/11, watching censorship creep in to “the forgotten war.”</font></p><br /></div><br /></div><br /></span><br><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><h4 class="jc_title" style=" margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(88, 89, 71)"><b><font size="3">COMMENTS </font><font size="2">(33)</font></b></h4><br /><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><br /><div id="pc_20460" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Keeping information secret</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20460"><font size="2">I can understand why people would be concerned about the posting of detailed tactical information. I've actually known muslims who were radicalized by islamist propaganda on the internet and in mosqies and went off to Afghanistan and Pakistan to play jihad. They read Western reports and articles to learn our tactics. While the long term fighters might know most of our tactics I still would be constantly conscience of the fact that enemy eyes could be reading my reports.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Blackwater </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20461" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20461" id="comment-20461" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20461"><font size="2">I am sure the enemy don't need your maps Micheal. They have a hundred years of experience in guerrilla warfare to call upon, and I am sure they know every ditch, hole, compound and family in the area. They will be well versed in assessing a standing army used as an occupying force and how to quickly learn its modis operandi. Keep your head down man, your reports are the only trustworthy news we can get!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">KP </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20462" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20462" id="comment-20462" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Nothing is secret</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20462"><font size="2">Mike's been there, done that; he isn't printing or posting anything that people don't already know (except for criticisms of the british camo, maybe :D) If they haven't figured out British or American tactics by now, they haven't been paying attention for the last 8 years. And the way things are going, it would appear they've been paying a LOT of attention. <br><br /><br><br />Keep up the good work, Michael!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John G </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20463" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20463" id="comment-20463" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Embed</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20463"><font size="2">Michael: Given the dates concerned, are you saying they re-instated your embed that they cancelled after "Bad Medicine" and then after this, they revoked it again? <br><br /><br><br />They plainly do not know what they are doing... an addition to wantonly misleading the British electorate. It may interest you and any British military contingent in the field you come across to know that the three most senior members of the UK Royal Family are reported to have voiced very serious concerns about the current UK Goverment's prosecution of this war, in terms of troop levels and equipment. The UK troops nominally serve the sovereign above all others, so for the Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince Of Wales to weigh in on their side behind the scenes is an important development. The guys out there are NOT alone. <br><br /><br><br />Thank you for all that you do. God Bless and stay safe and keep telling us the truth. <br><br /><br><br />Oh, incidentally, Ross Kemp is an actor rather than a journalist, would you believe...</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jabba </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20465" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20465" id="comment-20465" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">glad your safe</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20465"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />glad your safe in the middle of Afgah, all by yourself. I can see your line or reasoning better now. Its amazng how hospitality is a world wide value when we are dependent and in need. No, not always practiced, but at least not overt hostility when one is associated with power and strength. God speed and watch over your.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Peter in MN </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20467" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20467" id="comment-20467" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thanks to the Brits</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20467"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />I am sorry that your time has ended with the British. What great friends they are to us Yanks. While we all have our little spats, we're going to support each other when things get tough. Your reporting has shed light into the quality of the men and women serving Britain and for that we all owe you a big thank you. Stay safe and pass alone a big ol' Semper Fi to the Marines you're going to be with. Prayers all around! <br><br /><br><br />Cris Yarborough (aka: AmericanJarhead) <br><br />www.americanjarhead.com <br><br />americanjarhead AT gmail DOT com</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AmericanJarhead (Cris) </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20468" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20468" id="comment-20468" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">One more thing...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20468"><font size="2">I note from you pictures and all the other pictures I've seen of Afghanistan that it is a beautiful country. If only peace prevailed there and there were no land mines... They would be a top destination for hikers, skiers, nature lovers... If there's really so many millions of mines and ordinance laying around even if peace came, it'll be hundreds of years before the Afghans could take advantage of their beautiful land. :-(</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AmericanJarhead (Cris) </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20469" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20469" id="comment-20469" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Come with me into Macedonia</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20469"><font size="2">Michael says above: "onsider accepting my challenge." It's not the first time it's been offered. <br><br />“I am not, fellow citizens, one who believes that no advice may be given to leaders; nay rather I judge him to be not a sage, but haughty, who conducts evCommanders should be counselled chiefly by persons of known talent, by those who have made the art of war their particular study, and whose knowledge is derived from experience, by those who are present at the scene of action, who see the enemy, who see the advantages that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked in the same ship, are sharers of the danger. <br><br />If, therefore, anyone thinks himself qualified to give advice respecting the war which I am about to conduct, let him not refuse his assistance to the state, but let him come with me into Macedonia. <br><br />[to the Roman Senate, 169 BC, General Lucius Aemilius Paulus, surnamed Macedonicus, Roman general and patrician, c. 229-160 B.C.]</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Rosser </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20470" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20470" id="comment-20470" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Lies.</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20470"><font size="2">... There is NO enemy. This is not a war.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">unknown </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20471" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20471" id="comment-20471" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">9/11 was an inside job</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20471"><font size="2">Nano-thermite was found in the world trade center dust: <br><br /><br><br />[url removed by webmaster] <br><br /><br><br />Study your mathematics, physics, chemistry, and most importantly learn your history. <br><br /><br><br /><br><br />Post your ad hominem below....</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Revolutionist </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20472" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20472" id="comment-20472" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Wow</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20472"><font size="2">Absolutely amazing imafges! <br><br /><br><br />RT <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20474" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20474" id="comment-20474" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">nice story</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20474"><font size="2">i still have dreams of travelling to afghanistan one day. i hope your work inspires others to find a way to peace there.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">simon </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20475" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20475" id="comment-20475" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">First class photo-journalism</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20475"><font size="2">Mike, keep up the good work. I'm blogging a link to this article as I think it needs to be spread around. The quality of the images you've got is just superb. I'm an aspiring documentary maker, and in no way a still photographer, but I'm inspired by this. Stay safe, and safe travels to all the lads and lasses serving in Afghan.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20476" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20476" id="comment-20476" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20476"><font size="2">Very well written and amazing pictures... I will repost this article on my twitter/facebook for you. Keep up the amazing work!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jason </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20477" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20477" id="comment-20477" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Idiots @ Home = Enemy Advantage!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20477"><font size="2">I amazed at the loons that come here and make asinine comments such as Revolutionist and UNK. It is indicative of the common level of ignorance and stupidity that has resulted in much of the present lunacy coming from the White House and Congress. This variety of ignorance is why the US is slowly dwindling into a third world economy while our soldiers try to keep a well funded and well armed jihad rabble at bay in a desolate land far from home and hearth. Yet we have morons like the previously mentioned commentators running around with lies on their lips and hatred of America in their hearts. Very sad commentary on the state of our great nation and the world!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Tommy </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20479" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20479" id="comment-20479" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Trackbacked / Linked</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20479"><font size="2">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 09/05/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/09/from-front-09052009.html</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David M </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20480" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20480" id="comment-20480" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">No, Mr. Jones did not find thermite</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20480"><font size="2">No, Mr. Jones did not find thermite. He found sulfur: <br><br /><br><br />http://www.debunking911.com/thermite.htm <br><br /><br><br />Please keep your tinfoil hat 9/11 conspiracy theories out of here. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">9/11 Conspiracy Debunker </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20481" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20481" id="comment-20481" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">participant human race</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20481"><font size="2">The images of conflict seldom convey the true sentiment the words employed to describe the carnage never embody the essence of combat. Those who have never seen felt or engaged will never know and can afford to proclaim self rightous indignation further find fault in those who embrace their convictions and go forth to assist those who cannot themselves. Mine was an unpopular war as they all are and I lost many things but never my beliefs and respect for those with me. I salute the lions and wish them godspeed</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">wohakozasapa </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20482" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20482" id="comment-20482" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">This isn't the Place for Tin Foil Hats</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20482"><font size="2">unkown, you're a coward for not stating your name. Same with Revolutionist. Go to an appropriate place to spout your tripe. Hie ye! <br><br /><br><br />Mike, great job as usual. Hopefully the Marines will give you some leeway since you've got Gate's ear, he's a fine man. Good luck with them, they think they're better than SOF LOL. But they're good guys, and saved my hubby's life. Do them proud and best of luck.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">casstx2 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20483" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20483" id="comment-20483" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Forgot a Photo?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20483"><font size="2">Where is the Photo of the Reason of this War: Bin Laden. <br><br />The Great Organizer of 9/11. <br><br />The man who triggered all this disasters. The only responsible. <br><br />The Great Excuse. <br><br /><br><br />WHERE IS THE PHOTO? <br><br /><br><br />DaveX</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">DaveX </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20484" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20484" id="comment-20484" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Fantastic pics</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20484"><font size="2">Very happy to hear of possible embed with USMC, stay safe out there, you are our link to what is really going on. Loved your comment that the Generals don't have a problem with inability to get a flight but that the Colonels become quite intolerant. My husband is a Colonel in the Army Reserves and went to Iraq a year ago. When it was time to leave they could not get a flight out of their small combat support hospital. Tempers were flaring, planes came regularly but said they had no room to fly them to Kuwait, even though their replacements were fully up to speed and running the medical facility completely. Finally (they had been packed and ready with all gear lined up ready to load for a week), a transport plane arrived and my husband told his soldiers to get on board and not get off, he then told the pilots they were not deplaning...they got out that day. <br><br /><br><br />I guess it is still going on with the Marines, waiting for food, mail, supplies or a ride on a helicopter to get to an assignment. You can sit for days. <br><br /><br><br />Keep faith in the goodness of mankind but don't take your eye off of the Helmand folks. <br><br /><br><br />Mom to Graham</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Christin </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20485" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20485" id="comment-20485" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Re: Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20485"><font size="2">Had the Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman been constructed in the United States, the ACLU would have sued the US government to have it removed, just as they've done with the Mojave Desert Cross. Keep up the good work Michael. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Arthur </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20486" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20486" id="comment-20486" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Job well done!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20486"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Another great report. Thanks for taking the time to let the rest of us know what a great job the Brits are doing over there. Good job complaining for them as well. Maybe the jokers that revoked your embed will read this post and fix some of the things that need fixing for these guys. Great job as always. The folks back home in England should be very proud of these soliders. God Speed! <br><br />David</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20487" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20487" id="comment-20487" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Another Excellent Report</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20487"><font size="2">Thanks Michael for the as-usual excellent report. Can't wait to read your report on the USAF Pedros. For everyone else -- hit the tip jar -- as we say in Chicago, early and often!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jmurphy </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20490" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20490" id="comment-20490" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">You can't keep a good man down!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20490"><font size="2">I think it's pretty cool that Van Jones hasn't let his resignation get him down, and is apparently a fan of Michael Yon to boot! Just curious, which poster he actually is, "unknown" or "Revolutionist"? Or both?</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">JohnC </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20491" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20491" id="comment-20491" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">OpSec</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20491"><font size="2">Blackwater wrote: "... muslims who were radicalized ... and went off to Afghanistan and Pakistan to play jihad." <br><br /><br><br />BW - if you think the Afghan and Pakistan locals who have been fighting us for years are going to listen to the ideas of inexperienced believers from a foreign land ... then you don't know how fighters think. I think Yon is the best judge of what info is safe to post because he's out there with the troops. He is not going to endanger them or himself. What he will endanger is the continuing coverup by military and civilian politicians who don't want us to know what's really going on.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">6x6x4 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20492" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20492" id="comment-20492" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank You</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20492"><font size="2">Thank you Michael for doing the work the so-called professional journalists won't do and, indeed, are probably not capable of doing. Most of what passes for US media are too busy talking about each other and preparing for the next worship session for Obama to be bothered with the Long War and the troops fighting it. Tragic that the UK soldiers are under a government with no sense of honor, that gives you the bum's rush while sending a mass murderer first class to Libya.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Pat </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20493" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20493" id="comment-20493" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Hey</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20493"><font size="2">Hey, I find this all very interesting, and it gives me a much better perspective on the war. My dad (Jay Stevens) talks about you alot, and all the missions you've been on. I love reading all of these, along with the pictures, cause its almost as if you can close your eyes and kind of imagine what its like over there. (Excluding of course all the bombs and gun fire and crazy taliban trying to shoot you, also not to forget crazy dogs : P ) So yea, my dad just posted me the link to the site so I could read more and i just wanted to say Thank you. This coming from a 14 year old, trying to understand the true sacrifice that you and your fellow marines have to make everyday. Thank you Michael, for keeping us updated <br><br />Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less <br><br />-Robert E. Lee <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Garrett S. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20494" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20494" id="comment-20494" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Michael, should we get out?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20494"><font size="2">Michael, in your honest assessment, should we stop this build up and get out of Afghanistan. I know its probably not that simple but can you share with me what your opinion is. Do we stay and increase the fighting dramatically while waging a paralell war for hearts and minds, are we at just the righ tlevel, or do we haul ass and bring the troops home to fight another day. I don't hear these questions posed and answered anywhere but here. what do you think? I have family in the mix and I want to know what the right answer is. I greatly appreciate you for your work and valor. And I support the dispatches on a frequent basis. Those soldiers are tits!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">GG </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 08, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20495" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20495" id="comment-20495" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">9/11 Fanatics Need to Own up to Racism</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20495"><font size="2">I'm sick and tired of 9/11. It was a sad ordeal but not really worthy of remembering let alone dropping everything we do each year just to pay homage. Only 1000-3000 people died, the wild fires kill more, the katrina flooding killed way more. It's such a small incident that means way too much to people. <br><br /><br><br />It speaks volumes about the people who hold on to this - because they should be so happy that they were fortunate enough that this is the greatest or worst hazard they'll see. One thing that annoys me is that people still don't realize or want to admit how racist they were following the incident. The level of racism and support for out-right attacks across Asia and Africa were disgusting. Blogs, Forums, and even public discourse on anytown USA street were ripe with comments about 'killing all the pakis', 'nuking Asia', or destroy the entire middle east. Understandably fueled by anger and ignorance over world geography we can tolerate some of it, but in the grander scheme - two nations have been destroyed just to satiate these ignorant folks anger. <br><br /><br><br />An entire country (Afghanistan) lays in ruins, while another (Iraq) is in tatters and the hopes for rebuilding are shady at best. What's worse is that people are willing to admit Iraq was a mistake but they still stand strong that Afghanistan had to be done for revenge. When people finally come to their senses and realize that an entire nation and it's innocent populous were decimated just for the whims and fancies of a few Americans who felt slighted and (incorrectly) threatened . <br><br /><br><br /><br><br />On 9/11 I mourn for the victims of the retaliation, not for the victims themselves (who should be mourned by their families and friends). May god have mercy on all those who called for blood be it Christian, Muslim, Jew or Buddhist.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Johnny </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 09, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20497" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20497" id="comment-20497" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">911 Survivor Will Remember the Fallen and Fighters over there</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20497"><font size="2">Thanks Michael <br><br />Another great report !! At the 9/11 memorial in NYC for Fire Marshal / WO1 SF Ron Bucca I will ask for a prayer for those fighting for our safety. Thanks Britts for doing a bang up job over there. Ron may have been the first military casualty in this war and he new it was coming. <br><br />God Bless too all and a safe home <br><br />Mike</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Truckie117 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 09, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20498" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20498" id="comment-20498" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Battle Dress Uniforms..</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20498"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />I continue to value your reporting and pop in just about every day to seek updates on our brave fighting men and women. <br><br /><br><br />The comment about not supplying correct uniforms for the environment is a little harsh to be honest. In my experience the infantry soldier will wear what HE feels approprate to the environment as long as his commander allows it - sensible ones do - and this is why there is a mis-match in patterns that is seen. <br><br /><br><br />No one pattern does if perfectly and its better to break up your outline as much as possible in any way you can. <br><br /><br><br />Even the US doesn't equip its troops with the uniforms you refer to as standard! Since when does the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) actually match any environment (its grey digital blocks!). Nore does the USMC's own Desert MarPAT fit the Greenzone! Trouble is the USMC commanders are less likely to allow their troops to mix Desert and Temperate versions. <br><br /><br><br />The version you refer to I assume is Multicam...but unfortunately it is neither CHEAP or available in the quantities needed (Crye, who make it, would throw a fit if they had to produce the quantity needed!). <br><br /><br><br />So a little harsh Michael. Sure the troopers would love Multicam but with the US Army recently acknowledging the fact that ACU is wholly ineffective (finally) its likely they'll be the ones looking back to good old fashioned Tri-Color. <br><br /><br><br />Anyway, I am VERY glad you're be with the USMC and hopefully far safer for it than going alone. Particularly as we hear today that a British reporter has had to be freed by force...with the loss of both his interpreter AND a British soldier in the operation. <br><br /><br><br />Remember that if you had gone it alone, you may have been risking not only your life but those of the troops who might come to get you. <br><br /><br><br />Keep safe, keep reporting <br><br /><br><br />AP</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Andrew</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 09, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><div id="pc_20499" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20499" id="comment-20499" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">The Webmester Should...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20499"><font size="2">I think the webmaster here should be authorized to remove comments which are troll-ish and negative unless accompanied by real names and contact information. If somebody has a beef with Michael's story or the war, fine, post it and we'll read and respect it, but the hogwash (my dad's favorite word) that is posted anonymously is worthless for their cause and worthless as informed debate. Just my two cents.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AmericanJarhead (Cris) </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">September 09, 2009</span></font></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" size="2"><font size="1"><br><br /></font></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><a name="comments" id="comments" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></span><br><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><i><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></i> </b></font><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br></b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br></b></font></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b>Please support this mission by making a <a id="sm_j" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br></b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><br></b></font></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b>To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="g_3q" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div></div></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-992982425274992902009-09-06T17:19:00.001-05:002009-09-06T17:19:10.540-05:00Come On and Shake Your Tail Feathers!<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">Owls - Come on and Shake Your Tail Feathers!</h1><h2 style="text-align: center;">Part III of a Series</h2><h4 style="text-align: center;"> A Group of Owls is Called a <i>Parliamen</i><i>t</i></h4><div><br></div><img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/v/p/vpr104/owl_parts.gif" border="0" style="width: 481px; height: 458px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><b><u><font size="3">Contour Feathers</font></u></b><b><font size="3"> - </font></b><font size="2">cover the body, wing (remiges) and tail (rectrices)</font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><b><u><font size="3"><br></font></u></b></font></div><div>Feathers! Oh those lovely feathers! How many feathers can a bird possibly have? Reportedly, the low count, <b>contour feathers only</b>, would be on a hummingbird which is 940. The highest count would be on a Tundra Swan, counted very patiently at 25,216, contour feathers only. Of these, 80% were on the head and neck. Hopefully there aren't any birds sitting around counting the number of hairs we have on our heads. (Note: Contour feathers are what you see when you look at a bird - the "outer shell" of the bird's feather coat.)</div><div><br></div><img src="http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biodiversity/birds/images/pics/featherstypes.jpg" align="right" height="432" width="247"><div>Did you know there are feather muscles? These specialized muscles are located beneath the surface of the skin around the follicle and helps to position the feather. There are also muscle sheets beneath the skin that act with the individual feather muscles to coordinate movement of the feathers within a tract.</div><div><br></div><div>The large flight feathers on the wings are called remiges, and the tail feathers are called rectrices. Remiges provide lift and propulsion and are attached firmly to the bones of the wing, either directly or indirectly via ligaments. The rectrices are connected to one another by ligaments, with only the innermost attaching directly to the tail bone via ligaments.</div><div><br></div><div>The outermost remiges are called the primaries. The primaries are attached to the skeleton of the "hand." Birds commonly have between 9 and 12 well developed primaries, which are strong and flexible.</div><div><br></div><div>Projecting rearward from the forearm of the bird wing is another row of remiges that are called the secondaries. Flapping and soaring flight are achieved by the secondaries which provide lift and function like the fixed wing of an airplane. Secondaries can range from 8 to 32 in number, depending on the bird.</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial"><div id="watch-vid-title" class="title longform" style="margin-right: 320px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><h1 style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"><font size="5"><b><font size="4">Frostie Dancing To Shake Your Tail Feather! Bird Loves Ray Charles!</font></b></font></h1></div><div class="clearL" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent"></div><div id="watch-this-vid" class="yt-rounded" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent; float: left"></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="1"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0bt9xBuGWgw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0bt9xBuGWgw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></font></span></div><br><div>Ah, the tail feathers. There's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on there, isn't there? That's because the tail feathers are one of the major flight feathers in most birds and they are called the rectrices. Just like when you are out on the dance floor shakin' your tail feathers, they are needed for stability and control. Maybe you don't use them in flight like birds do, but they are important none the less. You can't be all unstable and out of control out on the dance floor, and birds can't be all unstable and out of control in the air.</div><div><br></div><div>Covert operations: no, don't start getting all political on me here. I'm talking coverts, which are the rows of feathers bordering and overlying the remiges and rectrices on both the upper and lower sides. These are the feathers that provide insulation, color, and pattern on the wing surface and contribute to the streamlined shape of the wing and tail. Streamlining greatly reduces the energy needed to fly, just like on aircraft.</div><div><br></div><div><b><u><font size="3">Bristles</font></u></b> - are small feathers with a stiff shaft and barbs only on the base, or often not at all. Bristles occur most commonly around the base of the bill, around the eyes, and as eyelashes.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:JtQt-obBGRGV_M:http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Birds/feather-semiplume.jpg" style="border:1px solid;" width="111" height="114"><span style="font-family: Arial"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3"><u>Semiplumes</u></font></span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3"> - function to fill in between contour and </font></span><span class="IL_SPAN"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3">down feathers</font></span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3">.</font></span></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><div><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><u>Filoplumes</u> -</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> are hairlike feathers that consist of a very fine shaft with a few short barbs at the end. They are typically covered by other feathers, and may function as pressure and vibration receptors - they sense the location of other feathers so they can be adjusted properly.</span></font></span></div><div><br></div><div><b><u><font size="3">Down Feathers</font></u></b> - these soft and fluffy feathers trap air and create a layer of insulation next to the bird's body.</div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="3"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br></font></font></font></div></font></font></div><div>Ok, here is something you might really be interested in. Did you know that now only can birds shake their tail feathers, but they really, really know how to GET DOWN? I mean they really get down! And they not only get down but they get BODY DOWN! Oh! My! But they don't get down the way you all get down. They grow it.</div><div><br></div><div>Down feathers, those marvelous insulators, include body downs and natal downs. Body downs are the downs of adult birds and are most common in water birds. You've seen a mess of crazy ducks having a grand time in water you wouldn't dream of swimming in because it's so cold, haven't you? Ducks aren't dumb, they wouldn't go with without an insulated wet suit on. The reason their legs and webbed feet don't get cold will be in another post, that's pretty cool, too!</div><div><br></div><div>Natal downs are only around the time of hatching and are prominent on newly hatched chickens and ducklings, giving them their soft, fluffy look. Not all birds have natal down. In fact, "naked as a jay bird" is quite correct. Blue Jays, and most passerines (song birds), don't have natal downs. The less natal down a baby bird has, the more easily and quickly it can be warmed by it's parent. Chicks that leave their nests quickly (chickens, ducks), or remain in the nest for weeks at a time (hawks, owls) usually have a covering of down.</div><div><br></div><div>Powder downs are another form of down but it is not entirely understood. Imagine that? Our scientists haven't figured everything out yet! Powder downs are never molted. The grow continually and disintegrate at their tips to produce a fine powder, similar to talcum powder. It's thought that powder downs help with waterproofing and prevent staining of the feathers and are only found in certain taxonomic groups like herons and pigeons. And they can be clustered in groups on the body, or spread out among the body downs.</div><div><br></div><div>What the hell, Cathi? What's all this have to do with owls? We know owls have feathers!</div><div><br></div><div>Yeah, yeah, y'all know everything, I see. Well then, I'm sure you know that owls have silent flight. They are the B-2 Stealth Bombers of the animal world. Ok, smarties, if you know that, then can you tell me why? Can you tell me anything about the pile on the dorsal surfaces of inner vanes? Ha! Didn't think so!</div><br><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiekSGUzebtTtYjmXVicNQWYUkfThyphenhyphenTnzH-amD9PR61tf6mu4XDY5NIRnJMlzf1aQpSO8Z3jj3DTHzjhaHjhspplZhRZuLiBxBzJbMRnDmKBjVW6hOetT-4fiNlq1qS6o3dHam5kw4wm5s/s400/How+Owl+feathers+work.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284497603499168226" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" border="0"><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The most unique adaptation of owl feathers is the comb-like or fimbriate (fringe-like) leading edge of the primary wing feathers referred to as "</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">flutings</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" or "</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">fimbriae</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">". With a normal bird</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in flight, air rushes over the surface of the wing</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, creating turbulence, which makes a gushing noise. With an owl's wing, the comb-like feather edge breaks down the turbulence into little groups called micro-turbulences. This effectively muffles the sound of the air rushing over </span></font><span class="IL_SPAN"><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the wing</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> surface and allows </span></font><span class="IL_SPAN"><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the owl</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to fly silently. There is also an alternate theory that the flutings actually shift the sound energy created by the wingbeats to a higher frequency spectrum, where most creatures (including prey and humans) cannot hear.</span></font></div><div><b><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(180, 167, 214);"><br></span></font></b></div><div><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Most owls have relatively large, rounded wings. The wings are broad, with a large surface area relative to the weight</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> of the </span></font><span class="IL_SPAN"><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">bird</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> i.e. a low wing loading. This allows them to fly buoyantly and effortlessly, without too much flapping and loss of energy</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. They can glide easily and fly slowly for long periods of time. Many </span></font><span class="IL_SPAN"><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">species</span></font></span><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> use this slow flight to hunt ground-dwelling prey from the air.</span></font></div><div><br></div><div>Other areas on the owls' wings and legs are covered with velvety down feathers that also absorb sound frequencies above 2,000 hertz. All of this makes owls completely silent to their prey.</div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial"><br></font></div><div>Below is a picture of a Barred Owl feather on the left and a Mourning Dove on the right. Do you see the <font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">comb-like or fimbriate (fringe-like) leading edge of the primary wing feathers referred to as "</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">flutings</span></font><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">" or "</span></font><b><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)"><span style="font-weight: normal;">fimbria</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">e</span></span></font></b><font size="2"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255)">"? This is what NASA researchers have been looking at to incorporate owl-feather-inspired technology to dampen sound in aircraft. Engineers are trying to come up with a design that does not create extra drag when aircraft have reached cruising speeds and altitude. Major airports like O'Hare and Heathrow have requirements on the amount of noise per day an air carrier can generate. If they can reduce the noise, there can be more flights coming in per day. It is hoped that these ideas will get an airplane quiet within 20 years and even more quiet within 20-50 years.</span></font></div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://www.people.eku.edu/ritchisong/554images/Barred_owl_feather.jpg" style="width: 320px; height: 157.101px"><img src="http://whozoo.org/ZooPax/feather12.JPG" hspace="10" vspace="10" style="width: 160px; height: 241.404px; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px"><div style="text-align: left"><br></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><div><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><b>Afghanistan Owls</b></span></font><div><div><table width="100%" border="2"><tbody><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Otus brucei</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Pallid Scops-Owl</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Otus scops</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Common Scops-Owl</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Bubo bubo</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Eurasian Eagle-Owl</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Strix aluco</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Tawny Owl</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Athene noctua</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Little Owl</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Athene brama</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Spotted Owlet</span></span></font></td></tr><tr valign="top" style="text-align: left"><td width="204" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Asio flammeus</span></span></font></td><td width="338" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)">Short-eared Owl<br><br></span></span></font></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p></span></div><div><br></div><div><div></div><div><h2 style="text-align: center;">Spotted owlet</h2><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:u-Hke0m6hhWRJM:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/440580089_59ba86455c.jpg%3Fv%3D0" style="border-color: initial; width: 130px; height: 104px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><img src="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:Hou6dHbegbNSkM:http://www.birding.in/images/Birds/rajiv/spotted_owlet.jpg" style="border-color: initial; width: 143px; height: 107px; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px"><h4 style="text-align: center;">Athene brama</h4><div><br><br><br><br><br><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Small squat owl, grey (gray) brown above with white spots, pale below with dark barring. Facial disk bordered with white and with white “eyebrows”. Yellow eyes.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">19-21cm/7 1/2"-8 1/4", 110-120g/3.88 oz - 4.23 oz.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">S Asia from Iran across the Indian sub-continent (except Sri Lanka) to Vietnam.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Open or semi-open country including semi-deserts, cultivated areas and mangroves.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Mainly invertebrates, also rodents and small birds and lizards.</font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><br></div><div><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">November -April depending on region. Nests in cavities in trees, walls, buildings etc. 2-3 eggs, incubated for 28-33 days. Young fledge at about 32 days and remain with parents for a further 3 weeks.</font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><br></div><div><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Plaintive double whistle, “plew plew”.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Not globally threatened and tolerates human activity. dramatically in recent years.<br><br></font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><table summary="Owls of the World" width="650" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="leaf zeroBorder" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 398px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><tbody class="t" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 255)"><tr style="text-align: left"><td style="vertical-align: top"><font size="2">Despite being locally very common and often living close to human habitation, relatively little is known about this owl.</font></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left"></tr></tbody></table><br></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="1"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iKER8teyKnc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iKER8teyKnc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></font></span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a id="xdqw" href="http://www.nature.org/initiatives/programs/birds/features/" target="_blank" title="Nature Conservancy">Owls of Harry Potter</a></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-14075136276288439012009-09-02T10:36:00.003-05:002009-09-02T10:36:43.466-05:00Precision Voting<span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3"><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51)">Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos intent on keeping the outside world on the outside. Should we be there? Should any of us be there? Is Obama's Afghanistan continuing on its track of becoming an endless war? You tell me.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"> ~Cathi<br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333">* * * * *</font></div><div><br></div>Greetings,<br><br>I'll definitely miss being out with British combat troops. Great soldiers who can always count on the support of at least one writer. The British <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_1">Ministry of Defense</span>, however, needs a tune up.<br><br>Am back with U.S. forces and did three missions <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_2">on Sunday</span>. More on that as time unfolds. <br><br>American and British forces are working closely together here. The U.S./U.K. relationship in Helmand is extremely good. (Presumably elsewhere, too, but I do not know.) My first mission yesterday was with a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_3">U.S. Air Force helicopter rescue</span> team to pick up a British casualty. The British people at home should know that our helicopters will get their men and women off the battlefields and back to the hospital in less than an hour, no matter what.<br><br>Please see today's dispatch, wherein a British soldier who was watching out for me gets his <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_4">antenna shot off.</span></u> <br><br>-- <br>Very Respectfully,<br><br><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_5" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br></font></font></div>* * * * *<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><h2 class="contentheading" style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font size="5"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/precision-voting.htm" class="contentpagetitle" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none !important">Precision Voting</a></font></h2><div class="article-tools" style="float: left; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236)"><div class="article-meta" style="float: left"></div></div><div class="article-content"><br><div id="toolbar-articlebody"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-45-47a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>31 August 2009</b><br>Helmand Province, Afghanistan</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The historical Afghan elections scheduled for 20 August were days away. While the west mostly continued to vote for Afghanistan, the big question was, “Will Afghanistan vote for itself?”</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The latest media wave splashed into the main voting centers in places like Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat and Lashkar Gah. The larger cities only account for perhaps 20% of the Afghan population. Whereas the easy and obvious stories are in the cities, a crucial and larger dimension—the other 80%—would unfold in the boonies. Most Afghans would have no chance to vote.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image003_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image003lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The election was to be run by Afghans. In theory and in practice this would be a recipe for disaster. The strategic thinkers cannot be faulted for this; after nearly eight years of war, if the west were still running the elections, the elections and government would be a failure to begin with. By comparison, the Iraqi elections on 30 January 2005 (less than two years after invasion) were run mostly by Iraqis. In the voting of October and December of that same year, Iraqis had two more runs at the ballots, which were increasingly successful. Afghanistan, however, is different. This would be only the second election in history.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are no good choices here. Either we run the elections and the central government and in doing so undermine the same central government we are investing in, or we allow that central government to run the elections and probably watch it undermine itself. But who knows?</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image005_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image005lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We need more troops. The leadership tells us that the Taliban and associated groups control only small parts of the country. Yet enemy influence is growing, and so far, despite that we have made progress on some fronts, our own influence is diminishing. For example, an excellent British infantry unit that I embedded with in Iraq and now Afghanistan, the “2 Rifles,” is staked out in the “Green Zone” around the Helmand River. HQ for 2 Rifles is at FOB Jackson near the center of the map above. There are several satellite FOBs and Patrol Bases, each of which is essentially cut off from the outside world other than by helicopter or major ground resupply efforts (which only take place about once a month). The latest ground resupply effort from Camp Bastion resulted in much fighting. The troops up at Kajaki Dam are surrounded by the enemy, which has dug itself into actual “FLETs.” FLET is military-speak for “Forward Line of Enemy Troops.” In other words, the enemy is not hiding, but they are in trenches, bunkers and fighting positions that extend into depth. The enemy owns the terrain.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The British are protecting Kajaki Dam but otherwise it’s just a big fight and no progress is being made. The turbine <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/where-eagles-dare.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>delivery to the dam</u></a>, which I wrote about last year, was a tremendous success. Efforts to get the turbine online have been an equally tremendous failure. Bottom line: the project to restore the electrical capacity from Kajaki Dam is failing and likely will require multi-national intervention to bring it online and to push back the enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We need more helicopters. Enemy control of the terrain is so complete in the area between Sangin and Kajaki that when my embed was to switch from FOB Jackson to FOB Inkerman—only seven kilometers (about four miles) away—we could not walk or drive from Jackson to Inkerman. Routes are deemed too dangerous. Helicopter lift was required. The helicopter shortage is causing crippling delays in troop movements. It’s common to see a soldier waiting ten days for a simple flight. When my embed was to move the four miles from Jackson to Inkerman, a scheduled helicopter picked me up at Jackson and flew probably eighty miles to places like Lashkar Gah, and finally set down at Camp Bastion. The helicopter journey from Jackson began on 12 August and ended at Inkerman on the 17th. About five days was spent—along with many thousands of dollars in helicopter time—to travel four miles. Even Generals can have difficulty scheduling flights. Interestingly, when I talk with the folks who reserve helicopter space, they say the Generals are generally easy-going about the lack of a seat, but that Colonels often become irate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image009_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image009lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A helicopter finally was heading from Camp Bastion to FOB Inkerman, which is cut off from its own headquarters at FOB Jackson only four miles away. The war and fighting can vary dramatically around Afghanistan. In Sangin, the enemy uses mostly fertilizer bombs, which, along with normal leave schedules, has rapidly attrited the battalion to the point that replacements have been sent. Conversely, four miles away at Inkerman, it’s still mostly a gunfight, though the use of bombs is increasing. Inkerman sits on the desert side of “highway” 611 that goes from Highway 1 (the “Ring Road”) to Kajaki. The 611 marks the border between the deadly Green Zone and the desert. The road is almost completely controlled by the enemy. Only tiny patches of the 611 are under serious NATO/ISAF influence. Some will take issue with this statement; if they claim to be in control, they should readily accept the challenge to drive in an unarmored car in those areas they claim to control.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">To help avoid being shot down, the helicopter approaches Inkerman from the desert side. (In fact, two days later on the 19th, a similar helicopter was shot down near here.) The Afghan road system is the human equivalent of ant trails. After thousands of years of living here, the Afghans have not cracked the code on road building. Many people will say that geography has been cruel to the Afghans, and that the mountainous, landlocked terrain is the problem. Yet this does not explain away the success of landlocked, mountainous countries such as Austria and Switzerland, nor does access to the sea guarantee anything more than saltwater. The meek have inherited this plot of earth because the strong don’t want it enough to take it.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Where liquid water can be found, so too can Afghans.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-52acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some people point back to the “good-old days” in Afghanistan, when hippies could smoke hash and swim naked in the streams. The good old days in Afghanistan did not leave much evidence of progress in the form of roads, architecture or written history.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-02acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The stories of foreign invaders do not explain away the great walls built around nearly every home and every mind. The problem is not the terrain. The problem is not that Americans and others supported the Mujahadin when they fought the Soviets. The problem is not the artificial boundaries penciled in by the British all over Asia and the Middle East. The people are backwards and many want to that way. You can fly over a compound in the desert, miles from the next compound, and still it will have walls. Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image019_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image019lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the pilot brought the helicopter to the yellow pin called FOB Inkerman, an Afghan man had parked his car just near the front of the base on the 611. He took out a shovel and began digging, hidden by his car, he thought, at a spot where a bomb had recently detonated. A British soldier fired a warning shot and the man drove away. An Apache helicopter eventually attacked the car out in the desert. There he was, just within direct view of Inkerman, digging in a bomb. This is typical of the larger situation.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-11-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Helicopter landing site at FOB Inkerman.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-29-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 395.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Two platoons are stationed at Inkerman; meaning only one platoon at a time can leave the base. Using one platoon to cover this area is like trying to water a football pitch with a drop of water. The enemy fights just outside the base, even planting IEDs in view of the guard towers. On my first morning at Inkerman, one of the platoons was outside the wire in the corn. They came across tripwires and other booby traps. The enemy was so close that soldiers could hear the enemies’ own radios crackling nearby in the corn. A firefight ensued. Machine guns and mortars were fired. The white smoke is a screen launched by the mortars to help the infantry platoon break contact. There are too few troops to fix the enemy and prosecute attacks.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-31-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Cleaning the mortar tubes after the fire mission.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-35-53acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 406.027px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Restacking unfired mortar bombs.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-36-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The platoon comes back to base. Amazingly, despite the dire situation, British morale is high. My respect for the men and women here only grows by the day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-36-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers keep streaming in from the mission. The Pentagon and British MoD spin lies (though I have found Secretary Gates talks straight), but veins of pure truth can be found right here with these soldiers. The Pentagon and MoD as a whole cannot be trusted because they are the average of their parts. There are individual officers and NCOs among the U.S. and U.K. who have always been blunt and honest with me. Among the higher ranking, Petraeus and Mellinger come to mind, but for day-to-day realities this is where it’s at. Out here. Nothing coming from Kabul, London, or Washington should be trusted.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-07acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A recent controversy was stirred in the U.K. by my photos of British soldiers in the GZ (Green Zone) wearing brown uniforms. There is some truth to the controversy, but in fairness to the British MoD, only part of the battles take place in the GZ. Much of the fighting takes place in the deserts. Even individual missions often alternate between the Green Zone and the Brown Zone, and so neither green nor brown is perfect. The British SAS and American special operations forces are using camouflage that is more suitable for both environments. It would cost very little to outfit these soldiers in better camouflage.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-38acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">These men and women will never get the credit they deserve.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-39acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The women are medics, and they brave the combat just like the infantry soldiers. But again, they will never get the credit they deserve, and so we joked that they should just let people think they spent the entire tour at Camp Bastion. Who would believe that they were out there in the thick of it. On this day, an Afghan man showed one of these medics a rash on his arms, but the medic carried no such medicines out into the fighting. When medic Evans said she had no medicine, a young man picked up a big stone and was preparing to hit her. Rhian instantly pointed the rifle at the man who put down the rock.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-42acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Still streaming in.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-38-03acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Another day in the war.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-38-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Finally they are all in the gate and nobody is shot or blown up this time, and I say a quiet <i>thank you</i> for bringing them back in one piece.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-55-44acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After each mission soldiers drop gear and go immediately into a debriefing to discuss what has occurred. They discuss things that were done well, things that were done not so well, and there is discussion about how to improve before the next fight. They talk about the performance of the enemy and any good moves or bad tactics used by the enemy. They talk about any gear that may have failed or performed well.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-48-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers knew they were doing well and I knew it because they invited me on more missions than I could possibly go on while still being able to write.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-52-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 429.863px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some things could have been done better—always the case even among the most experienced soldiers—so the soldiers talked it through, and after it was over they headed back to re-issue new ammo, clean weapons, recharge batteries for various gear, and prep for combat on a moment’s notice.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-00-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">About three hours after the firefight, an Afghan man was brought to FOB Inkerman with the note above. The note was signed with the name Dr. Haji A. Baqi, who the British said is a doctor for the Taliban. (Not necessarily a “Taliban doctor,” but someone who definitely treats Taliban.) The Brits said that Dr. Baqi gets medical supplies from the ICRC. The referral says the patient was “SHOUTED BY GUN,” and judging by the small bullet hole it might well have been a British gun.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Normally, a correspondent would not be permitted to publish photos of a captured enemy (while embedded with British or U.S. forces), but this guy was not captured and he was not being detained. He was not officially deemed the “enemy,” despite that his hands were soft and he likely was hit during that firefight.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-07-47-22acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The medical team: Nikole Cunningham, Rhian Evans, Jonathan Richards, Daniel Yeoman, all led by Dr. Gabriel Shaya, going to work on the suspected Taliban. His only real problem seems to be bullet hole (entry and exit) in the abdomen. Luckily for him, he seems to have been hit by the same bullets used in American and British assault rifles (5.56mm), which lack the power to make the definitive hits caused by more powerful weapons. The man was alert throughout.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya tries to find a vein, but ends up drilling into the guy’s right tibia to deliver fluids. This is Dr. Shaya’s first combat deployment. On August 2nd the monthly convoy was moving up from Camp Bastion to resupply bases that no longer see fresh apples, fresh milk, or fresh anything. The convoy had been harassed along the way and the enemy already knows the expected convoy routine, so they were busy with ambushes. When the convoy passed by FOB Inkerman, Captain Shaya was on QRF (Quick Reaction Force) duty. A nearby IED strike caused a casualty just near the base. Captain Shaya loaded up with only two other soldiers into the Pinzgauer vehicle. Darkness was falling when the total of three soldiers launched out of Inkerman and Dr. Shaya thought it was exciting to be on his first mission, but he also knew the dangers, having worked for three weeks at the Camp Bastion trauma center. Shaya was sitting in the back and realized that if the Pinzgauer got hit with an IED, he might break his neck on the partial ceiling, so he shifted to sit under the open space. He began to ready his gear to accept the casualty, when about five minutes into his first mission, BOOM!, the front of the vehicle apparently hit a pressure plate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The explosion did not seem loud to Dr. Shaya. Dust and smoke filled the darkening air as the vehicle came to a stop, and part of the truck fell onto Shaya. His arms and legs were still attached but due to a partition he could not see either man in the front. He shouted to them and they both responded and both were wounded. The easiest, quickest way to the front was to crawl out the back and open the driver and passenger doors, but there might be IEDs because the enemy often plants bombs in clusters. Dr. Shaya did not want to walk on the road until it had been cleared. They were alone in the dark. He didn’t even want to turn on his red flashlight. He could climb over the top but did not want to be an obvious target, so he shouted to the front use the radio to call for help. The truck had no radio.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya climbed over top to the front, but didn’t want to turn on his light. Soon he saw a dim light approaching from down the road and he felt anxious. As the light grew closer and closer the anxiety increased, and it came closer still until he saw it was the company Sergeant Major and some soldiers. The anxiety evaporated into profound relief. The soldiers opened the doors and Dr. Shaya saw that the driver’s lower right leg was gone, while the dashboard had crushed in on the passenger who was in great pain. The driver was trapped by the steering while, and while soldiers tried to pull him out, Dr. Shaya, now between the driver and the passenger, tried to lift up the steering wheel and finally they got him out to a stretcher where Dr. Shaya had to screw into his tibia to administer fluids. Dr. Shaya thought the driver was losing his will, and so he gave a pep talk and tried to keep him in the fight. The other patient was screaming as he was pulled from the vehicle. He was a large man and difficult to move, and continued to scream with pain as he was put onto a stretcher and the IV was inserted. Three morphine doses later he was still in great pain due to a severely fractured femur, and as they drove in another vehicle back to base he screamed on the bumpy road. Dr. Shaya was painfully honest with his recounting, saying that during the stress of his first combat, he had forgotten his weapon and medical bag on the damaged vehicle. He was upset with himself that he could not administer more because of that oversight. “The journey back seemed to take an eternity,” he said. The British MERT helicopter was circling in the darkness overhead and when it landed at Inkerman, he ran off, helping with the stretcher, when he should have been preserving his strength for other casualties.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya told me that when he returned to the medical tent, “When I got back, I was shattered (exhausted) and shaken.” He began to pack another medical kit in case he had to crash out the gate on his second mission, yet now soldiers were arriving for treatment after the initial blast that wounded the first soldier, and only when all of that was done could Dr. Shaya relax, and begin to feel the pain from his own throbbing, bleeding elbow.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Combat is the cruelest teacher. Dr. Shaya, who makes no pretense of being a combat soldier, had been five minutes into his first mission when suddenly he was alone in the dark with two seriously wounded men.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-07-57-07acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya treating the suspected Taliban. Maybe this was the guy who blew up the vehicle.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-01-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Soldiers examine the referral note, signed with the name Dr. Haji A. Baqi, wherein the suspected doctor of the Taliban describes symptoms.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-00-15acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Backside of the referral note.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-24-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war." title="Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The 129th ERQS (Emergency Rescue Squadron), flying a pair of HH-60G Pavehawks, launched from Camp Bastion to retrieve the suspected Taliban who was deemed a “Cat A” casualty. Category A means the patient requires immediate evacuation. Total flight distance (given the route) from Bastion to Inkerman back to Bastion would be about 100 miles.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Among the British combat soldiers in Afghanistan, Pedro is the only thing more popular than mail. When friendly forces are in need, Pedro will come anywhere, anytime, during any weather, and their helicopters have gotten the bulletholes to prove it. The United States Air Force runs the only rescue service that will always be there, no matter what, no matter that there is no moon for flying, or the dust is too heavy for everyone else, or you are in a firefight. American Army helicopters in Afghanistan fly with the red cross on the side. Flying with that symbol makes it illegal for our people to carry weapons. The decision seems ridiculous; the enemy will only use the red cross for an aim point. While the Army flies armed with a red cross, Pedro flies with miniguns. and they bring some of the most highly qualified medics in the entire U.S. military – which is saying a lot. They bring miniguns, and powersaws to cut soldiers out of MRAPs or other twisted hulks, and scuba gear when that becomes important when troops and gear are lost to the water. If our people can manage to get there, Pedro can manage to get them out. Pedro rescues people every single day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-21acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The lead aircraft, Pedro 35, brings two pilots, a gunner, a rescue officer, a flight engineer, and two PJs (elite “rescue specialists”; these men are a story unto themselves).</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When Pedro 35 landed at FOB Inkerman, the two PJs along with the rescue officer, Captain Dave Depiazza received the patient while British soldiers brought the suspected Taliban toward Pedro. The PJs like to meet the ground troops outside to make sure the patient is properly categorized, assessed, and loaded. One challenge with some ground troops is that they will rush the helicopter during a “brownout” and start to load the patient feet first (or headfirst), when the PJs might need the patient the other way; the PJs want the head near the lifesaving airway equipment, and since helicopters vary in configuration, the PJs need to take control early to save seconds. They want to spend no more than 30 seconds on a hot landing zone; the aircraft do take hits but they have been lucky so far. (A Pedro from Kandahar Airfield was shot down in July. Luckily all survived and kept doing missions, but the helicopter was ultimately destroyed during a recovery mission that went awry.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sometimes Pedro 36 comes in first, but this time Pedro 36 flies top cover while Pedro 35 loads the patient.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-41acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Pedro 36 racetracks low watching for ground threats. The door gunners can—and often do—return lethal fire in a couple seconds.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-26-50acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Pedro 36 roars low and then both disappear and head back to Camp Bastion. When the Pedro 35 landed near the Bastion trauma hospital, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman happened to be visiting the hospital as the PJs helped unload the suspected Taliban. (Just the day before, when I had spent some hours with the Pedros before heading back out with British infantry, one of these same PJs said he would clean the operations center for a week if he could meet McCain. I said to him, “Fat chance you’ll get to meet with McCain,” and so imagine the PJ’s surprise when he carried the suspected Taliban into the hospital and accidentally ran into Senators McCain and Lieberman, and shook their hands.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-16-31-10-LAB-C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 283.562px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The war is a busy place and far too much happens out there than can possibly be explained. Suffice that later that night, a platoon launched on a mission to raid several compounds. I was invited on the mission on 18 August but did not go due to the usual writing-crunch and impending elections, and so during breaks I sat in the ops center and listened to the radio calls. The raids unfolded and after half a night; the soldiers brought back six suspects, one of whom had run from the soldiers and urinated on his hands to remove explosives residue. The terrain had been rough and the night was dark and so two soldiers busted their ankles.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Major Ian Moodie, commander of B Coy 2 Rifles, guaranteed me that in the morning there would be a gaggle of locals, including elders, who would arrive to demand release of the prisoners. Major Moodie said this problem is exacerbated by the helicopter shortage; if he could get the prisoners extracted as soon as they were captured, he would be able to say that the prisoners had already been moved and there was nothing he could do, but already in the past he had decided to release prisoners to cool tensions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later in the day of 19 August, locals arrived to demand release of the six. All were released except for one, who was finally picked up by a helicopter on the evening of the 19th, the day before the latest historical Afghan elections wherein Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai had reached the showdown to decide who would become the President of one of the most primitive countries on earth, but one that probably gets more international press and attention than Japan and Germany combined.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-14-42-33acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 370.685px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the helicopter lifted off with the prisoner, the JTAC who talked the helicopter in said to me that “Axle” Foley, another JTAC four miles away in Sangin, was about to call in a bomb from a B1. The fighting had begun and it was not even election day. Taliban in the area were threatening people to stay in their compounds and not vote.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-06-22-30-(2)acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the afternoon of the 19th, before our election-day mission on the 20th, “Snowy” meticulously cleaned every speck of dust off his weapon. He disassembled the magazines, cleaned the springs, and individually cleaned each bullet.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-06-59-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Snowy then counted every last bullet—twice—and I joked that if his weapon failed the next day, cleaning would not be the issue. The weapon was ready, it seemed.... Meanwhile, my BGAN satellite communications gear was malfunctioning on the evening before the election. Hours would be wasted before it was ascertained the satellite gear was officially broken. Murphy’s Law was in effect for all guns and gadgets. I’ve come to a remote base and can report what others are not seeing, and the crucial link was broken at the crucial moment.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">At about 2245 a rocket banged and zoomed overhead but missed the base and exploded seconds later somewhere out in the darkness. Orange illumination rounds drifted down nearby and in the far distance, some casting long, flickering shadows. Radio chatter at the ops room said that an SAS (British special forces) helicopter had been shot down north of us and one troop was wounded, and that the enemy was moving toward the crash site which was still occupied by British soldiers. I headed to bed because the mission on election day was likely to include serious fighting. The alarm was set for 0330, but by midnight there had not been time to get a wink. Just after midnight, having seen no less than 10 meteors streak through the darkness above, sleep came. The alarm sounded and I pulled out of the cot, already dressed for the mission, and pulled on the boots in the dark. Sometime around 0400, there was a distant thud as the helicopter that had been shot down was destroyed. (An officer later said that two bombs were used, but I heard only one.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-04-50a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">By 0436, the soldiers were ready to launch on the mission and there was time for a few images on this historic day in the middle of nowhere.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-07-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers had erected a memorial for lost comrades.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-41-55accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 386.301px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Metal detectors and other gear were tested.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-44-34accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 378.082px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">It was time.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-48-30accCV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission began.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-55-57accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 386.301px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Suspected bombs were marked along the way. Dozens of them. The metal could be anything from an old bullet to a nail. For years, the enemy has seen us with the metal detectors and so are making bombs with LMC (low metal content).</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-07-07aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 348.493px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers on point with the metal detectors have an incredibly dangerous job. They must watch for all sorts of ambushes, high and low. The enemy uses command wires, pressure pads, trip wires and radio-controlled devices. Some people say the enemy bombs are cowardly, as if we are in a gentlemen’s duel. Others might say IEDs are no more cowardly than our using B-1Bs and A-10s.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-08-39aR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 391.233px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Election day begins.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-13-06a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Our mission was to move to an over-watch position to prevent Taliban from harassing voters on their way to Sangin. Most people in Afghanistan would not have a chance to vote even if there were no Taliban. British officers told me that between here and Kajaki, for instance, there were no polling stations.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-24-19aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.055px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fatal funnel: the enemy often plants bombs in walls, or simply throws grenades over top.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-32-41accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 350.137px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Often after ground has been “cleared,” soldiers far down the line get blown to pieces.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-35-17acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 360px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Open areas make us less predictable for IED strikes, but now we are extremely vulnerable to machine-gun, RPG fire and other weapons such as B10 rockets. Luckily they are terrible shots with mortars.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-47-16ACCR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 361.644px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">If we get ambushed, the only cover is accurate return fire, but the enemy of course tries to hide their firing positions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-01-29accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 358.356px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Nobody from either side was dead yet. Not here, anyway.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-18-27acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We reached our objective; an occupied compound that British forces had used three times before and this boy was waiting. Afghans often stand with an arm behind their back, or they walk up and down steep mountains in the same fashion.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-20-33aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 395.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Nearby compound with a possible IED at the corner.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-22-08a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Several sections occupy different compounds giving us better arcs for mutual fire support.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-32-26aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The opium had already been harvested and the poppy bulbs were hard and dry. How many bulbs does it take to buy one bullet? The drug dealers are getting rich, and so a strong central government is a natural enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-37-49accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 409.315px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we occupy his home, this Afghan boy plays like he is killing us with a rifle and then wants to see his photo.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-49-40acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The man of the house says he is worried that on our fourth stay, the Taliban will think he is collaborating and will kill him. Asked if he will vote, he says no, and that nobody in this area will vote because the Taliban will kill them.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-49-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Climbing around these compounds takes its toll. One can only imagine how many bones are broken. Often, the entrances of the compounds are laced with explosives, so the soldiers blow a “mouse hole” through a wall, or use ladders to scale, and so the enemy now places booby traps atop walls. Again, some people will say it is a “security violation” to say that the enemy places bombs atop walls, as if the enemy doesn’t know that the enemy has placed bombs atop the walls. People will say it’s a security violation to say that we use ladders to climb walls, when every day countless thousands of Afghans see us with ladders. We’ve been fighting this war for nearly eight years. The enemy knows we listen to radios, cell phones, and just about anything else we do. It’s the people at home who do not know. The enemy has learned our tactics and psychology.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/koppetchells/Etchells.jpg" border="0"></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Joseph Etchells had been killed nearby almost exactly a month ago, on 19 July. <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-kopp-etchells-effect.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>“The Kopp-Etchells Effect”</u></a> dispatch was written partially in Joe’s memory. Several times, the events of Joseph’s loss were recounted to me, in clear hopes that important details would be told. I said not to worry, it will be told. The missing details were that soldiers had complained about not having enough ladders to scale walls to avoid dangerous compound entrances. During a mission the soldiers needed to get over a wall but were without a ladder, and so Joseph Etchells volunteered to go through the entrance, where he stepped on a pressure plate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-50-42aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The compound we occupied on election day was littered, partially with batteries. Soldiers do not throw away old batteries, but collect them in boxes because the enemy digs through trash to collect batteries to make bombs, but just as often something like this is benign.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-50-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Afghans in this area typically live with their animals.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-54-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Many believe that the Pashtun people are one of the lost tribes of Israel. If true, some Taliban might actually be descended from Jews, which would be one of the most severe ironies of humanity. Some branches go off and earn Nobel Prizes and unravel the secrets of the universe while advancing humanity by leaps and bounds, while another turns malignant and doesn’t know how to build a road.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-55-46a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The FST (Fire Support Team) goes into position over-watching a road leading to Sangin. The mission is to prevent any roving bands of Taliban from interrupting voters traveling to Sangin.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-04-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The family keeps two myna birds whose wings have been clipped, and the Hazra interpreter tells me the birds can talk. I tell him that birds of similar appearance, also called myna, are sold in America. “What if the bird says, ‘I love Mullah Omar.’” I asked the interpreter. “Then we must shoot it!” he answered.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-13-49acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The heat increases and the soldiers wait.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-14-31accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The first customers arrive. Maybe they are a probe.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-15-08accRV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 393.699px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The men are searched. If others were planning to come down the road on this day, none do.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-20-24accCV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 330.411px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A radio call said there was an IED strike nearby, in the area of Patrol Base Wishtan, which would be on or in the area of Pharmacy Road (the subject of the latest dispatch<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/bad-medicine.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>“Bad Medicine.”</u></a>)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later we learned that two soldiers were killed at Wishtan: Sergeant Paul McAleese, 29, and Private Jonathan Young, who was 18.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to the BBC:</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They were killed while on a routine foot patrol near the town of Sangin, in Helmand province, on Thursday. Their families have been informed.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Their deaths bring the total number in Afghanistan since 2001 to 206.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lt Col Nick Richardson, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "It is with deep regret that we report the deaths of two soldiers in Helmand Province.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"Our deepest heartfelt thoughts and sympathies go out to the bereaved family, friends and comrades of these brave soldiers."</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The MoD said the deaths were not connected to Thursday's presidential elections in Afghanistan.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Every mission here on the 20th was connected to the elections. The idea that the losses were not connected to the elections seems off, not that it would make a difference to the fallen. Yet the slights and spins, often for no apparent reason (even if not the case here), undermines the messengers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-19-00accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 393.699px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There would be much fighting around Afghanistan this day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-22-41a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.986px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Men were watching us and roving around at a distance of about 900 meters. Sniper Keiran Jones is told to fire a warning shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-23-08a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting was kicking up in the distance, and FOB Inkerman was starting to get attacked. Out in Sangin the fighting would last all day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-25-54acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Rifleman Keiran Jones keeps his eye on the target while rolling the foam earplugs. The man watching us is wearing a white dishdasha and a white turban.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-25-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM! Keiran Jones launches a bullet from the .338 rifle, which cracks just a few feet away from the “dicker.” (Watcher.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-36-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 394.521px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Another FST member has already recorded coordinates for targets and is ready to start a fire mission using mortars or the 105mm howitzers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Rifleman Keirnan on the scope. The snipers would fire about half a dozen times this day, and not all were warning shots.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Steady…</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-43a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM. Dust fills the air and reflects off the morning sun.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-56acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Re-chamber.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-40-52acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Steady…</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-40-57a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM. More dust.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-41-02acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The snipers are cleared to kill a man, the same one who has been watching us, as he peeks his turbaned head around a corner about 900m away. The shot is difficult because Keiran is in a tough and painful position to shoot from. I joke that they need to do “sniper yoga” and Jones replies with a chuckle, “No shit. It’s a stress position.” Both snipers stayed in positions that were agonizing for their legs and backs. There were no good places to get a relaxed shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-45-29accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Keiran Jones aimed for the man’s head and BAM! The supersonic bullet that could kill an elephant raced toward the target.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-50-04a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Keiran was very upset, thinking he may have missed, though others thought he might have hit the man. The shot would have been an easy shot if Kerian were prone, but the muscle stress in the growing heat was adding up.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-52-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The snipers stayed for hours up in that sun, sometimes taking alternating breaks, but they were in competition to get the enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-52-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Like dueling banjos.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-54-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I sat in between them for about 20-30 minutes and all three of us were aching from the positions, though my position was far easier and shaded by one of the snipers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-58-47acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They stayed at it.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-04-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Jones, drenched in sweat, takes a micro-break.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-04-43acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting continued in the distance over in Sangin. We saw bombs drop and the mortars and howitzers were firing dozens and dozens of rounds, while the Apaches were hammering away with their cannons, and launching about 30 rockets through the day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image216_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image216lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The compound and our soon-to-be ambush spot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-40-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">CPT Ed Addington keeps an eye out. We could hear firefights but other than the snipers peeling off some shots, we were not in contact.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-27-23a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We were not trying to hide. The Brits wanted everyone to know we were there.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-38-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A jet drops a bomb in the Green Zone.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-07-38-03acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Down inside the compound, soldiers began to try to compress themselves into any sliver of shade but the shade kept shrinking. Though we had occupied the compound, soldiers respected the house by staying outside.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-12-48a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The dog looked thirsty but when I tried to give him water, he launched out like the Killer Rabbit on Monthy Python. If not for the rope around his neck, there might have been a death match. The dog seemed completely insane, as if he had been attending al Qaeda seminars. The soldiers couldn’t believe that five minutes later, little Cujo was still viciously growling. I slid the water close enough but by several hours later he still never took a sip.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-15-00a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Medic Nikole Cunningham goes into firefights in the middle of bomb-laced country. Nikole said her family thinks she never goes on missions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-15-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 402.74px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The family was long gone, but two boys came back and fed their grandfather (apparently) who was very old and stayed with us.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-25-23a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The plan was to stay all day, but we were told that by late afternoon, only 245 ballots were cast. And so it was decided that we should head back before dark, which would make it easier for us to avoid IEDs, but more difficult to avoid ambushes from machine guns and RPGs. No matter what you do. . . .</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-33-41acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Everybody expected an ambush. The enemy had had most of the day to cook up something.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-38-40a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Off we went, down the middle, taking chances with the machine guns, RPGs and other rockets, but avoiding the more likely IEDs for the first leg.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-40-11a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Taliban is in complete and uncontested control of the nearby power station. We don’t even have enough soldiers to take and hold the power station, and so the enemy controls the on/off switch, and they charge locals for power. While we generate electricity up at Kajaki, the Taliban makes money off it. It’s no wonder why the Taliban laugh at the idea of negotiating.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-40-13a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The thought went through my head, “If I were the enemy, I would ambush us right. . . . ” <i>ZIP, SNAP, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!</i></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Their machine-gun fire was accurate and we all dove to the ground.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-41-10a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>ZIPT! SNAP SNAP!</i> Some bullets hit between this soldier and me.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-41-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There’s Snowy, who had cleaned his weapon with surgical care. He had wiped down every bullet and every millimeter of the magazines. His weapon was working just fine. For now.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-42-18a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 397.808px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sapper Cameron Baldry starts to get up, and I think, <i>“Why is he getting up?”</i> Bullets were snapping by.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-43-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers often complain that when they hit the dirt, some of the bulky radio frequency gear they carry gets in the way of their helmets. When soldiers are down in the dirt they cannot aim their weapons because their faces are stuck in the ground. So Baldry rolled into a sitting position to return fire.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-44-25a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Meanwhile behind me, Snowy’s weapon began to malfunction.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I was making video when a soldier fired a Javelin missile which impacted close to the nearest compound.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-07a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 338.63px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This is where untrained fighters usually crack and run away in a jumble. British soldiers, however, are well-trained. While some provided covering fire, others peeled off in an organized fashion.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-25a-NO-circle730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 298.356px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">At this point another Javelin was launched and can barely be seen in this photo.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-27C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 297.534px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Impact: I’d never seen a Javelin explode like that. Usually they are like gigantic hand grenades, but this one looked like a bomb from a jet.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-28R-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 327.945px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">What in the world did he hit?</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-29C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 325.479px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A fireball gathered and left a mushroom cloud.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-31C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 335.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">None of us knew what had been hit, but of course there was speculation that the Javelin had found ammunition or bomb-making material. Maybe a tractor, I thought.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-51-11a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We went to a nearby compound that was empty and I stayed low near the front thinking this was the real ambush and that a cluster of bombs was about to kill half of us.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-54-22a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A soldier dropped his pants to see where he had been hit. Apparently a bullet had sent a rock into his thigh. The fire truly was accurate. We truly were lucky that several of us did not get hit. Meanwhile, other soldiers were checking ammo levels and doing redistribution as needed. After every firefight, the Brits (and Americans) check for wounds, redistribute ammo, and check critical gear. Two or three British soldiers asked if I was okay. Meanwhile, leaders would consult maps, develop SA and figure out what they want to do next. It cannot be stressed enough to check your buddies for wounds. Soldiers have often died because in the adrenalin rush and cascade of survival juices, or sometimes simply because they are still fighting, troops don’t realize they are badly wounded, and so they bleed out and die.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Being just a writer, it’s not my domain to intrude, but after every drama I closely watch their uniforms and hands for blood. All the soldiers are well trained, but some are still just teenagers and so you start to feel responsible for the younger ones, especially.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-55-09a-730.jpg" border="0" alt="'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'" title="'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sapper Cameron Baldry, a twenty-three-year-old soldier from 2 Troop, 11 Field SQN of the 38 Engineer Regiment, pointed at me exclaiming something like, “Did you see those bullets hitting between us! They were striking right between us!” I chuckled, saying yes, it was close, and those guys are good shots but we got lucky. Baldry’s antenna had been shot off but he didn’t get shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-39-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 421.644px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We headed back to FOB Inkerman, avoiding many markers for potential IEDs.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-39-50a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Aircraft could still be heard, and there was fighting in the distance.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-41-15a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Marker.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-42-06a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Marker.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image256.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting continues to our left, but it’s in the far distance. To our right about a thousand meters away someone is using a signal mirror, probably tracking our movements.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-19-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The heat and the weight cause some soldiers to pause, and finally we are back on base and somehow got away with no fatalities or even injuries.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There is no telling how much ammo was fired by 2 Rifles elements in Sangin, Wishtan and elsewhere, but the soldiers from Inkerman fired at least 1,100 rounds of 5.56 (rifle and link), 800x 7.62mm, 3x Javelin, 133x 81mm mortar, 172x 105mm howitzer. The Apaches fired about 500x 30mm, 28x flechette rockets and a Hellfire. Someone dropped 2x 500lb bombs and a British Tornado strafed, while American A-10s and Belgian F-16s also joined up.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Too much was going on to keep up, and in fact the base had been hit while we’d been gone, destroying someone’s sleeping space. Soldiers on base had identified at least one firing point and kept eyes on, and we got back just about the time I saw John Loughday and Simon Wagstaff trying to kill someone with a Javelin as the enemy occupied a firing position with what soldiers identified as a B10 rocket laucher. The first Javelin failed, and so they grabbed another and launched. With six seconds of flight time to that target, the single enemy saw the messenger coming his way. Instead of praying he made a run and I heard the explosion. The men radioed down from the tower, “Hello Two Zero this is crow’s nest. Good strike one enemy dead.”</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The day kept going but a man can only record so much. My sat-gear was broken and so there was no way to file a detailed account of the election day, which in this area was a failure.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-21-at-06-02-42-(1)accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 369.041px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The next morning, on the 21st, ten men showed up to the FOB to talk about the generator that he said had been hit by the Javelin missle during the ambush yesterday. The soldiers had previously been to his compound and confirmed that he had a nice generator, which now apparently was the victim of a Javelin missile and had gone out as a fiery mushroom cloud. As a heat source, it would have stood out as a nice target to lock the Javelin onto. As a side note, the man said they had gone to Sangin to vote and had voted for Karzai. Yet we had watched his compound all day and nobody had left it to travel to Sangin. Furthermore, three days later, I was present when the same platoon occupied a compound of the man wearing blue (above). On the 24th, he said he had not voted. We occupied his compound on the 24th because British soldiers thought it was being used by the enemy. Yet here he is on base on the 21st, part of the party asking for money for the blown-up generator. On the 24th he said he didn’t know any Taliban and had only been here for a month. He spontaneously said he knows that Barack Obama is the President of the United States, but when asked, did not know who Michael Jackson was. On the 21st he was on base, while on the 24th I sat with him for about an hour while we waited for the enemy to square off for a fight. (And there came another firefight.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the 21st, the elder said the generator cost about 70,000 Afghanis, or about $1,400, but the most that could be paid from this base was $300. The inanity of it all is difficult to fathom in one sitting. We were taking machine-gun fire, apparently from his compound or that area, but he had no information about the Taliban. Probably because he is Taliban. We blew up his generator and now he wanted to get paid.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-21-at-14-36-10aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 389.589px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later the evening of the 21st, soldiers held a ceremony for recently lost comrades and the next day they were right back out there in combat.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the 22nd there was business as usual. A patrol was out on the road and a man was driving toward them on a motorcycle. The daylight was fading and a warning shot was fired but the man kept coming so a soldier went lethal and shot to kill, grazing the man’s arm. The man didn’t realize at first that he had been shot, or where it had come from.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/missing-med-tent-image-acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman." title="Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As with young American soldiers, nobody seems to believe that a man cannot hear a warning shot while he’s riding his motorcyle, or that he can’t see soldiers wearing camouflage during the last rays of daylight. Despite being in countless firefights wherein we often have great difficulty identifying firing positions (such as two days earlier when machine guns were nearly hitting us), many young soldiers think that firing a warning shot is enough. We all know that snipers who are in hiding fire only one shot to avoid conveying their firing position. Warning shots mean nothing to an old man who needs glasses, who is riding a motorcyle at twilight in an area where gunshots are more common than frogs. So a small piece of flesh was stripped from his arm and the man got off light.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The world kept turning and on the 24th “Bad Medicine” was published just after midnight Eastern Standard Time, and that morning before sunrise the soldiers were going on a dangerous mission and I went along. The result was a firefight and much mortar and cannon fire using prox fuses, delay and airbursts into the enemy position. Though we had information that the enemy was trying to get us with IEDs, we escaped getting blown to pieces. When I got back to base, there was a message from British MoD that my embed had been canceled (about one month before we had agreed it would end) without warning. The message and timing were clear enough. “Bad Medicine” was published, and I was out. The soldiers at 2 Rifles were astonished. The MoD gave the reason that it was unfair to the journalists who were clammering for spots, but my sense was that MoD had created a convenient excuse that was kept in the chamber, and now they had pulled the trigger.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I responded to the MoD:</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Thank you for the message.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The precipitous decision by the MoD to cancel my embed after today's dispatch is unfortunate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The sudden reversal after today's dispatch -- apparently a publication that did not sit well with the MoD -- will cause me significant headaches. As you know, there are many balls in the air, and the MoD has effectively shoved me out of the way.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Please forward to Ltc Richardson that the message was received.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Michael<br>----</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so that was it. My last day with the British 2 Rifles had ended the same as it had ended in Iraq. In combat. I’ll miss the British soldiers. They constitute a truly professional force – if dangerously underresourced. It has been my honor to accompany them in combat. In theory I would do so again anytime, but in practice this will be the last time MoD will have a chance to cut me off in mid-flight, wasting much time and resources that should have been devoted to telling the story. Barring a guarantee from a British General Officer that something like this will never happen again, my days of covering British operations are over.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On Sunday morning, 31 August, the United States Air Force “Pedros” took me three missions. Please stand by. This is very interesting.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>I cannot operate in the war without your support. If support does not substantially increase, I will be forced to abandon war reporting in September. There has seldom been much interest in the Afghanistan war. True interest has been starkly reflected in the support for this mission. Each journey into Afghanistan, since 2006, has bled out resources from my operations. Reporting from Afghanistan is not sustainable at this rate.</b></i></u></a><i><b><br><br>Nevertheless, I continue to crack on: Please consider signing up for free Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon without the underscore), for the most timely snippets possible.</b></i></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>You can help support this mission through paypal, all major credit cards, or e-check.</b></i></u></a></font></p></blockquote></div></div></span></div>COMMENTS:<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><div id="pc_20311" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Too soft on terror</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20311"><font size="2">Treating and releasing the people that kill and wound your comrades must drive the coalition soldiers there insane. That needs to stop immediately. I bet the islamist taliban and al queda are somewhat dreading the day when coalition forces eventually leave since I doubt the Afghan military would show them similar levels of mercy.</font></div><div class="jc_clear"></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Blackwater </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 31, 2009</span></font></div></div><div class="jc_clear"></div></div><div id="pc_20312" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20312" id="comment-20312" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Red Cross and weapons</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20312"><font size="2">"American Army helicopters in Afghanistan fly with the red cross on the side. Flying with that symbol makes it illegal for our people to carry weapons." <br><br>Is this a theater specific guideline? <br><br>I am a former USAF Master Instructor and taught course sections on the Geneva Conventions and how they affect medical personnel for the Medical Red Flag course at Sheppard AFB, TX. The interpretation of the Geneva Conventions we instructed stated that US Forces medical personnel were allowed to carry small arms in order to defend themselves and their patients from hostile actions. While a medic could not legally use their weapon in an offensive manner while wearing the Red Cross, it was in no way illegal for them or their vehicles to carry weapons (rifles or pistols only) for protection. <br><br>A combat medic usually gives up their right for protection under the GC because they do not wear the Red Cross into the field for the "aim point" reason you mention. We even had an official DoD level text with the quote "The best medicine in a combat situation is application of overwhelming firepower" directed at combat medics. However medics wearing the Red Cross are not restricted from carrying weapons, they are only restricted in type of weapon and when they are allowed to use it. (Again, unless something has changed since my separation from Active Duty but that was definitely the ruling when I was instructing.)</font></div><div class="jc_clear"></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lance R. Peak </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 31, 2009</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" size="2"><font size="1"><br></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" size="2"><font size="1"><br></font></font></div></div><div class="jc_clear"></div></div></div><a name="comments" id="comments" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></span></div><br><div><div></div><div><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><font size="1"><i><b>As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</b></i></font></span> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-right: 3px; margin-left: 3px"></a></font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><br></span></font></p><font size="2"><br style="text-align: justify"><br></font><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>Please support this mission by making a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</b></span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b><br></b></span></font></p><font size="2"><br><br></font><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the<a target="_blank" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</b></span></font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#993300"><b><br></b></font></div></span></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-49700767321172636372009-09-02T10:36:00.001-05:002009-09-02T10:36:41.437-05:00Precision Voting<span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3"><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51)">Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos intent on keeping the outside world on the outside. Should we be there? Should any of us be there? Is Obama's Afghanistan continuing on its track of becoming an endless war? You tell me.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"> ~Cathi<br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#333333">* * * * *</font></div><div><br></div>Greetings,<br><br>I'll definitely miss being out with British combat troops. Great soldiers who can always count on the support of at least one writer. The British <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_1">Ministry of Defense</span>, however, needs a tune up.<br><br>Am back with U.S. forces and did three missions <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_2">on Sunday</span>. More on that as time unfolds. <br><br>American and British forces are working closely together here. The U.S./U.K. relationship in Helmand is extremely good. (Presumably elsewhere, too, but I do not know.) My first mission yesterday was with a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_3">U.S. Air Force helicopter rescue</span> team to pick up a British casualty. The British people at home should know that our helicopters will get their men and women off the battlefields and back to the hospital in less than an hour, no matter what.<br><br>Please see today's dispatch, wherein a British soldier who was watching out for me gets his <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_4">antenna shot off.</span></u> <br><br>-- <br>Very Respectfully,<br><br><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251722542_5" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br></font></span><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="4"><font size="3"><br></font></font></div>* * * * *<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><h2 class="contentheading" style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font size="5"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/precision-voting.htm" class="contentpagetitle" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none !important">Precision Voting</a></font></h2><div class="article-tools" style="float: left; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236)"><div class="article-meta" style="float: left"></div></div><div class="article-content"><br><div id="toolbar-articlebody"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-45-47a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>31 August 2009</b><br>Helmand Province, Afghanistan</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The historical Afghan elections scheduled for 20 August were days away. While the west mostly continued to vote for Afghanistan, the big question was, “Will Afghanistan vote for itself?”</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The latest media wave splashed into the main voting centers in places like Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat and Lashkar Gah. The larger cities only account for perhaps 20% of the Afghan population. Whereas the easy and obvious stories are in the cities, a crucial and larger dimension—the other 80%—would unfold in the boonies. Most Afghans would have no chance to vote.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image003_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image003lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The election was to be run by Afghans. In theory and in practice this would be a recipe for disaster. The strategic thinkers cannot be faulted for this; after nearly eight years of war, if the west were still running the elections, the elections and government would be a failure to begin with. By comparison, the Iraqi elections on 30 January 2005 (less than two years after invasion) were run mostly by Iraqis. In the voting of October and December of that same year, Iraqis had two more runs at the ballots, which were increasingly successful. Afghanistan, however, is different. This would be only the second election in history.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There are no good choices here. Either we run the elections and the central government and in doing so undermine the same central government we are investing in, or we allow that central government to run the elections and probably watch it undermine itself. But who knows?</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image005_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image005lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We need more troops. The leadership tells us that the Taliban and associated groups control only small parts of the country. Yet enemy influence is growing, and so far, despite that we have made progress on some fronts, our own influence is diminishing. For example, an excellent British infantry unit that I embedded with in Iraq and now Afghanistan, the “2 Rifles,” is staked out in the “Green Zone” around the Helmand River. HQ for 2 Rifles is at FOB Jackson near the center of the map above. There are several satellite FOBs and Patrol Bases, each of which is essentially cut off from the outside world other than by helicopter or major ground resupply efforts (which only take place about once a month). The latest ground resupply effort from Camp Bastion resulted in much fighting. The troops up at Kajaki Dam are surrounded by the enemy, which has dug itself into actual “FLETs.” FLET is military-speak for “Forward Line of Enemy Troops.” In other words, the enemy is not hiding, but they are in trenches, bunkers and fighting positions that extend into depth. The enemy owns the terrain.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The British are protecting Kajaki Dam but otherwise it’s just a big fight and no progress is being made. The turbine <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/where-eagles-dare.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>delivery to the dam</u></a>, which I wrote about last year, was a tremendous success. Efforts to get the turbine online have been an equally tremendous failure. Bottom line: the project to restore the electrical capacity from Kajaki Dam is failing and likely will require multi-national intervention to bring it online and to push back the enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We need more helicopters. Enemy control of the terrain is so complete in the area between Sangin and Kajaki that when my embed was to switch from FOB Jackson to FOB Inkerman—only seven kilometers (about four miles) away—we could not walk or drive from Jackson to Inkerman. Routes are deemed too dangerous. Helicopter lift was required. The helicopter shortage is causing crippling delays in troop movements. It’s common to see a soldier waiting ten days for a simple flight. When my embed was to move the four miles from Jackson to Inkerman, a scheduled helicopter picked me up at Jackson and flew probably eighty miles to places like Lashkar Gah, and finally set down at Camp Bastion. The helicopter journey from Jackson began on 12 August and ended at Inkerman on the 17th. About five days was spent—along with many thousands of dollars in helicopter time—to travel four miles. Even Generals can have difficulty scheduling flights. Interestingly, when I talk with the folks who reserve helicopter space, they say the Generals are generally easy-going about the lack of a seat, but that Colonels often become irate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image009_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image009lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A helicopter finally was heading from Camp Bastion to FOB Inkerman, which is cut off from its own headquarters at FOB Jackson only four miles away. The war and fighting can vary dramatically around Afghanistan. In Sangin, the enemy uses mostly fertilizer bombs, which, along with normal leave schedules, has rapidly attrited the battalion to the point that replacements have been sent. Conversely, four miles away at Inkerman, it’s still mostly a gunfight, though the use of bombs is increasing. Inkerman sits on the desert side of “highway” 611 that goes from Highway 1 (the “Ring Road”) to Kajaki. The 611 marks the border between the deadly Green Zone and the desert. The road is almost completely controlled by the enemy. Only tiny patches of the 611 are under serious NATO/ISAF influence. Some will take issue with this statement; if they claim to be in control, they should readily accept the challenge to drive in an unarmored car in those areas they claim to control.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">To help avoid being shot down, the helicopter approaches Inkerman from the desert side. (In fact, two days later on the 19th, a similar helicopter was shot down near here.) The Afghan road system is the human equivalent of ant trails. After thousands of years of living here, the Afghans have not cracked the code on road building. Many people will say that geography has been cruel to the Afghans, and that the mountainous, landlocked terrain is the problem. Yet this does not explain away the success of landlocked, mountainous countries such as Austria and Switzerland, nor does access to the sea guarantee anything more than saltwater. The meek have inherited this plot of earth because the strong don’t want it enough to take it.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Where liquid water can be found, so too can Afghans.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-52acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some people point back to the “good-old days” in Afghanistan, when hippies could smoke hash and swim naked in the streams. The good old days in Afghanistan did not leave much evidence of progress in the form of roads, architecture or written history.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-09-02acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The stories of foreign invaders do not explain away the great walls built around nearly every home and every mind. The problem is not the terrain. The problem is not that Americans and others supported the Mujahadin when they fought the Soviets. The problem is not the artificial boundaries penciled in by the British all over Asia and the Middle East. The people are backwards and many want to that way. You can fly over a compound in the desert, miles from the next compound, and still it will have walls. Afghanistan is the land of a million Alamos.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image019_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image019lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the pilot brought the helicopter to the yellow pin called FOB Inkerman, an Afghan man had parked his car just near the front of the base on the 611. He took out a shovel and began digging, hidden by his car, he thought, at a spot where a bomb had recently detonated. A British soldier fired a warning shot and the man drove away. An Apache helicopter eventually attacked the car out in the desert. There he was, just within direct view of Inkerman, digging in a bomb. This is typical of the larger situation.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-17-at-12-11-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Helicopter landing site at FOB Inkerman.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-29-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 395.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Two platoons are stationed at Inkerman; meaning only one platoon at a time can leave the base. Using one platoon to cover this area is like trying to water a football pitch with a drop of water. The enemy fights just outside the base, even planting IEDs in view of the guard towers. On my first morning at Inkerman, one of the platoons was outside the wire in the corn. They came across tripwires and other booby traps. The enemy was so close that soldiers could hear the enemies’ own radios crackling nearby in the corn. A firefight ensued. Machine guns and mortars were fired. The white smoke is a screen launched by the mortars to help the infantry platoon break contact. There are too few troops to fix the enemy and prosecute attacks.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-31-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Cleaning the mortar tubes after the fire mission.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-35-53acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 406.027px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Restacking unfired mortar bombs.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-36-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The platoon comes back to base. Amazingly, despite the dire situation, British morale is high. My respect for the men and women here only grows by the day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-36-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers keep streaming in from the mission. The Pentagon and British MoD spin lies (though I have found Secretary Gates talks straight), but veins of pure truth can be found right here with these soldiers. The Pentagon and MoD as a whole cannot be trusted because they are the average of their parts. There are individual officers and NCOs among the U.S. and U.K. who have always been blunt and honest with me. Among the higher ranking, Petraeus and Mellinger come to mind, but for day-to-day realities this is where it’s at. Out here. Nothing coming from Kabul, London, or Washington should be trusted.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-07acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A recent controversy was stirred in the U.K. by my photos of British soldiers in the GZ (Green Zone) wearing brown uniforms. There is some truth to the controversy, but in fairness to the British MoD, only part of the battles take place in the GZ. Much of the fighting takes place in the deserts. Even individual missions often alternate between the Green Zone and the Brown Zone, and so neither green nor brown is perfect. The British SAS and American special operations forces are using camouflage that is more suitable for both environments. It would cost very little to outfit these soldiers in better camouflage.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-38acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">These men and women will never get the credit they deserve.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-39acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The women are medics, and they brave the combat just like the infantry soldiers. But again, they will never get the credit they deserve, and so we joked that they should just let people think they spent the entire tour at Camp Bastion. Who would believe that they were out there in the thick of it. On this day, an Afghan man showed one of these medics a rash on his arms, but the medic carried no such medicines out into the fighting. When medic Evans said she had no medicine, a young man picked up a big stone and was preparing to hit her. Rhian instantly pointed the rifle at the man who put down the rock.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-37-42acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Still streaming in.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-38-03acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Another day in the war.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-38-20acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Finally they are all in the gate and nobody is shot or blown up this time, and I say a quiet <i>thank you</i> for bringing them back in one piece.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-55-44acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After each mission soldiers drop gear and go immediately into a debriefing to discuss what has occurred. They discuss things that were done well, things that were done not so well, and there is discussion about how to improve before the next fight. They talk about the performance of the enemy and any good moves or bad tactics used by the enemy. They talk about any gear that may have failed or performed well.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-48-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers knew they were doing well and I knew it because they invited me on more missions than I could possibly go on while still being able to write.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-04-52-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 429.863px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some things could have been done better—always the case even among the most experienced soldiers—so the soldiers talked it through, and after it was over they headed back to re-issue new ammo, clean weapons, recharge batteries for various gear, and prep for combat on a moment’s notice.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-00-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">About three hours after the firefight, an Afghan man was brought to FOB Inkerman with the note above. The note was signed with the name Dr. Haji A. Baqi, who the British said is a doctor for the Taliban. (Not necessarily a “Taliban doctor,” but someone who definitely treats Taliban.) The Brits said that Dr. Baqi gets medical supplies from the ICRC. The referral says the patient was “SHOUTED BY GUN,” and judging by the small bullet hole it might well have been a British gun.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Normally, a correspondent would not be permitted to publish photos of a captured enemy (while embedded with British or U.S. forces), but this guy was not captured and he was not being detained. He was not officially deemed the “enemy,” despite that his hands were soft and he likely was hit during that firefight.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-07-47-22acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The medical team: Nikole Cunningham, Rhian Evans, Jonathan Richards, Daniel Yeoman, all led by Dr. Gabriel Shaya, going to work on the suspected Taliban. His only real problem seems to be bullet hole (entry and exit) in the abdomen. Luckily for him, he seems to have been hit by the same bullets used in American and British assault rifles (5.56mm), which lack the power to make the definitive hits caused by more powerful weapons. The man was alert throughout.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya tries to find a vein, but ends up drilling into the guy’s right tibia to deliver fluids. This is Dr. Shaya’s first combat deployment. On August 2nd the monthly convoy was moving up from Camp Bastion to resupply bases that no longer see fresh apples, fresh milk, or fresh anything. The convoy had been harassed along the way and the enemy already knows the expected convoy routine, so they were busy with ambushes. When the convoy passed by FOB Inkerman, Captain Shaya was on QRF (Quick Reaction Force) duty. A nearby IED strike caused a casualty just near the base. Captain Shaya loaded up with only two other soldiers into the Pinzgauer vehicle. Darkness was falling when the total of three soldiers launched out of Inkerman and Dr. Shaya thought it was exciting to be on his first mission, but he also knew the dangers, having worked for three weeks at the Camp Bastion trauma center. Shaya was sitting in the back and realized that if the Pinzgauer got hit with an IED, he might break his neck on the partial ceiling, so he shifted to sit under the open space. He began to ready his gear to accept the casualty, when about five minutes into his first mission, BOOM!, the front of the vehicle apparently hit a pressure plate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The explosion did not seem loud to Dr. Shaya. Dust and smoke filled the darkening air as the vehicle came to a stop, and part of the truck fell onto Shaya. His arms and legs were still attached but due to a partition he could not see either man in the front. He shouted to them and they both responded and both were wounded. The easiest, quickest way to the front was to crawl out the back and open the driver and passenger doors, but there might be IEDs because the enemy often plants bombs in clusters. Dr. Shaya did not want to walk on the road until it had been cleared. They were alone in the dark. He didn’t even want to turn on his red flashlight. He could climb over the top but did not want to be an obvious target, so he shouted to the front use the radio to call for help. The truck had no radio.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya climbed over top to the front, but didn’t want to turn on his light. Soon he saw a dim light approaching from down the road and he felt anxious. As the light grew closer and closer the anxiety increased, and it came closer still until he saw it was the company Sergeant Major and some soldiers. The anxiety evaporated into profound relief. The soldiers opened the doors and Dr. Shaya saw that the driver’s lower right leg was gone, while the dashboard had crushed in on the passenger who was in great pain. The driver was trapped by the steering while, and while soldiers tried to pull him out, Dr. Shaya, now between the driver and the passenger, tried to lift up the steering wheel and finally they got him out to a stretcher where Dr. Shaya had to screw into his tibia to administer fluids. Dr. Shaya thought the driver was losing his will, and so he gave a pep talk and tried to keep him in the fight. The other patient was screaming as he was pulled from the vehicle. He was a large man and difficult to move, and continued to scream with pain as he was put onto a stretcher and the IV was inserted. Three morphine doses later he was still in great pain due to a severely fractured femur, and as they drove in another vehicle back to base he screamed on the bumpy road. Dr. Shaya was painfully honest with his recounting, saying that during the stress of his first combat, he had forgotten his weapon and medical bag on the damaged vehicle. He was upset with himself that he could not administer more because of that oversight. “The journey back seemed to take an eternity,” he said. The British MERT helicopter was circling in the darkness overhead and when it landed at Inkerman, he ran off, helping with the stretcher, when he should have been preserving his strength for other casualties.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya told me that when he returned to the medical tent, “When I got back, I was shattered (exhausted) and shaken.” He began to pack another medical kit in case he had to crash out the gate on his second mission, yet now soldiers were arriving for treatment after the initial blast that wounded the first soldier, and only when all of that was done could Dr. Shaya relax, and begin to feel the pain from his own throbbing, bleeding elbow.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Combat is the cruelest teacher. Dr. Shaya, who makes no pretense of being a combat soldier, had been five minutes into his first mission when suddenly he was alone in the dark with two seriously wounded men.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-07-57-07acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya treating the suspected Taliban. Maybe this was the guy who blew up the vehicle.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-01-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Soldiers examine the referral note, signed with the name Dr. Haji A. Baqi, wherein the suspected doctor of the Taliban describes symptoms.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-00-15acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Backside of the referral note.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-24-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war." title="Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Call sign 'Pedro': One of the great untold stories of this war.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The 129th ERQS (Emergency Rescue Squadron), flying a pair of HH-60G Pavehawks, launched from Camp Bastion to retrieve the suspected Taliban who was deemed a “Cat A” casualty. Category A means the patient requires immediate evacuation. Total flight distance (given the route) from Bastion to Inkerman back to Bastion would be about 100 miles.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Among the British combat soldiers in Afghanistan, Pedro is the only thing more popular than mail. When friendly forces are in need, Pedro will come anywhere, anytime, during any weather, and their helicopters have gotten the bulletholes to prove it. The United States Air Force runs the only rescue service that will always be there, no matter what, no matter that there is no moon for flying, or the dust is too heavy for everyone else, or you are in a firefight. American Army helicopters in Afghanistan fly with the red cross on the side. Flying with that symbol makes it illegal for our people to carry weapons. The decision seems ridiculous; the enemy will only use the red cross for an aim point. While the Army flies armed with a red cross, Pedro flies with miniguns. and they bring some of the most highly qualified medics in the entire U.S. military – which is saying a lot. They bring miniguns, and powersaws to cut soldiers out of MRAPs or other twisted hulks, and scuba gear when that becomes important when troops and gear are lost to the water. If our people can manage to get there, Pedro can manage to get them out. Pedro rescues people every single day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-21acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The lead aircraft, Pedro 35, brings two pilots, a gunner, a rescue officer, a flight engineer, and two PJs (elite “rescue specialists”; these men are a story unto themselves).</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When Pedro 35 landed at FOB Inkerman, the two PJs along with the rescue officer, Captain Dave Depiazza received the patient while British soldiers brought the suspected Taliban toward Pedro. The PJs like to meet the ground troops outside to make sure the patient is properly categorized, assessed, and loaded. One challenge with some ground troops is that they will rush the helicopter during a “brownout” and start to load the patient feet first (or headfirst), when the PJs might need the patient the other way; the PJs want the head near the lifesaving airway equipment, and since helicopters vary in configuration, the PJs need to take control early to save seconds. They want to spend no more than 30 seconds on a hot landing zone; the aircraft do take hits but they have been lucky so far. (A Pedro from Kandahar Airfield was shot down in July. Luckily all survived and kept doing missions, but the helicopter was ultimately destroyed during a recovery mission that went awry.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sometimes Pedro 36 comes in first, but this time Pedro 36 flies top cover while Pedro 35 loads the patient.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-25-41acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Pedro 36 racetracks low watching for ground threats. The door gunners can—and often do—return lethal fire in a couple seconds.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-08-26-50acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Pedro 36 roars low and then both disappear and head back to Camp Bastion. When the Pedro 35 landed near the Bastion trauma hospital, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman happened to be visiting the hospital as the PJs helped unload the suspected Taliban. (Just the day before, when I had spent some hours with the Pedros before heading back out with British infantry, one of these same PJs said he would clean the operations center for a week if he could meet McCain. I said to him, “Fat chance you’ll get to meet with McCain,” and so imagine the PJ’s surprise when he carried the suspected Taliban into the hospital and accidentally ran into Senators McCain and Lieberman, and shook their hands.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-18-at-16-31-10-LAB-C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 283.562px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The war is a busy place and far too much happens out there than can possibly be explained. Suffice that later that night, a platoon launched on a mission to raid several compounds. I was invited on the mission on 18 August but did not go due to the usual writing-crunch and impending elections, and so during breaks I sat in the ops center and listened to the radio calls. The raids unfolded and after half a night; the soldiers brought back six suspects, one of whom had run from the soldiers and urinated on his hands to remove explosives residue. The terrain had been rough and the night was dark and so two soldiers busted their ankles.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Major Ian Moodie, commander of B Coy 2 Rifles, guaranteed me that in the morning there would be a gaggle of locals, including elders, who would arrive to demand release of the prisoners. Major Moodie said this problem is exacerbated by the helicopter shortage; if he could get the prisoners extracted as soon as they were captured, he would be able to say that the prisoners had already been moved and there was nothing he could do, but already in the past he had decided to release prisoners to cool tensions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later in the day of 19 August, locals arrived to demand release of the six. All were released except for one, who was finally picked up by a helicopter on the evening of the 19th, the day before the latest historical Afghan elections wherein Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai had reached the showdown to decide who would become the President of one of the most primitive countries on earth, but one that probably gets more international press and attention than Japan and Germany combined.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-14-42-33acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 370.685px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the helicopter lifted off with the prisoner, the JTAC who talked the helicopter in said to me that “Axle” Foley, another JTAC four miles away in Sangin, was about to call in a bomb from a B1. The fighting had begun and it was not even election day. Taliban in the area were threatening people to stay in their compounds and not vote.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-06-22-30-(2)acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the afternoon of the 19th, before our election-day mission on the 20th, “Snowy” meticulously cleaned every speck of dust off his weapon. He disassembled the magazines, cleaned the springs, and individually cleaned each bullet.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-19-at-06-59-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Snowy then counted every last bullet—twice—and I joked that if his weapon failed the next day, cleaning would not be the issue. The weapon was ready, it seemed.... Meanwhile, my BGAN satellite communications gear was malfunctioning on the evening before the election. Hours would be wasted before it was ascertained the satellite gear was officially broken. Murphy’s Law was in effect for all guns and gadgets. I’ve come to a remote base and can report what others are not seeing, and the crucial link was broken at the crucial moment.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">At about 2245 a rocket banged and zoomed overhead but missed the base and exploded seconds later somewhere out in the darkness. Orange illumination rounds drifted down nearby and in the far distance, some casting long, flickering shadows. Radio chatter at the ops room said that an SAS (British special forces) helicopter had been shot down north of us and one troop was wounded, and that the enemy was moving toward the crash site which was still occupied by British soldiers. I headed to bed because the mission on election day was likely to include serious fighting. The alarm was set for 0330, but by midnight there had not been time to get a wink. Just after midnight, having seen no less than 10 meteors streak through the darkness above, sleep came. The alarm sounded and I pulled out of the cot, already dressed for the mission, and pulled on the boots in the dark. Sometime around 0400, there was a distant thud as the helicopter that had been shot down was destroyed. (An officer later said that two bombs were used, but I heard only one.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-04-50a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">By 0436, the soldiers were ready to launch on the mission and there was time for a few images on this historic day in the middle of nowhere.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-07-48acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers had erected a memorial for lost comrades.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-41-55accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 386.301px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Metal detectors and other gear were tested.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-44-34accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 378.082px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">It was time.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-48-30accCV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission began.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-00-55-57accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 386.301px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Suspected bombs were marked along the way. Dozens of them. The metal could be anything from an old bullet to a nail. For years, the enemy has seen us with the metal detectors and so are making bombs with LMC (low metal content).</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-07-07aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 348.493px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers on point with the metal detectors have an incredibly dangerous job. They must watch for all sorts of ambushes, high and low. The enemy uses command wires, pressure pads, trip wires and radio-controlled devices. Some people say the enemy bombs are cowardly, as if we are in a gentlemen’s duel. Others might say IEDs are no more cowardly than our using B-1Bs and A-10s.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-08-39aR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 391.233px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Election day begins.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-13-06a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Our mission was to move to an over-watch position to prevent Taliban from harassing voters on their way to Sangin. Most people in Afghanistan would not have a chance to vote even if there were no Taliban. British officers told me that between here and Kajaki, for instance, there were no polling stations.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-24-19aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.055px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fatal funnel: the enemy often plants bombs in walls, or simply throws grenades over top.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-32-41accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 350.137px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Often after ground has been “cleared,” soldiers far down the line get blown to pieces.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-35-17acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 360px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Open areas make us less predictable for IED strikes, but now we are extremely vulnerable to machine-gun, RPG fire and other weapons such as B10 rockets. Luckily they are terrible shots with mortars.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-01-47-16ACCR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 361.644px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">If we get ambushed, the only cover is accurate return fire, but the enemy of course tries to hide their firing positions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-01-29accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 358.356px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Nobody from either side was dead yet. Not here, anyway.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-18-27acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We reached our objective; an occupied compound that British forces had used three times before and this boy was waiting. Afghans often stand with an arm behind their back, or they walk up and down steep mountains in the same fashion.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-20-33aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 395.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Nearby compound with a possible IED at the corner.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-22-08a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Several sections occupy different compounds giving us better arcs for mutual fire support.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-32-26aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The opium had already been harvested and the poppy bulbs were hard and dry. How many bulbs does it take to buy one bullet? The drug dealers are getting rich, and so a strong central government is a natural enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-37-49accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 409.315px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As we occupy his home, this Afghan boy plays like he is killing us with a rifle and then wants to see his photo.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-49-40acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The man of the house says he is worried that on our fourth stay, the Taliban will think he is collaborating and will kill him. Asked if he will vote, he says no, and that nobody in this area will vote because the Taliban will kill them.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-49-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Climbing around these compounds takes its toll. One can only imagine how many bones are broken. Often, the entrances of the compounds are laced with explosives, so the soldiers blow a “mouse hole” through a wall, or use ladders to scale, and so the enemy now places booby traps atop walls. Again, some people will say it is a “security violation” to say that the enemy places bombs atop walls, as if the enemy doesn’t know that the enemy has placed bombs atop the walls. People will say it’s a security violation to say that we use ladders to climb walls, when every day countless thousands of Afghans see us with ladders. We’ve been fighting this war for nearly eight years. The enemy knows we listen to radios, cell phones, and just about anything else we do. It’s the people at home who do not know. The enemy has learned our tactics and psychology.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/koppetchells/Etchells.jpg" border="0"></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Joseph Etchells had been killed nearby almost exactly a month ago, on 19 July. <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-kopp-etchells-effect.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>“The Kopp-Etchells Effect”</u></a> dispatch was written partially in Joe’s memory. Several times, the events of Joseph’s loss were recounted to me, in clear hopes that important details would be told. I said not to worry, it will be told. The missing details were that soldiers had complained about not having enough ladders to scale walls to avoid dangerous compound entrances. During a mission the soldiers needed to get over a wall but were without a ladder, and so Joseph Etchells volunteered to go through the entrance, where he stepped on a pressure plate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-50-42aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 392.877px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The compound we occupied on election day was littered, partially with batteries. Soldiers do not throw away old batteries, but collect them in boxes because the enemy digs through trash to collect batteries to make bombs, but just as often something like this is benign.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-50-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Afghans in this area typically live with their animals.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-54-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Many believe that the Pashtun people are one of the lost tribes of Israel. If true, some Taliban might actually be descended from Jews, which would be one of the most severe ironies of humanity. Some branches go off and earn Nobel Prizes and unravel the secrets of the universe while advancing humanity by leaps and bounds, while another turns malignant and doesn’t know how to build a road.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-02-55-46a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The FST (Fire Support Team) goes into position over-watching a road leading to Sangin. The mission is to prevent any roving bands of Taliban from interrupting voters traveling to Sangin.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-04-55acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The family keeps two myna birds whose wings have been clipped, and the Hazra interpreter tells me the birds can talk. I tell him that birds of similar appearance, also called myna, are sold in America. “What if the bird says, ‘I love Mullah Omar.’” I asked the interpreter. “Then we must shoot it!” he answered.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-13-49acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The heat increases and the soldiers wait.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-14-31accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The first customers arrive. Maybe they are a probe.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-15-08accRV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 393.699px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The men are searched. If others were planning to come down the road on this day, none do.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-20-24accCV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 330.411px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A radio call said there was an IED strike nearby, in the area of Patrol Base Wishtan, which would be on or in the area of Pharmacy Road (the subject of the latest dispatch<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/bad-medicine.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>“Bad Medicine.”</u></a>)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later we learned that two soldiers were killed at Wishtan: Sergeant Paul McAleese, 29, and Private Jonathan Young, who was 18.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to the BBC:</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They were killed while on a routine foot patrol near the town of Sangin, in Helmand province, on Thursday. Their families have been informed.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Their deaths bring the total number in Afghanistan since 2001 to 206.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Lt Col Nick Richardson, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "It is with deep regret that we report the deaths of two soldiers in Helmand Province.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"Our deepest heartfelt thoughts and sympathies go out to the bereaved family, friends and comrades of these brave soldiers."</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The MoD said the deaths were not connected to Thursday's presidential elections in Afghanistan.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Every mission here on the 20th was connected to the elections. The idea that the losses were not connected to the elections seems off, not that it would make a difference to the fallen. Yet the slights and spins, often for no apparent reason (even if not the case here), undermines the messengers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-19-00accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 393.699px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There would be much fighting around Afghanistan this day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-22-41a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.986px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Men were watching us and roving around at a distance of about 900 meters. Sniper Keiran Jones is told to fire a warning shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-23-08a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting was kicking up in the distance, and FOB Inkerman was starting to get attacked. Out in Sangin the fighting would last all day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-25-54acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Rifleman Keiran Jones keeps his eye on the target while rolling the foam earplugs. The man watching us is wearing a white dishdasha and a white turban.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-25-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM! Keiran Jones launches a bullet from the .338 rifle, which cracks just a few feet away from the “dicker.” (Watcher.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-36-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 394.521px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Another FST member has already recorded coordinates for targets and is ready to start a fire mission using mortars or the 105mm howitzers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Rifleman Keirnan on the scope. The snipers would fire about half a dozen times this day, and not all were warning shots.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-34acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Steady…</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-43a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM. Dust fills the air and reflects off the morning sun.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-37-56acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Re-chamber.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-40-52acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Steady…</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-40-57a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">BAM. More dust.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-41-02acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The snipers are cleared to kill a man, the same one who has been watching us, as he peeks his turbaned head around a corner about 900m away. The shot is difficult because Keiran is in a tough and painful position to shoot from. I joke that they need to do “sniper yoga” and Jones replies with a chuckle, “No shit. It’s a stress position.” Both snipers stayed in positions that were agonizing for their legs and backs. There were no good places to get a relaxed shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-45-29accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Keiran Jones aimed for the man’s head and BAM! The supersonic bullet that could kill an elephant raced toward the target.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-50-04a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Keiran was very upset, thinking he may have missed, though others thought he might have hit the man. The shot would have been an easy shot if Kerian were prone, but the muscle stress in the growing heat was adding up.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-52-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The snipers stayed for hours up in that sun, sometimes taking alternating breaks, but they were in competition to get the enemy.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-52-37acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Like dueling banjos.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-54-32acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I sat in between them for about 20-30 minutes and all three of us were aching from the positions, though my position was far easier and shaded by one of the snipers.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-03-58-47acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">They stayed at it.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-04-23acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Jones, drenched in sweat, takes a micro-break.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-04-43acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting continued in the distance over in Sangin. We saw bombs drop and the mortars and howitzers were firing dozens and dozens of rounds, while the Apaches were hammering away with their cannons, and launching about 30 rockets through the day.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image216_730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 434.795px"></div><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image216lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The compound and our soon-to-be ambush spot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-04-40-18acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">CPT Ed Addington keeps an eye out. We could hear firefights but other than the snipers peeling off some shots, we were not in contact.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-27-23a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We were not trying to hide. The Brits wanted everyone to know we were there.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-05-38-31acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A jet drops a bomb in the Green Zone.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-07-38-03acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Down inside the compound, soldiers began to try to compress themselves into any sliver of shade but the shade kept shrinking. Though we had occupied the compound, soldiers respected the house by staying outside.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-12-48a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The dog looked thirsty but when I tried to give him water, he launched out like the Killer Rabbit on Monthy Python. If not for the rope around his neck, there might have been a death match. The dog seemed completely insane, as if he had been attending al Qaeda seminars. The soldiers couldn’t believe that five minutes later, little Cujo was still viciously growling. I slid the water close enough but by several hours later he still never took a sip.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-15-00a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Medic Nikole Cunningham goes into firefights in the middle of bomb-laced country. Nikole said her family thinks she never goes on missions.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-15-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 402.74px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The family was long gone, but two boys came back and fed their grandfather (apparently) who was very old and stayed with us.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-25-23a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The plan was to stay all day, but we were told that by late afternoon, only 245 ballots were cast. And so it was decided that we should head back before dark, which would make it easier for us to avoid IEDs, but more difficult to avoid ambushes from machine guns and RPGs. No matter what you do. . . .</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-33-41acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Everybody expected an ambush. The enemy had had most of the day to cook up something.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-38-40a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Off we went, down the middle, taking chances with the machine guns, RPGs and other rockets, but avoiding the more likely IEDs for the first leg.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-40-11a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Taliban is in complete and uncontested control of the nearby power station. We don’t even have enough soldiers to take and hold the power station, and so the enemy controls the on/off switch, and they charge locals for power. While we generate electricity up at Kajaki, the Taliban makes money off it. It’s no wonder why the Taliban laugh at the idea of negotiating.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-40-13a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 396.164px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The thought went through my head, “If I were the enemy, I would ambush us right. . . . ” <i>ZIP, SNAP, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!</i></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Their machine-gun fire was accurate and we all dove to the ground.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-41-10a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>ZIPT! SNAP SNAP!</i> Some bullets hit between this soldier and me.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-41-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There’s Snowy, who had cleaned his weapon with surgical care. He had wiped down every bullet and every millimeter of the magazines. His weapon was working just fine. For now.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-42-18a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 397.808px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sapper Cameron Baldry starts to get up, and I think, <i>“Why is he getting up?”</i> Bullets were snapping by.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-43-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The soldiers often complain that when they hit the dirt, some of the bulky radio frequency gear they carry gets in the way of their helmets. When soldiers are down in the dirt they cannot aim their weapons because their faces are stuck in the ground. So Baldry rolled into a sitting position to return fire.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-44-25a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Meanwhile behind me, Snowy’s weapon began to malfunction.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I was making video when a soldier fired a Javelin missile which impacted close to the nearest compound.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-07a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 338.63px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This is where untrained fighters usually crack and run away in a jumble. British soldiers, however, are well-trained. While some provided covering fire, others peeled off in an organized fashion.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-25a-NO-circle730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 298.356px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">At this point another Javelin was launched and can barely be seen in this photo.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-27C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 297.534px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Impact: I’d never seen a Javelin explode like that. Usually they are like gigantic hand grenades, but this one looked like a bomb from a jet.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-28R-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 327.945px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">What in the world did he hit?</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-29C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 325.479px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A fireball gathered and left a mushroom cloud.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-47-31C-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 335.342px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">None of us knew what had been hit, but of course there was speculation that the Javelin had found ammunition or bomb-making material. Maybe a tractor, I thought.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-51-11a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We went to a nearby compound that was empty and I stayed low near the front thinking this was the real ambush and that a cluster of bombs was about to kill half of us.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-54-22a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A soldier dropped his pants to see where he had been hit. Apparently a bullet had sent a rock into his thigh. The fire truly was accurate. We truly were lucky that several of us did not get hit. Meanwhile, other soldiers were checking ammo levels and doing redistribution as needed. After every firefight, the Brits (and Americans) check for wounds, redistribute ammo, and check critical gear. Two or three British soldiers asked if I was okay. Meanwhile, leaders would consult maps, develop SA and figure out what they want to do next. It cannot be stressed enough to check your buddies for wounds. Soldiers have often died because in the adrenalin rush and cascade of survival juices, or sometimes simply because they are still fighting, troops don’t realize they are badly wounded, and so they bleed out and die.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Being just a writer, it’s not my domain to intrude, but after every drama I closely watch their uniforms and hands for blood. All the soldiers are well trained, but some are still just teenagers and so you start to feel responsible for the younger ones, especially.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-10-55-09a-730.jpg" border="0" alt="'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'" title="'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">'Did you see those bullets hitting between us!?'</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sapper Cameron Baldry, a twenty-three-year-old soldier from 2 Troop, 11 Field SQN of the 38 Engineer Regiment, pointed at me exclaiming something like, “Did you see those bullets hitting between us! They were striking right between us!” I chuckled, saying yes, it was close, and those guys are good shots but we got lucky. Baldry’s antenna had been shot off but he didn’t get shot.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-39-49a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 421.644px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We headed back to FOB Inkerman, avoiding many markers for potential IEDs.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-39-50a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Aircraft could still be heard, and there was fighting in the distance.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-41-15a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Marker.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-42-06a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Marker.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/image256.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Fighting continues to our left, but it’s in the far distance. To our right about a thousand meters away someone is using a signal mirror, probably tracking our movements.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-20-at-11-19-53a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The heat and the weight cause some soldiers to pause, and finally we are back on base and somehow got away with no fatalities or even injuries.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">There is no telling how much ammo was fired by 2 Rifles elements in Sangin, Wishtan and elsewhere, but the soldiers from Inkerman fired at least 1,100 rounds of 5.56 (rifle and link), 800x 7.62mm, 3x Javelin, 133x 81mm mortar, 172x 105mm howitzer. The Apaches fired about 500x 30mm, 28x flechette rockets and a Hellfire. Someone dropped 2x 500lb bombs and a British Tornado strafed, while American A-10s and Belgian F-16s also joined up.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Too much was going on to keep up, and in fact the base had been hit while we’d been gone, destroying someone’s sleeping space. Soldiers on base had identified at least one firing point and kept eyes on, and we got back just about the time I saw John Loughday and Simon Wagstaff trying to kill someone with a Javelin as the enemy occupied a firing position with what soldiers identified as a B10 rocket laucher. The first Javelin failed, and so they grabbed another and launched. With six seconds of flight time to that target, the single enemy saw the messenger coming his way. Instead of praying he made a run and I heard the explosion. The men radioed down from the tower, “Hello Two Zero this is crow’s nest. Good strike one enemy dead.”</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The day kept going but a man can only record so much. My sat-gear was broken and so there was no way to file a detailed account of the election day, which in this area was a failure.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-21-at-06-02-42-(1)accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 369.041px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The next morning, on the 21st, ten men showed up to the FOB to talk about the generator that he said had been hit by the Javelin missle during the ambush yesterday. The soldiers had previously been to his compound and confirmed that he had a nice generator, which now apparently was the victim of a Javelin missile and had gone out as a fiery mushroom cloud. As a heat source, it would have stood out as a nice target to lock the Javelin onto. As a side note, the man said they had gone to Sangin to vote and had voted for Karzai. Yet we had watched his compound all day and nobody had left it to travel to Sangin. Furthermore, three days later, I was present when the same platoon occupied a compound of the man wearing blue (above). On the 24th, he said he had not voted. We occupied his compound on the 24th because British soldiers thought it was being used by the enemy. Yet here he is on base on the 21st, part of the party asking for money for the blown-up generator. On the 24th he said he didn’t know any Taliban and had only been here for a month. He spontaneously said he knows that Barack Obama is the President of the United States, but when asked, did not know who Michael Jackson was. On the 21st he was on base, while on the 24th I sat with him for about an hour while we waited for the enemy to square off for a fight. (And there came another firefight.)</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the 21st, the elder said the generator cost about 70,000 Afghanis, or about $1,400, but the most that could be paid from this base was $300. The inanity of it all is difficult to fathom in one sitting. We were taking machine-gun fire, apparently from his compound or that area, but he had no information about the Taliban. Probably because he is Taliban. We blew up his generator and now he wanted to get paid.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/2009-08-21-at-14-36-10aC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 389.589px"></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later the evening of the 21st, soldiers held a ceremony for recently lost comrades and the next day they were right back out there in combat.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On the 22nd there was business as usual. A patrol was out on the road and a man was driving toward them on a motorcycle. The daylight was fading and a warning shot was fired but the man kept coming so a soldier went lethal and shot to kill, grazing the man’s arm. The man didn’t realize at first that he had been shot, or where it had come from.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/precisionvot/missing-med-tent-image-acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman." title="Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman." style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Dr. Shaya and crew treat another gunshot wound on FOB Inkerman.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p></div><p></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As with young American soldiers, nobody seems to believe that a man cannot hear a warning shot while he’s riding his motorcyle, or that he can’t see soldiers wearing camouflage during the last rays of daylight. Despite being in countless firefights wherein we often have great difficulty identifying firing positions (such as two days earlier when machine guns were nearly hitting us), many young soldiers think that firing a warning shot is enough. We all know that snipers who are in hiding fire only one shot to avoid conveying their firing position. Warning shots mean nothing to an old man who needs glasses, who is riding a motorcyle at twilight in an area where gunshots are more common than frogs. So a small piece of flesh was stripped from his arm and the man got off light.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The world kept turning and on the 24th “Bad Medicine” was published just after midnight Eastern Standard Time, and that morning before sunrise the soldiers were going on a dangerous mission and I went along. The result was a firefight and much mortar and cannon fire using prox fuses, delay and airbursts into the enemy position. Though we had information that the enemy was trying to get us with IEDs, we escaped getting blown to pieces. When I got back to base, there was a message from British MoD that my embed had been canceled (about one month before we had agreed it would end) without warning. The message and timing were clear enough. “Bad Medicine” was published, and I was out. The soldiers at 2 Rifles were astonished. The MoD gave the reason that it was unfair to the journalists who were clammering for spots, but my sense was that MoD had created a convenient excuse that was kept in the chamber, and now they had pulled the trigger.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I responded to the MoD:</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Thank you for the message.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The precipitous decision by the MoD to cancel my embed after today's dispatch is unfortunate.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The sudden reversal after today's dispatch -- apparently a publication that did not sit well with the MoD -- will cause me significant headaches. As you know, there are many balls in the air, and the MoD has effectively shoved me out of the way.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Please forward to Ltc Richardson that the message was received.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Michael<br>----</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so that was it. My last day with the British 2 Rifles had ended the same as it had ended in Iraq. In combat. I’ll miss the British soldiers. They constitute a truly professional force – if dangerously underresourced. It has been my honor to accompany them in combat. In theory I would do so again anytime, but in practice this will be the last time MoD will have a chance to cut me off in mid-flight, wasting much time and resources that should have been devoted to telling the story. Barring a guarantee from a British General Officer that something like this will never happen again, my days of covering British operations are over.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">On Sunday morning, 31 August, the United States Air Force “Pedros” took me three missions. Please stand by. This is very interesting.</font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>I cannot operate in the war without your support. If support does not substantially increase, I will be forced to abandon war reporting in September. There has seldom been much interest in the Afghanistan war. True interest has been starkly reflected in the support for this mission. Each journey into Afghanistan, since 2006, has bled out resources from my operations. Reporting from Afghanistan is not sustainable at this rate.</b></i></u></a><i><b><br><br>Nevertheless, I continue to crack on: Please consider signing up for free Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon without the underscore), for the most timely snippets possible.</b></i></font></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>You can help support this mission through paypal, all major credit cards, or e-check.</b></i></u></a></font></p></blockquote></div></div></span></div>COMMENTS:<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><div id="pc_20311" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Too soft on terror</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20311"><font size="2">Treating and releasing the people that kill and wound your comrades must drive the coalition soldiers there insane. That needs to stop immediately. I bet the islamist taliban and al queda are somewhat dreading the day when coalition forces eventually leave since I doubt the Afghan military would show them similar levels of mercy.</font></div><div class="jc_clear"></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Blackwater </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 31, 2009</span></font></div></div><div class="jc_clear"></div></div><div id="pc_20312" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20312" id="comment-20312" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Red Cross and weapons</font></b></h5><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20312"><font size="2">"American Army helicopters in Afghanistan fly with the red cross on the side. Flying with that symbol makes it illegal for our people to carry weapons." <br><br>Is this a theater specific guideline? <br><br>I am a former USAF Master Instructor and taught course sections on the Geneva Conventions and how they affect medical personnel for the Medical Red Flag course at Sheppard AFB, TX. The interpretation of the Geneva Conventions we instructed stated that US Forces medical personnel were allowed to carry small arms in order to defend themselves and their patients from hostile actions. While a medic could not legally use their weapon in an offensive manner while wearing the Red Cross, it was in no way illegal for them or their vehicles to carry weapons (rifles or pistols only) for protection. <br><br>A combat medic usually gives up their right for protection under the GC because they do not wear the Red Cross into the field for the "aim point" reason you mention. We even had an official DoD level text with the quote "The best medicine in a combat situation is application of overwhelming firepower" directed at combat medics. However medics wearing the Red Cross are not restricted from carrying weapons, they are only restricted in type of weapon and when they are allowed to use it. (Again, unless something has changed since my separation from Active Duty but that was definitely the ruling when I was instructing.)</font></div><div class="jc_clear"></div><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lance R. Peak </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 31, 2009</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" size="2"><font size="1"><br></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" size="2"><font size="1"><br></font></font></div></div><div class="jc_clear"></div></div></div><a name="comments" id="comments" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></span></div><br><div><div></div><div><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68)"><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><font size="1"><i><b>As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</b></i></font></span> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-right: 3px; margin-left: 3px"></a></font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><br></span></font></p><font size="2"><br style="text-align: justify"><br></font><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>Please support this mission by making a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</b></span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b><br></b></span></font></p><font size="2"><br><br></font><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0)"><b>To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the<a target="_blank" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</b></span></font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#993300"><b><br></b></font></div></span></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-29823485059441638582009-08-24T14:12:00.001-05:002009-08-24T14:12:35.046-05:00Bad Medicine<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_1" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">24 August 2009</span><br><br /><br><br />Greetings from Afghanistan,<br><br /><br><br />It's <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_2">Monday morning</span>. I just got in from a mission. Got into a firefight with the Taliban. No friendly casualties. Enemy casualties unknown. <br><br /><br><br />Please see today's dispatch <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_3">"Bad Medicine."</span></u><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />Your Writer,<br><br /><br><br />Michael</span></font><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />PS Please sign up for my <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-weight: normal"><u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_4">Twitter.com</span></u></a> updates at "Michael_Yon" (not <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_5">Michael Yon</span>).</span></font><br><br /><font size="3"><br><br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br /><i>Please remember that this website accepts no advertisement and is dependent on your support. </i><br><br /><br><br /><br><br /></font><br><br /><span style="font-size: larger"><span style="font-family: Arial"><br><br /><font size="2">Please send any regular mail for Michael to:<br><br /><br><br />Michael Yon<br><br />P.O. Box 5553<br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1251132359_6" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Winter Haven, Fl 33880</span></font></span></span></span><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br />* * * * *<br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><h2 class="contentheading" style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-weight: normal"><font size="5">Bad Medicine</font></h2><br /><div class="article-tools" style="float: left; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236)"><br /><div class="article-meta" style="float: left"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-content"><br><br /><div id="a8qx"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>On Pharmacy Road</i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-01-45acc-730.jpg" border="0" alt="Captain Henry Coltart on Pharmacy Road" title="Captain Henry Coltart on Pharmacy Road" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Captain Henry Coltart on Pharmacy Road</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>24 August 2009</b><br><br /></font><font face="times new roman,times">Helmand Province, Afghanistan</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The British soldiers of 2 Rifles had a mission: clear and hold Pharmacy Road.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">FOB Jackson is currently home to Battlegroup headquarters for 2 Rifles. The area around the river is called the “Green Zone,” but just as appropriately could be called the Opium Zone. During season, the area is covered with colorful poppies, whose 2009 products are probably showing up by now on the streets in Europe. European money flows back here and buys fertilizer in the Sangin Market, which can be used to make bombs, produce more opium, get more money and make more bombs and grow more opium and make more money and bombs and grow more opium. Sangin is at once an ATM and weapons bazaar for the enemy. Nearly all fatalities in this unit have been caused by fertilizer bombs. The decision to mostly ignore the drug dealers has been a strategic blunder.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This mission was about tactical exigencies created by the strategic realities. Though FOB Jackson is small enough to walk from one end to another in a few minutes, it is the main base in Sangin, with smaller patrol bases spread around the Sangin area of operations. Two of those bases are Patrol Base (PB) Tangiers and PB Wishtan. Tangiers is an Afghan National Army (ANA) PB often used by 2 Rifles, while PB Wishtan is manned by C Coy of 2 Rifles. (“Coy” is British for “Company.”)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><font size="2">From Jackson, one can often see or hear fighting related to Tangiers or Wishtan while tracers arc into the night, and illumination rounds cast long, flickering shadows as they float to Earth under parachutes.</font></div><br /><div id="f8od"><br><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Though PB Tangiers seems randomly named, PB Wishtan is named after the local area which the locals call Wishtan. The main resupply route from Jackson to PB Wishtan goes through the Sangin Market, past Tangiers, and west along the approximate 1 kilometer of Pharmacy Road through Wishtan to PB Wishtan.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">British soldiers from 2 Rifles said they had sustained approximately twenty fatalities and injuries in the area. (More were killed and wounded in Sangin since this mission.) The situation is reminiscent of so many roads in Iraq, such as Route Irish, previously dubbed the most dangerous road in the world. The short stretch of Route Irish is situated between main bases in Baghdad. Since we never had enough troops in Iraq, the route was difficult to secure despite that it was a short stretch with bustling military traffic nestled between huge bases. A lot of people were killed and maimed on that short stretch—I have little idea of the numbers of casualties on Irish—but the total must have reached at least the hundreds. Irish was eventually made far more secure by allocating substantial Iraqi and Coalition troops along with what must have been many millions of dollars’ worth of physical defenses, all augmented with frequent coverage from the air. Despite that, car bombs, IEDs and small-arms attacks continued to occur on a less frequent basis. I’ve probably driven Irish a hundred times with no dramas, but it was never safe. Despite international infamy and the sharp political desire to secure at least one small stretch of road between main bases in Baghdad, Irish was never completely secured. Pharmacy Road in Wishtan is a small-town redux of Route Irish in Baghdad.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Pharmacy Road was effectively closed by enemy harrasment, including a blockage caused by two blown-up vehicles (a “jingo truck” and a British tractor). Resupply and troop movements were performed by helicopter, despite that a patrol could walk from Jackson to Wishtan in an hour, and straight driving would only take fifteen minutes. A bypass route was made with similar results. Captain Alexander Spry told me that Wishtan is like something from a Freddy Kreuger movie where bombs are planted in broad daylight and the enemy chisels small firing holes through the fifteen-foot walls and launches bullets down the tight spaces and alleyways. The Afghan mud walls are so robust that the 30mm cannons from the air will not penetrate. Dropping a 500lb bomb into the middle of a compound will leave the walls standing. In Wishtan, our snipers are of little use because they can’t see or shoot through the walls, and there is no commanding terrain other than the air. As with Route Irish and probably hundreds (thousands?) of other routes in Iraq and Afghanistan, routes cannot be secured without pinning substantial numbers of troops. Life is far easier for the guerrilla than for the counterguerrilla, just as arson is easier for arsonists than for firefighters.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">With the shortage of helicopters in mind (and the fact that an RPG was recently fired at a helicopter as it lifted out of PB Wishtan), closure of Pharmacy Road increased enemy freedom of movement while decreasing our own. Though British forces continued to push into combat around Wishtan, battlegroup commander LtCol Rob Thomson wanted Pharmacy Road open.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Most of us tried to sleep the night before the mission, but there was much to do. At one point, perhaps half a dozen 81mm mortar illumination rounds from another base were shot straight over FOB Jackson. The empty casings, weighing perhaps 2lbs each, swooshed through the darkness, possibly at several hundred miles per hour, and thumped onto Jackson. (Terminal velocity varies from object to object.) One casing was heading toward a sergeant named Marty who runs Flight Ops. Marty hit the dirt and the casing landed just next to him.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-20-31-33accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 322.192px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission began under cover of darkness. Conditions were far too dark to focus and the soldiers were not using lights, so focus was done by trial and error. A sniper team quietly sat beside a dog and its handler. The dog seemed to take interest in the sounds of the camera.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-20-27-42acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The few who speak only whisper. A soldier checks his night-vision monocular.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-20-26-02accCN-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 310.685px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Flipping up the night-vision monocular puts it on standby.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-20-33-42accN-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 252.329px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission will be very dangerous and the soldiers, who mostly could not see me taking photos unless they were using night-vision gear, seemed lost in thought.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-20-36-16accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 284.384px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The friendly attack dog. A dog handler recently told me he was urinating when an Afghan soldier tried to grab his willy. The handler said the dog bit the Afghan soldier who needed a few stitches.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-21-10-52a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 334.521px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We set off down the market road. Some folks believe such reports are “security violations,” as if the thousands of people living here do not know exactly where the bases are, or do not know exactly where we came from and went to. Operations take place here every day. Civilians are everywhere.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-22-43-09accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 414.247px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We made it to FOB Tangiers with no dramas. Some Afghan soldiers were on guard while others seemed comatose.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-22-45-58accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 391.233px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The commander of 2 Rifles is Lieutenant Colonel Rob Thomson (right), who this morning was constantly studying maps or soaking up information by talking with soldiers whose ears were glued to radios. Most soldiers did the smart thing and immediately began to fall asleep; experienced combat soldiers never miss a chance to fill canteens or sleep. Meanwhile, the Commander’s work has just begun (despite my having seen him work late the night before). LtCol Thomson has chided other officers and NCOs about sleep, saying it’s an advantage of growing older. You just don’t need as much sleep. Plus having children is good training for combat.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Corporal Mark “Axle” Foley (left) is the JTAC who controls air strikes. Axle is a good-spirited soldier and funny to talk with, always cracking jokes though sometimes I have difficulty understanding his accent. When Axle picks up that radio, a magical toggle-switch clicks in his head from “fun” mode to “all business.” While Axle talks business with the pilots, one can only wonder how well the American pilots understand Axle. Yet the pilots work with Axle all the time, and seem to understand him perfectly on the first go, and he understands them. One night, I heard a Southern accent come down from an aircraft, which set the Brits to laughing and trying to immitate the accent. Brits and Europeans often get a big kick out of thick Southern accents but all attempts to imitate the twang seem to fall flat. (Except by country bands in Germany who can perfectly imitate the patois as if they grew up next door to Willie Nelson.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Axle, who often works with American pilots, says these A-10 and B-1B pilots are probably the best to work with because they come to Sangin so often that they know the terrain, the roads and bases, so they are easy to talk onto targets.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sitting there in the darkness, Axle works the radio while watching the downlink screen. As the A-10s approach at about 0314, the aircraft are still about 40 miles out, and a pilot starts listing off all the various sorts of weapons they are carrying. They had more spells than Harry Potter. As the A-10s close in on our postion, Axle picks up a downlink and suddenly he can see through the A-10 crosshairs. Whatever the pilot is looking at comes on Axle’s screen. Axle gives the pilot some reference points and each time the crosshairs instantly go to that point, and within maybe thirty seconds, the crosshairs slewed precisely to the spot where we were sitting. Axle told him that’s us, which probably sounded to the A-10 pilot something like, “Ah roga, dat’s us,” and then Axle starts walking the pilot through to all the friendly locations so he can know where our guys are.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-08-at-23-00-47acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">An A-10 was transmitting downlink but we were getting interference, maybe from the building or other radios. Axle moved outside where Corporal Henry Sanday from Fiji came in. Henry is a good man whom I got to know in Iraq, and sometimes we have lunch or dinner at FOB Jackson, where he constantly invites me on missions. Henry is battle-proven and very good under fire. When your life is at stake, Henry is a man you want to be with, as you will soon see. This morning, his men were falling asleep, but as a section leader Henry kept working. Major Karl Hickman (right) is the A Coy Commander, and while his men plopped down to sleep, Karl kept working. I’ve never been in combat with Major Hickman, but his men say he’s good and steady under fire. Axle as JTAC is a crucial link to this mission, which explains why when Henry and Major Hickman might be sleeping, they are checking in with Axle to keep their SA (Situation Awareness) updated.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We had the A-10s for only a few minutes when a radio call from a different net came to Axle to release the A-10s for a TIC (troops in contact) somewhere in South Helmand. Axle radioed the pilots to switch freqs, and I recall a pilot apologizing and saying he looked forward to getting back up here. Axle put down the radio and looked straight at me, saying, “That’s such a bummer,” as if his fishing buddy had to go home early, then Axle finished with, “However, the guys that get them will be well happy,” and started shutting down his gear as the sounds of the A-10s faded into the darkness. While Axle worked, I asked about times when he “smashed” the Taliban. British soldiers like to use the word “smashed” when talking about the Taliban. When Axle would finish talking about one fight, I would ask about another. Finally, Axle said, “You Yanks are great. You like to hear stories about us smashin’ the Taliban but people at home want to know how much we miss our families.” We both chuckled, and I asked, “Really? They don’t ask you about smashing the Taliban?” “That’s right,” then Axle said something like, “They only want to hear how sad we are.” Axle and I got along great because I didn’t care if he missed his family and he didn’t care if I missed mine. This part is about smashing people who would help those who smashed the World Trade Centers and blew up people in London and Bali and Jakarta and Israel and Spain and the Philippines and anywhere else they can reach. There is a crucial development and governance aspect to this war, and still a crucial smashing side. Sometimes you’ve got to swap hats for helmets. Mullah Omar is still alive, apparently in Pakistan, and he needs to be killed. Just on 20 August I heard a Taliban singing over a walkie talkie that Mullah Omar <i>“Is our leader,”</i> and they were celebrating shooting down a British helicopter only twelve hours before just some miles from here. There will be time to hug families later. Now is a time for fighting.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We talked some more about smashin’ the Taliban. When the A-10s turned toward some distant battle, nobody here complained. Yes, we need more helicopters, but since I have been in Sangin, we never have been short on attack aircraft. The JTACs are happy. Air cover, since I have been in Sangin, is better than we could honestly hope for. Axle talked about strike aircraft; “The F-15E Strike Eagles are brilliant,” he said. The JTACs, if given a choice of the other fourteen types of piloted aircraft that come on station, seem to vote for F-15E Strike Eagles.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The F-15E package (weapons, electronics, and strike pilots) is particularly lethal for this fight. When strike aircraft come onto station, the pilots declare their weapons load. A typical F-15E declartion sounds like this: An American voice crackles over the radio, “Good morning. I’ve got 4 GBU-12s, 6 GBU-38s, 2 GBU-31s, and 1,000 x 20mm cannon.” [GBU-12: 500lb Laser Guided Bomb is the JTAC favorite here; GBU-38 is a 500lb JDAM and also very good; GBU-31 is a 2,000lb JDAM and too big for use in Sangin but there are many other fights in Afghanistan; 20mm cannon can destroy armored vehicles but bounce off the compound walls here.]</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In total, the two F-15Es arrive with a dozen accurate bombs, a thousand rounds of 20mm, incredibly good optics, and a great downlink package so the JTACs can peer through F-15E crosshairs and coordinate with the pilot. Most importantly, the Strike Eagle pilots are specifically trained for this mission. Nobody on the ground complains about this package.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Whereas Strike Eagles are favored in Sangin, there are close runner-ups. B-1Bs are called “Bones” because B-One spells bone. Bones were made for nuclear war with the Soviets and for carrying hydrogen bombs, and so they don’t carry a lot of different tricks for small battles. B-1Bs do come with 12 GBU-38s and 8 GBU-31s, very good optics and Axle says the pilots are easy to talk onto targets. When a B-1B runs low on gas, refuelers can fly to us. One day, Axle could see Bones refueling directly overhead while continuing to track a target.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In all, about fourteen types of aircraft fly topcover, including American, Belgian, British, Dutch and French. JTACs here say the least desirable aircraft of those fourteen are the French M2000D. A package of two jets carries no cannon, no downlink and a total of only 4 GBU 12s. The optics aboard the aircraft are not good, and the trail aircraft spots targets with binoculars like the Red Baron. Also, the French and British have problems understanding each other’s accents. The British who work with French forces refuse to say a bad word. They say the French are good and ready—which can be surprising because the Brits and the French like to slag each other—but the French aircraft simply are primitive in comparison to the American jets. An American unit in Zabul Province last year said that some French pilots probably saved them, or at least made a big difference, and so any words about primitive aircraft should be taken in light of respect for the pilots.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">No mention is made of the Apache helicopters because Axle was talking about jets. The Apaches seem to do most of the heavy lifting—for every jet strike I must have seen 5-10 Apache strikes. Apaches are very effective. We are too far out for coverage from Kiowa Warriors. Predators are excellent but Reapers are especially welcome.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-00-38-19acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The A-10s were gone and so Axle headed to sleep but Corporal Henry Sanday keeps working while all his men are zonked out.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The following account does not pertain to Pharmacy Road, but pertains to Corporal Sanday, his men, Axle and others in these photos. These photos were made on 09 August. On 13 August, a bomb detonated at 0523, wounding Matthew Hatton and two others. Sanday arranged to evacuate the wounded by helicopter but there were IEDs along the routes to the HLS (Helicopter Landing Site).</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As Daniel Wild and Mark Hale helped the wounded Matthew Hatton, they were hit by a second bomb, killing all three men. In total there were five casualties, and call-sign “Pedro,” helicopters from the United States Air Force had come in to evacuate the killed and wounded. Henry Sanday was acting Platoon Sergeant and wanted to land Pedro on a roof but the roof was too small. He finally got the casualties loaded out. After suffering three killed and two wounded, the men continued the mission though some of the men were very rattled. Later that evening, when the mission had been completed and the soldiers were moving back to FOB Jacskon, they were hit by a third bomb leaving two casualties. Sanday was setting up another helicopter extraction when a fourth bomb detonated and an interpreter turned into a “white mist” leaving only a leg. The interpreter went MIA. Sanday asked the Apaches to search for the body but they found nothing. I’d seen this happen in Iraq and it took us a long time to find two of the bodies. One missing body was maybe a hundred meters away. The other body was farther. It’s been a long time, but I think it might have taken an hour to find the last body, and we had dozens of people looking. Sanday was down to four unwounded soldiers in his section and in Sangin the IEDs often seem to come in big clusters. No matter which way you go, there is a high probability of more. Two interpreters were killed in the strike and three were wounded.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some of the men were in shock and did not react to Sanday’s commands. They were seriously battle-affected and refusing orders, though others rose to the occasion and were the glue. I’ve seen this breakdown happen. Soldiers typically bounce back. Two officers described to me their thoughts on Corporal Sanday. “He is an absolute hero,” said one, and the other agreed. </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sanday’s name was mentioned with respect all the way back in Iraq. Now in Afghanistan he continues to rise to the occasion, but now with more experience. The next day, Sanday went on a combat mission in Sangin. About 100 meters in front of him an IED detonated on another section. Three soldiers from the Royal Regiment Fussilliers were killed. During extraction to the HLS, a pressure-pad IED caused more casualties. Again, I am told Sanday and others rose to the occasion.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The interpreter who disappeared was found in the Helmand River, about 20 miles south at FOB Price.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">But those attacks were still a few days away. Today, Sanday had more dangers to lead his men into, and through, and as they slept, he worked.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-24-05acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Body armor for a pillow. Many soldiers buy those bracelets because they say the profits go to support wounded warriors. Next time I’m in Camp Bastion, I’ll buy a couple.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-00-47-02acc--730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“Axle” Foley, who was on that horrible mission with Sanday, went to sleep until more aircraft were scheduled to show up. This photo was made at about 0517 and I put down the camera then my head down at 0521, just in time for the first explosion seven minutes later at 0528. The explosion was close and powerful and literally raised some dust. AFTER it exploded, someone said it was EOD for the first controlled detonation. The Bang Boys were out there in the danger zone, cracking away. I said a little prayer for them and put my head back down and that’s when the rooster started crowing—from inside the building! Look at the halls in the photo. A rooster is very loud inside here, as if he were crowing straight into our ears. The ANA keep the rooster for fighting. He was incredibly loud. <i><b>BOOM</b></i> at 0540. EOD was back at it, and at 0548, then 0558, then 0610 and 0612 and 0621. The EOD soldiers were into a rhythm. Between the rooster crowing inside the building and EOD blasting away nearby, sleep was hard to come by, so I got up and walked to one of the guard towers. LtCol Rob Thomson seemed to be the last one working, and warned me not to get shot. (During the bad morning on the 13th, LtCol Thomson saw some gloom on a few faces and he jerked those faces back into the fight.)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-35-54acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The British call guard towers “sangers” (a word the Brits picked up during a previous Afghan war). At the bottom of the ladder, I announced my presence to the ANA soldier and he waved me up.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-36-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The EOD were blasting just a few hundred meters away, and after every explosion, the ANA soldier would imitate and laugh, “<i>BOOM, BOOM</i>, hahahahah <i>BOOM, BOOM</i>, hahahaha.” He was like a big kid. He begged to have his photo taken and then wanted to stare at his photo and begged for another photo and another. Finally, he got behind the machine gun and acted like he was shooting. He was saying <i>“gugugugugugugugugugugugugugug”</i> like he was firing the machine gun. I walked over to make sure the gun was not aimed at any British EOD soldiers, who were in a different direction off to the left. The ANA soldier kept making the gun rattle,<i>“gugugugugugugugugugugugug,”</i> while laughing like a six-year-old boy,<i> “gugugugugugugugugug.” </i> Where were the 3- to 5-round bursts? He was wasting imaginary ammo. I said “No! It should be <i>gugug…..gugugugug…gugugug</i>. Not <i>gugugugugugugugugugugug.”</i> He wrapped his finger on the trigger and started to pull, but before doing so, a red LED seemed to flash inside his brain. He stopped. And there was a long pause, like on one of those old-timey calculators where you press “2” “+” “2” “=” … and then wait five seconds for the answer “4.” He checked the safety which, predictably, was on FIRE despite that a long belt of ammo was draped from the loaded gun. He clicked the safety on and pulled the trigger and kept going, “gugugugugugugugugugug.” Some men should not touch guns. He made me nervous that he might accidentally shoot someone, especially a British soldier, and so I distracted him with the camera, and started taking notes. Every time the pen hit the paper, he would lean over and stare at the writing, as if he were going to accidentally poke out his eye with the pen.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-44-52acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><i>“</i>Gugugugugugugugugugugugug.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-52-02a-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">That’s when his buddy showed up with the dog. In Afghanistan mostly only villagers keep dogs, but the ANA are copying the British and adopted their own guard dog. Sometimes I wish all the readers could just come out here for a single day. Readers would never forget it. Look at that dog. What’s he going to do against Taliban with RPGs? He’s hardly got energy to bark. The gugugugugugugug man insisted that I photograph his friend and the dog, and then Dog Boy sprinted to the base of the sanger, tied the breathless guard dog to the ladder, climbed up breathlessly and stared at his photo and laughed and smiled and started jabbering on and giving the thumbs up, crawled back down, untied the dog and ran away laughing while the dog tried to keep up and they both disappeared around that corner.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The British and American soldiers often like the Afghans they work with; most of the Iraq veterans (British and American) did not make friends in Iraq, but most soldiers who work closely with Afghans seem to like them. The Afghans do some crazy, goofy things, but something about Afghans can be very likeable. Practically none of us want to be here, but nobody seems to have malice for Afghans. It’s difficult to explain.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-49-40accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Mud walls meet cinderblocks. Locals fill the cinderblocks with mud. If the people spent as much time building roads as they do building walls, this place would have more roads than California.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-01-43-50accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Sangin from the Sanger. The town of Sangin is not exactly Jurassic Park like most of Afghanistan. Despite that the British have been here since 2006, some people just a few miles from town still think the British are Russians, and the more enlightened ones seem to think the British are Americans. Most people seem to know who Michael Jackson is, but few have heard of Canada.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A couple days before this photo, British soldiers on FOB Jackson were firing large .50-caliber machine guns over my head, intermittantly, for about an hour. I thought they must be shooting someone, but this dispatch was a work in progress and so eventually the .50 caliber noise started affecting my concentration while I sweated over the keyboard. Finally, I pulled out the earplugs, walked outside and asked why the heck they keep shooting right over base?! There was no return fire. Turns out they were test-firing the machine guns, but every time the Fire Support Group launched bullets, villagers would see tracers and run toward the beaten zone where dust poofed up and rocks splintered through the air. Each time the soldiers fired the machine guns, the British soldiers would have to wait for the villagers to clear out, then fire again and the villagers would run back to the impact zone. The soldiers and I laughed at the absurdity. Iraq was almost never funny. Afghanistan can be like a war version of Comedy Central.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-02-02-11acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">That man is walking on Pharmacy Road. Most of the the walls are roughly fifteen feet tall, though the walls behind him are shorter. There is no commanding ground—this is about as good as it gets—and the snipers cannot get long shots or observe far. The enemy are aware and use the labyrinth of walls nearly as effectively as if they were tunnels.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image003p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image003_730.jpg" border="0" alt="Orientation Image #1 (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="Orientation Image #1 (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image003p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>Orientation Image #1 (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)</u></font></p><br /></div><br /></a></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image005p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image005_730.jpg" border="0" alt="FOB Jackson sits beside the Helmand River, south of the Kajaki Dam which bottles the lake at the top. Kajaki Dam is currently protected by British soldiers from 2 Rifles. They are completely surrounded by Taliban and fight every day. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="FOB Jackson sits beside the Helmand River, south of the Kajaki Dam which bottles the lake at the top. Kajaki Dam is currently protected by British soldiers from 2 Rifles. They are completely surrounded by Taliban and fight every day. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image005p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>FOB Jackson sits beside the Helmand River, south of the Kajaki Dam which bottles the lake at the top. Kajaki Dam is currently protected by British soldiers from 2 Rifles. They are completely surrounded by Taliban and fight every day. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)</u></font></p><br /></div><br /></a></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image007p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image007_730.jpg" border="0" alt="’The Green Zone’ is not made by rain, but by the Helmand River. The Kajaki Dam was built by Americans decades ago. We actually built much of the infrastructure now used to grow poppy. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="’The Green Zone’ is not made by rain, but by the Helmand River. The Kajaki Dam was built by Americans decades ago. We actually built much of the infrastructure now used to grow poppy. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image007p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>’The Green Zone’ is not made by rain, but by the Helmand River. The Kajaki Dam was built by Americans decades ago. We actually built much of the infrastructure now used to grow poppy. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)</u></font></p><br /></div><br /></a></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image009p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image009_730.jpg" border="0" alt="FOB Jackson, established in 2006, is the main base in Sangin. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="FOB Jackson, established in 2006, is the main base in Sangin. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image009p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>FOB Jackson, established in 2006, is the main base in Sangin. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)</u></font></p><br /></div><br /></a></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-07-57-58acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 336.164px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Scrap in front of PB Tangiers.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-00-14acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mercury rose with the sun. LtCol Rob Thomson gathered up some men and wanted to go see the EOD soldiers as they were clearing some of the most dangerous ground. Though they had just cleared this stretch, there have been many instances where soldiers got blown to pieces by ground that was just cleared. Cleared is more like “cleared.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-37-07acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The EOD soldiers said this dog missed a big pressure-activated bomb and led his handler right over it. Luckily the team didn’t step on the device. The dog is better at finding shade than bombs, apparently. Probably should be a drug dog. I’m no expert on search dogs, but it is true that glaring sun can bake away scent. I had the feeling that the soldier felt like he let people down, but nobody said any such thing. Everybody knows it’s tough out here and sometimes you simply miss the bomb.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image055p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image055_730.jpg" border="0" alt="Viewed from north. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="Viewed from north. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><font size="2"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image055p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u>Viewed from north. (Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)</u></font></p><br /></div><br /></a></font><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The “Wishtan 5” were killed on the Wishtan market road on the top left. Those five soldiers were killed in a similar attack wherein soldiers who survived the first attack were killed while rescuing their buddies.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-14-47acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">We came into a compound that had been “cleared.” Without EOD, our losses would be far higher in Afghanistan. The EOD soldiers get special respect and earn every ounce of it.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-07-12acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">LtCol Thomson checks progress.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image061_730.jpg" border="0" alt="(Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" title="(Please Click on the Image for a Larger View)" style="width: 600px; height: 429px"></div><br /><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/image061p_lg.jpg" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The imagery from November 2004 does not show the power lines in the photo below. I made the photo below from nearly the same angle as the image above. So, the EOD soldiers on top of the truck are in the corner of the compound overlooking Pharmacy Road. The soldiers are a few meters from where the yellow thumbtack denotes “Blown Vehicles.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-06-10accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 357.534px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The EOD team is rigging this wall to blow part of it down. On the other side of the wall are the two blown-up vehicles; one of the vehicles is British and the other is the trailer from a “jingo truck.” The area surrounding the trucks is booby-trapped with explosives, and the vehicles also are booby-trapped. So the goal is to blow down the wall and drag the vehicles off the road and into this compound.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-16-06acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">These EOD soldiers wear a Rainbow patch and call themselves Team Rainbow, which of course seemed quite curious.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-29-26aCC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The wall is so thick and strong that Team Rainbow put about 200 pounds of plastic explosive in all the right places, then rolled out the wire. The reader might be surprised to see what 200 pounds of high explosives does to the wall.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-35-04acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Team Rainbow and LtCol Thomson stayed up close, but I got behind the farthest vehicle because I have no pride in my courage. Some people think this is crazy work, but I’m actually a safety fanatic.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When the enemy hears a detonation—which typically occurs many times per day—they wait for helicopters, knowing that if helicopters swoop in and land, they have achieved success. Many of the enemy bombs in Sangin are detonated by command wire, while many others are pressure-activated and are simply improvised land mines. The enemy often uses pressure cookers to make bombs, just as was done by the Maoists in Nepal. In Nepal, the government began confiscating pressure cookers (which angered many people), and the government often shut down cell service (angering many people) because the Maoists used cell phones. The Maoists won the war. We are operating far smarter in Afghanistan. Here it’s the enemy who actually shuts down cell towers—and this angers the people. Also, the enemy bombs around here are killing a lot of innocent people, and this also angers the people. Despite progress made by the Taliban, they alienate many people.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-08-56-51acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 373.151px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And so that’s all that 200lbs of high explosives, in perfect contact with the target, placed by experts, could do to this wall. When soldiers come back from Afghanistan and say that the compounds are like fortresses, this is what they mean. The electrical wires, which cannot be seen in the Google Earth imagery of 2004, got blown down. The EOD soldiers wanted to avoid the live electrical wires. EOD called the Royal Engineers to come up with a non-destructive solution to the wires. Within minutes they thought of a solution. The vehicle above cut a notch in the top of the far wall with his scooper.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-09-05-39acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">He drove the scooper machine to the front and opened the wall to let a bigger truck inside. The Engineers hooked webbing around the electrical wires, and using the winch on the big truck, pulled the wires up and draped them over the notch the scooper had cut. EOD was back in business clearing Pharmacy Road. In fact, the soldier who is driving the scooper is the same driver who got blown up on Pharmacy Road, and his blown up vehicle is one that they were about to drag into the compound.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px">It can be very rattling out here. But they keep getting blown up and going, and the enemy is getting it worse.</p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-09-09-30acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Preparing plastic explosives in slivers of shade. Iraqis thought our body armor was air conditioners, and thought we have “cold pills” to chill us out. The soldiers carry far more weight than I do, and they work three times harder. This heat is bad even for me, but much worse for them. Often U.S. and British soldiers end up back at the hospital after they collapse, but in nearly all cases they come straight back to the fight. There was a U.S. battalion in the 1st Infantry Division in Baquba, Iraq, who were constantly pumping IVs so they could outlast the enemy.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-11-37-38accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 437.26px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">SSgt Schmid of the Joint Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal (JFOD). Dealing with hidden bombs made by pernicious enemies requires special people. I asked Ssgt Schmid which wire he cuts when dealing with booby-traps—red wire, or the green?—SSgt Schmid just laughed and kept working.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-12-25-21accV-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The blown-up vehicles were dragged through the blown-up wall under the blown-down wires.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-09-27-33accR-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 410.137px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the midday sun pounded down, the EOD soldiers continued to work in the heat. LtCol Rob Thomson stayed out in the boiling sun with the men. I retreated with some others to a cooler place that was halfway underground. Most of us soon fell asleep as the EOD soldiers kept blasting, blasting, blasting. They must have made dozens of explosions during the day and they never seemed to take a break. None of them, nor LtCol Thomson, ever took even a minute of shade break with us.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-12-36-04accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 394.521px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After an afternoon of blasting, LtCol Rob Thomson headed to PB Wishtan, but my gear was back at Tangiers, where some ANA were preparing for a mission.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-13-41-54acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">During the clearance, this soldier fell off a ladder. He was all the way at the top, about fifteen feet high. Luckily he was wearing his helmet because he said he also cracked his head. His spirits were good but he seemed a little embarrassed for falling off, but accidents like this happen a lot. Even when nobody is shooting, there are plentiful ways to get hurt out here. In the background are two improvised cots where I slept the second night. Just on the other side of the barrier, the Hescoes got hit some months ago by an RPG, as seen below.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-14-16-02acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">RPGs are simple but enormously effective.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-14-04-13acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As the shadows grew longer, the British and ANA began playing volleyball while EOD kept blowing up charges along Pharmacy Road.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-12-52-54accC-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 390.411px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">When people complain about the British rations, I think of Laxle Kedian Harris, more commonly known as “H.” I offered some weightlifting tips but H laughed and changed the subject. But make no mistake—the rations are . . . to put it kindly, bland.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-14-44-33acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">It’s dangerous to leave a camera unguarded around soldiers. It could have been much worse.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-19-04-53acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">That night, we stayed in the field because the mission was not merely to clear Pharmacy Road, but to build a sanger (guard position) about halfway down—one which would be constantly manned. While we slept, soldiers from 2 Rifles and the engineers worked all night erecting the sanger.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-19-09-11acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">After a long, hot day taking back Pharmacy Road.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-15-13-19acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Some work while others sleep.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div style="text-align: left"><img src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/badmed/2009-08-09-at-19-15-09acc-730.jpg" border="0" style="width: 600px; height: 400.274px"></div><br /><p></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">And that was it. Pharmacy Road was cleared and the sanger was built and most of us headed back to FOB Jackson just as the sun was rising on the second day.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Later that afternoon, back on FOB Jackson during the Battle Update Briefing (as Americans would call it), a <i><b>BOOM</b></i> shook the room. Word came that a local person was pulling parts from one of the vehicles that were dragged off Pharmacy Road. He encountered a Taliban booby-trap and he was killed. EOD had not cleared the vehicles of booby-traps; the two vehicles had merely been pulled off the road. Next day another local was killed on a parallel road that he thought the British had cleared. It had not been cleared. The Taliban blows up a lot of local people in Sangin.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The mission was an obvious success. It was surprising that we endured no fatalities or serious injuries. The mission was well-executed and since many of the soldiers have substantial combat experience from Iraq and Afghanistan, major dramas were averted. Murphy had smiled upon us. The only injury to my knowledge was the soldier who fell off the ladder. Soldiers who had previously fought on Pharmacy Road said we had sustained about twenty fatalities and injuries in that general area. And though at least one IED has been placed on the road since last week, C Coy and the ANA are now regularly patrolling and the freedom of movement has resumed.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This is a brutal fight. Since that mission, eight more British soldiers and two interpreters have been killed in this area. That’s ten KIA plus the wounded. The soldiers keep going.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Coming up next: the fighting we saw on election day wherein the soldier beside me got his antenna shot off.</font></p><br /><br><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>I cannot operate in the war without your support. If support does not substantially increase, I will be forced to abandon war reporting in September. There has seldom been much interest in the Afghanistan war. True interest has been starkly reflected in the support for this mission. Each journey into Afghanistan, since 2006, has bled out resources from my operations. Reporting from Afghanistan is not sustainable at this rate.</b></i></u></a><i><b><br><br /><br><br />Nevertheless, I continue to crack on: Please consider signing up for free Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon without the underscore), for the most timely snippets possible.</b></i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>You can help support this mission through paypal, all major credit cards, or e-check.</b></i></u></a></font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /></div><br /><div id="toolbar-article" style="font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br><br /></div><br /><br><br /><div id="jcWrapper" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><br /><div></div><br /><br><br /><br><br /><div id="trackback_entries"></div><br /><h4 class="jc_title" style=" margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(88, 89, 71)"><b><font size="3">COMMENTS </font><font size="2">(14)</font></b></h4><br /><br><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><br /><div id="pc_20080" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20080" id="comment-20080" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank you</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20080"><font size="2">I wish I was overthere to help you all, but I'm old as dirt so I'll have to help with money.............Thanks so much for what your doing to keep old people like me safe, I love you all & pray every night for everyone of you solders. please keep the mail coming in. <br><br />Please keep the new's coming in zmichael,</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mary Ann </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20081" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20081" id="comment-20081" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Wow...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20081"><font size="2">Your pictures are amazing Michael, so clear and vivid. Thank you for continuing on in this endless fight. We devour your dispatches, and so appreciate your work and the soldiers commitment to fighting the good fight. God bless you all, and may we be triumphant in this fight for the good of the Afghani's, America and the world.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jenny, Sacramento, CA - God bless America, our troops, the Iraqi's & Afghani's! </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20082" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20082" id="comment-20082" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank you and all the men</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20082"><font size="2">Thank God for these men holding back this evil tide that would wash us all out to sea without them. <br><br />Our prayers are with you all...and our actions are influenced by your dispatches. We must all do more to fight this world war...which it surly is...wherever we are and whatever our occupation. Thank you and all the men fighting. You are an inspiration and an encouragement to do our part and not be negligent. Wonderful photos and report...</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">a&n </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20083" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20083" id="comment-20083" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">BEYOND WORDS</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20083"><font size="2">There are no words, or combinations of them, to express the debt we owe to men such as these and what they are trying to accomplish on behalf of people around the world. Then, how do you thank the families of those who are lost, or express proper condolences? There should be networks of students in the schools to let other students know that your pictures are available online, so that they understand what is going on thousnads of miles away to allow them to go to school peacefully, to play their sports, and to graduate. <br><br /><br><br />For that is what these men are doing, and thank God for them, for those who command them, and especially to those who are maimed for us, and again, to you, Michael for this great photo story and report..</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">howarde12 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20084" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20084" id="comment-20084" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20084"><font size="2">Thanks for this latest report Michael. I remember that you met Macca on Telic 9 with 5 Platoon 2 Rifles, I'm hoping your next installment will pay suitable tribute to him.<br><br /><br><br />Stay safe fella. Celer et Audax.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">H </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20085" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20085" id="comment-20085" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Prayers and Thank You! for You and Our Troops!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20085"><font size="2">Wonderful Photos! Thanks for your dispatches, God Bless Our Soldiers! We all all Supporting the Work You do! Be Safe!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Terri LPN </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20086" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20086" id="comment-20086" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Those Bracelets the guys buy</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20086"><font size="2"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>www.helpforheroes.org.uk</u></a> <br><br /><br><br />A great organisation in the UK</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Future Voice </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20087" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20087" id="comment-20087" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank you</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20087"><font size="2">To the soldiers of 2 Rifles: <br><br />I recently read a piece where a UK soldier thought that people at home are more interested in X-Factor or who won the cricket. <br><br /><br><br />I for one know where the true heros are. They are in Helmand. <br><br /><br><br />For helping to keep my family safe and for your service to your country, I thank you with all my heart. <br><br /><br><br />To Michael Yon: <br><br />Thankyou for this reporting. We need to know how it is, on the ground warts and all. Only then can we begin to understand the courage and sacrifice made on our behalf. <br><br /><br><br />To UK MOD: <br><br />Give these soldiers the equipment and rules of engagement they need for counter-insurgency operations or bring them back home. Your incompetence astounds me.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mark, UK </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20088" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20088" id="comment-20088" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Team Rainbow</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20088"><font size="2">You're obviously not a videogame addict then Michael?! <br><br />The Rainbow's a reference to a book and videogame series by Tom Clancy. Team Rainbow are a multi-national anti terrorist organisation. <br><br />As these guys are "multi-force" they've taken the title on, probably with their tongues firmly in cheek.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">James </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20089" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20089" id="comment-20089" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20089"><font size="2">Always enjoy reading about where I don't go. Keep putting up the photos as it give people back home (and me) areas outside the wire. <br><br />From a fobbit - take care. <br><br />Kevin</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kevin K </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20090" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20090" id="comment-20090" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">This Dispatch is...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20090"><font size="2">Awesome Michael. A Great short nonfiction account of those brave men keeping the barbarians a safe distance from our gates. I can't help but think your dispatches should be required reading for all politicians in Washington, London, and other allied capitals so they can draw upon a realistic inside narrative to the nature of this fight when pondering national security policy. <br><br /><br><br />Also, well done with the google maps insertions. These images really helped me understand the battle space in your corner of this conflict. <br><br /><br><br />I look forward to your next dispatch. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20091" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20091" id="comment-20091" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">thank you</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20091"><font size="2">Michael, outstanding dispatch. Thanks for painting an a clearer picture for us back home in the rear with the 'expletive deleted" gear. s/f C.O.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">C.O. Jones </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20092" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20092" id="comment-20092" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">trackbacked / :inked</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20092"><font size="2">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/24/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. <br><br /><br><br />http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/08/from-front-08242009.html</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David M </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20093" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20093" id="comment-20093" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">This is all so familiar ...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20093"><font size="2">Thanks for not talking down to your readers and assuming we can absorb and understand the bare facts. And thanks for all the telling details ... the heat, the noises, the way the ANA and civilians behave. <br><br /><br><br />There are so many similarities to South Vietnam ... but several important differences. In Vietnam, fixed wing fighter bombers could not deliver their ordnance with accuracy. If you were within 1,000 meters of the target you were considered ON the target. Bombs dropping miles from their intended targets were common. And all they had were unguided bombs and napalm ... useless for counterinsurgency ground support. Artillery was much better. We leaned heavily on the 155mm battery available to us.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">6x6x4 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 24, 2009</span></font></div><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><a name="comments" id="comments" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><b><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon. </font></b></font></i><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </div><p></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><p></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a id="tczz" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><p></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><p></p><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="yxmi" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-44781720888413148372009-08-20T15:04:00.001-05:002009-08-20T15:04:11.774-05:00Do Americans Care About British Soldiers?<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><span style="font-family: Arial"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">19 August 2009</span><br><br /><br><br />Greetings from Afghanistan,<br><br /><br><br />There is every indication that this war will become worse than I saw in Iraq. Very dangerous here. Too much happening to explain quickly. Will require ongoing series of dozens of dispatches. (Am on it.) Would need 24/7 head-cam to truly capture this. <br><br /><br><br />Meanwhile, please see this very interesting dispatch: <u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1250725062_1">Do Americans Care about British Soldiers?</span></u><br><br /><br><br />-- <br><br />Your Writer,<br><br /><br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1250725062_2" style="background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: transparent">Michael Yon</span><br><br /><br><br /><br><br />PS Please sign up for my <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-weight: normal"><u><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1250725062_3">Twitter.com</span></u></a> updates at "Michael_Yon" (not Michael Yon).</span></font><br><br /><font size="3"><br><br /><br /><br /><br><br /><i>Please remember that this website accepts no advertisement and is dependent on your support. </i><br><br /><br /><br /></font><br><br /><span style="font-size: larger"><span style="font-family: Arial"><br><br /><font size="2">Please send any regular mail for Michael to:<br><br /><br><br />Michael Yon<br><br />P.O. Box 5553<br><br /><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1250725062_4">Winter Haven, Fl 33880</span></font></span></span></span><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">* * * * *</font></div><br /><div><span style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0)"><font size="5">Do Americans Care about British Soldiers?</font></span></div><div><br /><div class="article-tools" style="float: left; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236)"><br /><div class="article-meta" style="float: left"></div><br /></div><br /><div class="article-content"><br><br /><div id="jpl-"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>19 August 2009</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /><font face="times new roman,times">Helmand Province, Afghanistan</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A gunshot ripped through the darkness and a young British soldier fell dying on <a id="mh:d" href="http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/CombatMedicsTreatTroopsAndCiviliansInSangin.htm" target="_blank" title="Combat medics treat troops and civilians in Sangin">FOB Jackson</a>. I was just nearby talking on the <a id="mwca" href="http://www.atsiraq.com/afghanistan-satellite-phones-services-afghanistan.htm" target="_blank" title="Advanced Technology Systems">satellite phone</a> and saw the commotion. The soldier was taken to the medical tent and a helicopter lifted him to the excellent trauma center at <a id="u22h" href="http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37898" target="_blank" title="Camp Bastion: Welcome to Helmand">Camp Bastion</a>. That he made it to <a id="q.8f" href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp_bastion.htm" target="_blank" title="Camp Bastion">Camp Bastion</a> alive dramatically improved his chances. But his life teetered and was in danger of slipping away. Making matters worse, the <a id="h4c_" href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/08/12/stephen-hawking-defends-british-health-care-system-against-u-s-conservatives.aspx" target="_blank" title="Stephen Hawking defends British health care system against U.S. conservatives">British medical system</a> back in the United Kingdom did not possess the specialized gear needed to save his life. Americans had the right gear in Germany, and so the British soldier was put into the American system.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">British officers in his unit, <a id="t8_6" href="http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/3469.aspx" target="_blank" title="The Rifles">2 Rifles</a>, wanted to track their man every step of the way, and to ensure that his family was informed and supported in this time of high stress. Yet having their soldier suddenly in the American system caused a temporary glitch in communications with folks in Germany. The British leadership in Sangin could have worked through the glitch within some hours, but that would have been hours wasted, and they wanted to know the status of their soldier <i>now</i>. So a British officer in Sangin – thinking creatively –asked if I knew any shortcuts to open communications. The right people were only an email away: <i>Soldiers Angels</i>. And so within about two minutes, these fingers typed an email with this subject heading: CALLING ALL ANGELS.</font></p><br /><font size="2">Soldiers’ Angels Shelle Michaels and MaryAnn Phillips moved into action. Day by day British officers mentioned how <a id="xtoa" href="http://www.soldiersangels.org/" target="_blank" title="Soldiers' Angels "May No Soldier Go Unloved"">Soldiers Angels</a> were proving to be incredibly helpful. The soldiers expressed deep and sincere appreciation. Yet again, the Angels arrived during a time of need.</font></div><br /><div id="d5mi"><br><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The severely wounded soldier, whose name I will not print without explicit permission, is recovering in the United Kingdom.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Two or three weeks after the injury, I was having dinner with a British Major and several Captains. The Major talked reverently about Soldiers Angels, and then about a herculean effort that the United States military extended to save a single British soldier. I had no idea about that effort. I just heard the gunshot, saw the soldier carried away into the night, and heard the helicopter roar into the darkness. I knew <a id="os9i" href="http://www.soldiersangels.org/" target="_blank" title="Soldiers' Angels "May No Soldier Go Unloved"">Soldiers’ Angels</a> had intervened back in Germany, but the details that followed came as incredible surprise. The U.S. military had quietly moved Heaven and Earth to save a single British “Squaddie.”</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Please read the following description, authored in part by Soldiers’ Angel <a id="t2ci" href="http://newsblaze.com/story/20080325153358ros1.nb/topstory.html" target="_blank" title="Mary Ann Phillips, Soldiers' Angels Germany "Giving The Soldier Back His Name"">MaryAnn Phillips</a>:</font></p><br /><hr size="2" style="height: 1px"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><u><b><a href="http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com/2004/08/needs-of-one.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)">The Needs of the One...</a></b></u></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In late July, a British Soldier deployed in Afghanistan sustained life-threatening wounds to the abdomen and chest. I alluded to him in <a href="http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com/2009/07/coalition-medical-personnel-team-up-to.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>this post</u></a>, but his identity has not yet been made public.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The article quoted below describes the extraordinary (and to my knowledge unprecedented) efforts made to save his life. It is a testimony to the advancements made in the technological, logistical, and medical fields. But most of all, it is a testimony to the commitment of the many to care for the needs of the one.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Here is a summary of the medical, logistic, and air assets involved in this incredibly complex mission. It is almost certainly incomplete.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><a id="rwma" href="http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/107218/usaf-flies-extraordinary-medevac-mission.html" target="_blank" title="Air Force Aeromedical Evacuation Teams Give British Soldier Fighting Chance - (Source: US Air Force; issued August 4, 2009)">Air Force Aeromedical Evacuation Teams Give British Soldier Fighting Chance - (Source: US Air Force; issued August 4, 2009)</a><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Aircraft:</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /><font size="2">- One <a id="wu4o" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-17_Globemaster_III" target="_blank" title="C-17 Globemaster III">C-17 aircraft</a> to get the medical team and equipment from Germany in place at the hospital in Afghanistan.<img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:yfxk3MlbQ84mtM:http://www1.dmasa.dma.mil/hometown/hometownlink%2520photos/Uzbekistan-C-17Aircraft-O.JPG" style=" border-color: initial; width: 149px; height: 102px; float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em"><br><br />- One <a id="b0y4" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-130_Hercules" target="_blank" title="C-130 Hercules">C-130 aircraft</a> to fly a pulmonologist from a different hospital in Afghanistan to the <img src="http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:nWR1rBBN8f0IeM:http://www.freefoto.com/images/20/11/20_11_25---Lockheed-C130-Hercules-Aircraft_web.jpg" style=" border-color: initial; width: 135px; height: 90px; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px">Soldiers’ location.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">- A second C-17 aircraft to fly the patient from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.<br><br />- LifeBird German civilian medevac helicopter to fly the patient from Ramstein Air Base to Regensburg University hospital.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Aircrews:</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /><font size="2">- Three C-17 aircrews; four sorties<br><br />- LifeBird helicopter aircrew</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Medical Teams:</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /><font size="2">- British, Danish, US surgical team at the hospital in Afghanistan.<br><br />- A pulmonologist from a different hospital in Afghanistan flown to the facility where this Soldier was located.<br><br />- The <a href="http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com/2008/10/landstuhl-regional-medical-centers.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Landstuhl Acute Lung Rescue Team</u></a> (Specialized Critical Care Air Transport)<br><br />- The LifeBird medevac team in Germany<br><br />- The thoracic surgical and ICU teams at <a href="http://www.uniklinikum-regensburg.de/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Regensburg University</u></a> hospital in Germany, for the highly specialized treatment developed and available there.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>Logistics Teams:</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /><font size="2">- <a href="http://www.centaf.af.mil/units/caoc/index.asp" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Combined Air and Space Operations Center</u></a> (SW Asia)<br><br />- Joint Patient Movement Requirements Center (within the CAOC above, SW Asia)<br><br />- <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/data/g/02314.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>Global Patient Movements Requirement Center</u></a> (Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, USA)<br><br />- <a href="http://www.618tacc.amc.af.mil/index.asp" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>618th Tanker Airlift Control Center</u></a> (Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, USA)<br><br />- Landstuhl DWMMC (Deployed Warrior Medical Management Center)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/helmand_595840a-730.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/helmand_595840a-730.jpg" border="0" alt="A surgeon at work in an Afghanistan field hospital. At this hospital there is a general team of five surgeons, working with another three orthopaedic surgeons. With anaesthetists, emergency doctors and junior doctors, there could be 20 staff working on a single patient. Photo: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images." title="A surgeon at work in an Afghanistan field hospital. At this hospital there is a general team of five surgeons, working with another three orthopaedic surgeons. With anaesthetists, emergency doctors and junior doctors, there could be 20 staff working on a single patient. Photo: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images." style="width: 600px; height: 357.202px"></a><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A surgeon at work in an Afghanistan field hospital. At this hospital there is a general team of five surgeons, working with another three orthopaedic surgeons. With anaesthetists, emergency doctors and junior doctors, there could be 20 staff working on a single patient. Photo: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images.</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123161711" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><b>Air Force aeromedical evacuation teams give British soldier fighting chance</b></u></a><br><br />by Capt. Justin Brockhoff</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">618th Tanker Airlift Control Center Public Affairs<br><br /><br><br />8/4/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Three Air Force aircraft along with multiple aircrew, aeromedical evacuation teams, and agencies from around the world gave a British soldier a fighting chance at life in late July after the soldier sustained multiple gunshot wounds and had his blood supply replaced more than 10 times at a military hospital in Afghanistan.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">According to officials, the soldier sustained multiple wounds to the abdomen and chest, and was transfused with 75 units of blood and another 75 units of platelets.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Emergency surgery was conducted to repair the Soldiers’ liver and lung. After being stabilized by the medical teams on the ground, the patient's respiratory condition worsened and doctors determined that the patient had to be moved to upgraded care in Germany.</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/080214-f-4539s-002-730.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/080214-f-4539s-002-730.jpg" border="0" alt="The Combined Air and Space Operations Center, staffed by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and Coalition partners. Built at a cost of $60 million, the project created the most advanced operations center in history. It includes thousands of computers, dozens of servers, racks of video equipment and display screens, over 67 miles of high-capacity and fiber optic cable, and hundreds of people, working in satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and many other fields." title="The Combined Air and Space Operations Center, staffed by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and Coalition partners. Built at a cost of $60 million, the project created the most advanced operations center in history. It includes thousands of computers, dozens of servers, racks of video equipment and display screens, over 67 miles of high-capacity and fiber optic cable, and hundreds of people, working in satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and many other fields." style="width: 600px; height: 398.63px"></a><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The Combined Air and Space Operations Center, staffed by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and Coalition partners. Built at a cost of $60 million, the project created the most advanced operations center in history. It includes thousands of computers, dozens of servers, racks of video equipment and display screens, over 67 miles of high-capacity and fiber optic cable, and hundreds of people, working in satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and many other fields.</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Officials at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center and Joint Patient Movement Requirements Center at an air base in Southwest Asia, and the Global Patient Movements Requirement Center and 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., immediately started working to find the aircraft, aircrews and medical crews to airlift the soldier to further care.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"We received the call on our operations floor to airlift the British soldier from Afghanistan to Germany and immediately did what we could to make it happen," said Col. John Martins, the 618th TACC director of operations who led coordination efforts for the mission. "It was a complex move. Not only did we have to find a plane and crew to fly the patient out of theater, but also we had to find another plane and aircrew to get the right medical personnel and equipment into Afghanistan because we needed specialized medical teams to care for the patient in-flight."</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">In less than six hours, a C-17 Globemaster III previously scheduled to fly a cargo mission was airborne with the required medical personnel and equipment from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to Afghanistan.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"We were able to quickly identify a mission that was planned to fly into Afghanistan, and after coordinating with other agencies in the 618th TACC we were able to re-task the mission as an aeromedical evacuation flight," said Maj. Kris Rowe, an aeromedical flight manager. "At the same time, we needed a pulmonologist to be part of the AE team due to the trauma to the Soldiers’ lungs. Working with our counterparts at the CAOC, we were able to get the pulmonologist from a different location in Afghanistan to the Soldiers’ location on a pre-scheduled C-130 (Hercules) mission."</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The pulmonologist arrived to the Soldiers’ location and continued to care for him on the ground, while the C-17 carrying the medical teams and specialized lung equipment were still en-route on the eight-hour flight from Germany.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Because of crew duty day restrictions, safety regulations that dictate how long an aircrew can be on-duty before they're required to rest, the original C-17 aircrew couldn't stay the six hours it would take the lung team to prepare the soldier on the ground, and still fly the mission back to Germany. Instead, once they arrived, the C-17 and its crew were able to wait on the ground for just over an hour while nine other patients, in addition to two amputees previously picked up during a fuel stop, were on-loaded for a flight to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, near Ramstein AB.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Once they had dropped off the medical crews and equipment to stabilize the British soldier, and its 11 new patients were prepped for flight, the first C-17 took off back for Germany. Its mission was complete.</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><div class="img_caption null" style="float: center; text-align: left; margin-right: 1em; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/071217-f-0623l-335-730.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="caption" src="http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/stories/britishsoldiers/071217-f-0623l-335-730.jpg" border="0" alt="A C-17 Globemaster III, like the one pictured here, aeromedically evacuated a British soldier in late July from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Before the soldier could be evacuated, an additional C-17 and a C-130 Hercules were needed to airlift specialized medical teams and equipment into place. U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Clay Lancaster." title="A C-17 Globemaster III, like the one pictured here, aeromedically evacuated a British soldier in late July from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Before the soldier could be evacuated, an additional C-17 and a C-130 Hercules were needed to airlift specialized medical teams and equipment into place. U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Clay Lancaster." style="width: 600px; height: 398.63px"></a><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">A C-17 Globemaster III, like the one pictured here, aeromedically evacuated a British soldier in late July from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Before the soldier could be evacuated, an additional C-17 and a C-130 Hercules were needed to airlift specialized medical teams and equipment into place. U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Clay Lancaster.</font></p><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Enter the second C-17 and aircrew, assigned to the 385th Air Expeditionary Group, who were also previously scheduled to fly a cargo mission in Afghanistan. Officials at the 618th TACC delivered a similar notification that they'd been re-tasked to be involved in the lifesaving effort.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"The patient was loaded on the second C-17 and airborne within 22 hours of receiving the call for support at the 618th TACC," said Master Sgt. Keyser Voigt, an aeromedical evacuation mission controller at the 618th TACC. </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><b>"When you look at the requirements we had, its awe inspiring to see how many people will come together to save one life. It took two airplanes to get the medical team and equipment in place, another to fly the patient to Germany, three aircrews, four sorties, AE personnel and many more coordinating on the ground to get this done. </b>Including the fact that we had to fly in specialized teams and equipment from eight-plus hours away and it took a minimum of six hours on the ground to prepare the patient using that specialized equipment, <b>everyone involved did absolutely everything we could to give this soldier the care he deserves."</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">At approximately 1 p.m. local time Aug. 2, the British soldier landed safely at Ramstein AB and was flown to further medical care at a university hospital by helicopter.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">"It's a true testament to the aircrews, the medical crews, and the ground personnel around the world and at the airfield that we could get this soldier out of Afghanistan so fast," said Lt. Col. Duncan Smith, the 618th TACC's Aeromedical Evacuation Division chief. "It is truly amazing to see this coordination take place in such a short amount of time, because we're literally coordinating these moves from a world away. <b>We are in the business of saving lives, and we will do everything we can to reach that goal."</b></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As of press time, the soldier was still at the university hospital in Germany, where he was listed in critical condition.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">This movement marked the 8,563 patient movement by U.S. Air Force aeromedical evacuation teams in 2009, and the 135,233 since April 1, 2003.</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">(emphasis added)</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">As of today, almost 10 days after this story was written, the Soldier remains in Germany where his condition is stable. He may be able to fly home to the UK soon.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">The doctors say it's a miracle.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br><br /></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">I'd say it's probably close to a thousand miracles: A miracle for each of the many who came together to meet the needs of the one...</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">-- <br><br />MaryAnn Phillips<br><br />Vice President, Warrior Medical Support Europe<br><br />Soldiers' Angels main web site: <a href="http://www.soldiersangels.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>www.soldiersangels.org</u></a><br><br />Soldiers' Angels Germany blog: <a href="http://www.soldiersangelsgermany.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u>www.soldiersangelsgermany.org</u></a></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">*** New shipping address ***<br><br />MTD<br><br />Attn: Soldiers' Angels<br><br />CMR 402<br><br />APO AE 09180<br><br />*** New shipping address ***</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"> </font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><br><br /><br><br />Post Script from Michael Yon:</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Soldiers’ Angel MaryAnn Phillips emailed to me:</font></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">“I thought you might be interested in this. Incredibly, [British Soldier] is actually beginning to do quite well. He has regained consciousness and may be able to be transported to the UK within the next week.<br><br /><br><br />While at <a id="ii8s" href="http://www.uniklinikum-regensburg.de/e/" target="_blank" title="Universitätsklinikum Regensburg">Regensburg hospital</a> with his mom […] right after she arrived here, I told her about some of this. She broke down and couldn't believe "all of those people would do all that for my son". It was a very, very moving moment.</font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">Take care of yourself, Michael.<br><br /><br><br />mp</font></p><br /></blockquote><br /><br><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><br /><blockquote style="margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; background-image: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>I cannot operate in the war without your support. If support does not substantially increase, I will be forced to abandon war reporting in September. There has seldom been much interest in the Afghanistan war. True interest has been starkly reflected in the support for this mission. Each journey into Afghanistan, since 2006, has bled out resources from my operations. Reporting from Afghanistan is not sustainable at this rate.</b></i></u></a><i><b><br><br /><br><br />Nevertheless, I continue to crack on: Please consider signing up for free Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon without the underscore), for the most timely snippets possible.</b></i></font></p><br /><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2"><a href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"><u><i><b>You can help support this mission through paypal, all major credit cards, or e-check.</b></i></u></a></font></p><br /></blockquote><br /></div><br /><br><br /><div id="jcWrapper" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"><br /><div></div><br /><h4 class="jc_title" id="trackback_title" style=" margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(88, 89, 71)"><font size="3"><b>COMMENTS </b></font><font size="2"><b>(61)</b></font></h4><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div id="jc_commentsDiv"><br /><div id="pc_19935" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19935" id="comment-19935" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><p></p><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19935"><font size="2">Fantastic. Truly inspiring.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Lee </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19936" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19936" id="comment-19936" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do Americans Care About British Soldiers</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19936"><font size="2">Extremely moving Michael. I'm glad to hear this soldier is recovering and making progress. God bless everyone who supports our troops in harms way, and in this case, our fine allies sons and daughters as well. Please give my best to the wonderful Brits you have been embedded with. Finer allies no country has ever had.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Carl</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19937" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19937" id="comment-19937" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">The Value of Life</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19937"><font size="2">I can still hear the engine and rotors winding up and the sound of the blades beating the air as the Medivac crew sprung into action anytime and anywhere. They were there for one reason - to save our a life. It takes courage, training and commitment and a crew that can function as one. <br><br />Time is everything and someone's life hangs in the balance. The professionalism of all is beyond compare. <br><br /><br><br />I have the greatest respect and appreciation for the effort that the United Kingdom has committed in support of the War On Terror (not a politically correct term these days). Their young men and women are fighting the good fight and falling just as are Americans and others. The United States Military has one of the most comprehensive and efficient Emergency Medical System in the world today. It is seamless. As a former <a id="srhx" href="http://www.dustoff.org/default.htm" target="_blank" title="DustOff Association">DustOff Pilot</a> I know that every man and woman involved in that system executes a level of personal commitment and professionalism to every patient that passes through their doosr. The use of the helicopter for evac began in Korea, was greatly enhanced during Vietnam and has continued to excel to where it is today. <br><br /><br><br />May God Bless and Protect each and every man and woman on the battlefield today - British, Canadian and American and all others alike. We are all brothers and sisters in the fight against evil at home and in far away places. I thank each and everyone of you for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your family. We shall never be able to repay the debt we all owe to your heroism. <br><br /><br><br />Signed <br><br />DustOff 18</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">FT</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19938" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19938" id="comment-19938" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Heaven and Earth</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19938"><font size="2">A combination to save a life. Angels and those on the ground. <br><br /><br><br />I served in the USAF in the UK. Michael, please let the Brits know that the answer to your question is: Yes, with the hearts of true Brothers.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Wayne</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19939" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19939" id="comment-19939" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Yes</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19939"><font size="2">Its as simple as that. They, and the other members of the Commonwealth are our closest allies in this fight. All too often British, Canadian, Austrailian, and the Kiwis have been at the brunt of many of attacks in southeast Asia and abroad. They know just as we do the magnitude of the fight and the consequences it has. Working with them in Iraq and Afghanistan is a honor that I will never forget and will always cherish. Stay safe down there Mr. Yon, its only getting better.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Kudzu </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19940" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19940" id="comment-19940" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">HONOR</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19940"><font size="2">The Brave stand and move to help in any way; Whats Left just complains and stands in the way. Wonderful story of a fine example of our troops. God bless all that stand</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ken </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 18, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19941" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19941" id="comment-19941" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">You Bet We Care!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19941"><font size="2">This is one of those examples of the "can do" spirit that our military still operates under, while the public has to be goaded along like wandering cats. I don't know one person involved, British or American, expect Mike, but reading this is inspiring. We still have it. So do the Brits. Simply awesome. Please convey my thoughts to the Brits. The Troubles are over, and we've joined in a common cause, as it should be. Good allies are hard to find.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">casstx </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19942" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19942" id="comment-19942" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do Americans care for the Brits?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19942"><font size="2">YES. I certainly have nothing but respect. They are heroes to us and all free people around the world. I would risk life and limb for them just the same as my buddies when I was in the service. I love them with all my heart.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">theFightingSeabee </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19943" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19943" id="comment-19943" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">We Do Care</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19943"><font size="2">Thanks for a good story Michael, and happy to hear that the soldier is doing well.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">howarde12 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19944" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19944" id="comment-19944" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Holy Souls</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19944"><font size="2">Michael: Ever vigilant, ever watchful, we are always praying for your safety. Reading tonight, and found something that seemed very relevent given the miraculous journey of this British soldier...."Every holy soul is itself a heaven, in a sense --a heaven with understanding for its sun, faith for its moon, and virtues for its stars, a heaven where God dwells, according to His faithful promise." ......Bernard de Clairvaux ......He is indeed in every one of us, and in you, and we are grateful for your witness to events, and times, and places, and holy souls....all. Peace......Lovin' you, Barb xo</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">BMK </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19945" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19945" id="comment-19945" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Another important story</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19945"><font size="2">great set of news clips, etc. Hope the Brits get word of this as well. Also, the comments from many fine people regarding this article are another source of pride for me as a yank. Please share it with your embedding buddies. <br><br /><br><br />Just wanted to mention that the C-17 is one of the finest planes that Douglas ever made, almost on par with the DC-3. Allowing that company to fold into Boeing was a mistake and actually a detriment to what was an important part of the US economy. Anyway, every article I see about the C-17 just confirms my notion that we made a big mistake in stopping production of that beast! <br><br /><br><br />Stay safe Michael and keep those guys apprised of our support.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mad Dog </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19946" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19946" id="comment-19946" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Words cannot convey the thanks that are due</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19946"><font size="2">To Michael, all the US armed forces and the people of America. What was done here to save one of our soldiers cannot be summed up in mere words. We owd a debt that cannot be paid, thank you so much from a grateful Englishman. <br><br /><br><br />Michael, it is a privilege to support your mission. Thank you for all you do, in the meantime keep your head down.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Barry</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19947" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19947" id="comment-19947" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Cheers</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19947"><font size="2">I really appreciate your reports. You show the humanity that is often lacking from the news reports on tv and in other media. Your work is a link to the great photo journalists of days gone by and sets the standard for those to come. Take care.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Chalkstorm </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19948" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19948" id="comment-19948" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Full Circle</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19948"><font size="2">Dear Mike, <br><br />A couple of years back we contacted Soldiers Angles in America because our own son was serving in the British Army in Iraq and then Afghanistan and said how generous the US Soldiers were. We thought about how American mums and dads must have been going through the same things we were and so we wanted to make a friendly touch. SA sent us the name and address of a US Marine who turned out to be a source of fun and joy. At the end of his tour he sent us a video of his time in Iraq which we treasure. <br><br /><br><br />When we first tried to send our US Marine in Iraq a parcel we had a helluva struggle with the German post office who wouldn't deliver it to Ramstein then the British Post Office who couldn't connect with APO numbers. Then we had a cunning plan - we pretended that our US Marine was a British soldier attached to an American unit. Ahah! Suddenly the post office found how to get a parcel through and though it cost us an arm and a leg we got a cheerful E mail one day to say it had arrived. Perhaps we'll have to go to jail for lying to the post office and the fact that we kept on lying? All this just reflects the poor communications we same to have even though we are fighting the same war. Do we ever learn? <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Gismo Fly </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19949" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19949" id="comment-19949" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19949"><font size="2">I can't add anything that hasn't been added previous. I grieve the losses the Brits are taking, as though they were Americans. God Bless the 2nd Rifles!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Peter</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19950" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19950" id="comment-19950" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Rear Admiral US Navy. US Defense Attache to the United Kingdom</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19950"><font size="2">Michael: God bless you for reporting this inpsiring story. The naysayers love to point out the shortcomings of British and American troops. I wish just once they would report a story like this one. Stay safe Michael. We need you as much as we need our great British Allies. General Petraeus calls you "the real deal". I agree.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ronald H</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19951" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19951" id="comment-19951" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19951"><font size="2">As a British soldier, can I say how humbled I am to see the effort expended to save the life of one of our soldiers. Thank you will never be enough.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Paul </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19952" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19952" id="comment-19952" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Americans care for a lot of people around the world!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19952"><font size="2">One of them is you, Michael. May you always have the best of everything available to you and your fellow 'brothers' at the front. <br><br /><br><br />Thank you! <br><br /><br><br />With love from America.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Smile </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19953" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19953" id="comment-19953" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19953"><font size="2">We are so very proud and honored to stand with you, Britain! And with all of the other countries who have joined the fight against oppression in Afghanistan and around the world. We appreciate your commitment and your sacrifices, and we value your friendship more than words can say. God bless you all.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">MaryAnn </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19954" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19954" id="comment-19954" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19954"><font size="2">I'm a proud Brit, ex Army, and have to admit I have sometimes wondered how much the US really valued our friendship & cared about our troops. Reading this today, I got the answer, and it is truly the best one possible. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU! Inadequate words but the best I have. Whatever our respective politicians might do or say, you can be sure of one thing. The friendship of the UK with the USA is a strong as that with our cousins in Canada, New Zealand & Australia, and will endure as long as life itself. Thank you& God bless both our Countries <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Les </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19955" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19955" id="comment-19955" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">The Special Partnership</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19955"><font size="2">As a serving British Officer in HM Forces, I am so very grateful for all that you do for the serving forces for both of our nations on active duty. Long may our special partnership remain. Thank you and God Bless.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">andy </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19956" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19956" id="comment-19956" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Stronger Together</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19956"><font size="2">A common language binds the US and the Commonwealth together, your report though shows that what really binds us together is much deeper than just a language and words, and in fact breaks the language barrier to include Estonians, Danes and others. Thank you as a Brit for your efforts in supporting this one life, and I hope our boy recovers and rejoins his family. Though often press reports speak of disputes about operational approaches among allies, I know from feedback from those on the ground that we have never worked so closely and so effectively together and our boys on the ground appreciate and respect the support of their US allies.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">a father </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19958" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19958" id="comment-19958" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Angels</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19958"><font size="2">Thank you Michael. Mary Ann is a very special Angel. Though sometimes it seems so little, we at Soldiers Angels are always on watch!!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AZ Angel </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19959" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19959" id="comment-19959" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19959"><font size="2">This just shows the difference between the US & Britain and the enemy we are fighting. We value life and will move heaven and earth (as long as it can be done in a C-17) to save one life. May God continue to bless and protect all our men and women in uniform who are willing to sacrifice their lives for just one life.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jane</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19960" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19960" id="comment-19960" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19960"><font size="2">After reading the Brit soldier's story my wife said, "Why does Mike keep going back there?" <br><br />My answer....."same reason the mission priests kept returning to indian country." <br><br />GREAT JOB! <br><br />DR</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Don</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19961" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19961" id="comment-19961" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Definition...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19961"><font size="2">"A true friend is the one who stands by you when it may be easier, or smarter, not to..." Seems that describes the Brits pretty well. <br><br /><br><br />An aside to readers currently involved in the Air Force - a few years ago there was some discussion about developing a supersonic business-class (Gulfstream V?) jet. One would think that a transcontinental air ambulance would be an excellent application for such.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Timhogs </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19962" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19962" id="comment-19962" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Retired Fire Figther (Former US Marine)</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19962"><font size="2">Mike, <br><br />I had the privledge and honor of working with the Brittish in Norther Iraq after the first Gulf War. There is not a finer bunch of men. They took care fo us, got us food and had a great sence of humor. After the attacks of September 11th they were the first ones to stand beside us. They have always been there for us and we will always be there for them. To all the Brittish serving with us Semper Fi! you are our true brothers in arms.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Michael</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19963" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19963" id="comment-19963" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">An Epic tale with an shamefully small aside hidden within...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19963"><font size="2">This "miracle" took the combined efforts of Human training and Technology to happen. It also noted that the British logistics would of been incapable to actually handle the injury due to its lack of the medical tools in its own country to pull it off. I need to point this out because what's happening in the battlefield now is happening here in the states too. <br><br /><br><br />Every terrible accident that horrifically hurts and may of utterly ended many lives don't happen because of the medical technology that for the most -if not all- in part came from entrepreneurial Americans developing the skills, equipments, and technology to combat against it. Places like Britain with its socialistic government doesn't have the resources or capability to achieve this. <br><br /><br><br />Will America trade this type of "miracle" for what is now being promised by our government in the coming future? All this praising aside, our tax dollars made this "miracle" happen and don't ever forget that this is why that event ever happened in the first place.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Forlourned </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19964" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19964" id="comment-19964" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">We Belong Together</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19964"><font size="2">Boundless gratitude to all you wonderful Americans. <br><br /><br><br /><br><br />I will tell this story to everyone I can.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ian</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19966" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19966" id="comment-19966" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19966"><font size="2">Thanks Michael - I needed that boost this morning. It's always helpful to remember we share a heritage with the Greatest Nations on God's Green Earth. <br><br />Praying for all of you in harm's way today. Keep your head down.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sven</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19967" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19967" id="comment-19967" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Mrs</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19967"><font size="2">Thank you all for your help in saving a British soldiers life and to the angels who do great work every day God Bless All Our Troops xx</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Yvonne</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19968" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19968" id="comment-19968" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19968"><font size="2">It appears that many folks were involved in getting the British soldier medical care. There were so many i couldn't follow it all. No matter what it cost, that soldiers life was worth it all!! My nephew was in Iraq and a British lady corresponded with him and sent him packages and fabulous chocolates, all of which meant alot to him. I believe she conitinued to correspond with him during the 7 mo he spent in a U.S. hospital recuperating from injuries he had received from an IED. <br><br /><br><br />In my opinion, America has fallen a long ways from where we once were in certain values and standards, but the things I have seen that most Americans still retain and that is that we are still a caring, giving and a helping people. For those traits I am proud of America.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AUNT OF 3 ANG </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19969" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19969" id="comment-19969" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Trackbacked / Linked</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19969"><font size="2">The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/19/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">David M </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19970" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19970" id="comment-19970" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19970"><font size="2">This young man and all who took part are in our prayers, as well as all who serve this cause. Each and every dispatch I e-mail to people I know. Your work needs to get out to others. God Bless you. Keep it up, and be safe.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sara </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19971" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19971" id="comment-19971" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Awesome story about coming together for one purpose</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19971"><font size="2">Totally awesome story showing that the love for fellow man knows no national limits. I am sure that if the situation were reversed the UK would have done the same for a US soldier.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Duane </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19972" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19972" id="comment-19972" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Partners</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19972"><font size="2">Does anyone else need an explanation of "Partners"? We are proud to have the Brits as "Partners" and we know this feeling is mutual in this fight.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Wally 2w </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19973" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19973" id="comment-19973" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do Americans Care about British Soldiers</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19973"><font size="2">Wonderful story. Is there any way to get this on National TV both here and in England. The world needs to know how far we will go to save i man.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Gerald W. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19975" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19975" id="comment-19975" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Short answer, yes</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19975"><font size="2">Each and every life of those in the fight is worth saving. I'm happy that the young British soldier is on the road to recovery. I am as proud of the fighting men and women of GB as I am our own troops. I'm also in awe of the effort it took to save one life. This speaks volumes of the dedication of all - not just the Brits and the Yanks, but the entire coalition. This war is necessary. Your readers have not forgotten that Michael. Keep your head down. We need all of Florida's sons! <br><br /><br><br />Jimmy in Clearwater</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jimmy H </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19976" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19976" id="comment-19976" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Trackbacked/Linked</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19976"><font size="2">I have linked to your story on our Soldiers' Angels Washington blog. An amazing story from beginning to end. The incredible will and orchestration of expertise, to make sure each soldier is looked after and family kept in the loop is jaw dropping. Thank God for all who care for our wounded and support those who serve including our very own MaryAnn and Soldiers' Angels in Germany. Awe inspiring on so many levels. Prayers, love and support to all who serve to make this world a better place!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">julie, Soldiers' Angel </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19977" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19977" id="comment-19977" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Wow</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19977"><font size="2">Just wow. <br><br />That's incredible. <br><br />Well done all. <br><br />Thanks for sharing this Michael.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">1IDVET </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19978" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19978" id="comment-19978" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Yes We Care!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19978"><font size="2">Many thanks for this uplifting description detailing the true attitudes of the majority of both America and all others that stand for Freedom encapsulated in "We the People ...". Stay safe, Michael - we need your honest reports of the tremendous job all of our Forces are doing.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">PhilMB </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19979" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19979" id="comment-19979" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Only freedom.</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19979"><font size="2">Only in places with very little restrictions of any kind that allow good will can such enterprises be allowed to exist. This is truly a result of freedom. <br><br />Thank you soldiers angels. <br><br />Don't forget that.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Matthew </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19980" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19980" id="comment-19980" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">brothers in arms</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19980"><font size="2">Thanks, Mike.Great job. We need this stuff desperately over here. My 509'ers are in it and we get very little news right now. Too much going on. Keep your head down</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">matt h </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19981" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19981" id="comment-19981" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">We ARE All ONE</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19981"><font size="2">Michael, Soldiers Angerls and all, this is the highest vibration of the human condition: people working together to save lives and support one another. Why? Because that is our nature, for the most part. As the Pashtun villagers who risked their lives to harbor and save Marcus Lutrell's life, the Americans , Germans, and Brits who worked together to save this soldier's life remains as the example for us all, striving to be our highest and best, together. Amidst all the brutality of war and all that challenges humanity, we would do well to remember this as we go about our business, making the world a better place. Michael, so many thanks to you for being there to report the facts, and for bringing this story to light, as you always do. When we hear these acts of kindness, using technology to save lives, it reminds us how truly great humans can be and gives us all hope for a better future.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">thedametruth </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19982" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19982" id="comment-19982" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Amazing testament to goodwill</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19982"><font size="2">What an amazing story! Thanks to everyone involved no matter what nation they're serving and a special thanks to you for sharing this with all of us. The answer to the question is a resounding YES! We Americans care very deeply about our British brothers and sisters in arms. God bless them, you and all those that pitched in to save this young lad. This is human conduct of the highest order.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Andre </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19983" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19983" id="comment-19983" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">YES, we do care. We love them too</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19983"><font size="2">Our "cousin's" across the pond have to know we love and care for them deeply. From a tiny island nation a heart of a Lion beats. We mourn for them as we do our own. Godbless the "Angels"...Godspeed to our UK "cousins" as they continue to "crack on" in our mutual fight against pure evil. Thanx M Yon, pls tell them we CARE. We are "Brothers in Arms"...a connection that can NEVER be broken. I will wear my Union Jack headpiece all this week. Iam damn proud to wear it too. God Bless Britain.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Robert </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19984" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19984" id="comment-19984" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Yes, Americans love their British brothers</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19984"><font size="2">This is a truly amazing story that is a testament to our troops, technology, and medical expertise. The dedication deisplayed by all involved doesn't surprise me, but reassures me that we are still a great and caring people. <br><br />Cheers to all the Brits helping us out in this fight against extremism and oppression. And cheers to the wounded Brit soldier. <br><br /><br><br />God bless America, God bless the United Kingdom, and God bless all you guys in the field. Thanks, Michael, you be safe too!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">spratico </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19985" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19985" id="comment-19985" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">CAPT, USN</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19985"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br /><br><br />Some of the nurses and doctors from my unit who are at LARMC in Germany are handling incoming casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan as they arrive by airlift and when they are "on call" for surgeries. Yes, we do care for our allies! Great work as always Michael.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Hiram</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19987" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19987" id="comment-19987" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Hell Yes</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19987"><font size="2">Michael, as a medic with the US Army I'd just as soon die for one of my Brit, Irish, Welsh, or Scot brothers in arms to try to save their lives as readily as I would one of our own. They fight the same fight and bleed the same blood. We were there for them in WWII and they're there for us now. God Bless America and God Save the Queen.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Doc </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19988" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19988" id="comment-19988" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Many Thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19988"><font size="2">Thanks to Michael for this story, and for his coverage of British units in Afghanistan which is far better than any of our own journos can manage. A thousand thanks to all involved in saving the soldier's life, God bless America.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Peter</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19989" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19989" id="comment-19989" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do Americans Care</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19989"><font size="2">While the US has a very special relationship with Great Britian, we would have done the same for any of our allies - that is just the way we operate at the tactical level - God Bless all who serve for freedom regardless of the uniform they wear!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jona </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19990" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19990" id="comment-19990" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19990"><font size="2">Michael, thanks for the report. As a serving British officer who was attached to the American military in Baghdad last year I know how much the US military values us. It was an honour to serve alongside my US brothers in arms and I am grateful for the efforts that went into saving the life of one British soldier. We stand together in adversity and long may this remain.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">JB </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19991" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19991" id="comment-19991" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19991"><font size="2">I just posted this email to Mary Ann Phillips. I hope many of you will also let her know how we feel about them. They deserve all our thanks..... <br><br /><br><br />Dear Mary Ann, <br><br /><br><br />Today happens to be my 64th birthday, and I just finished reading Michael Yon's blog about the efforts of you, Shelle, and many, many more to help the British soldier wounded in Afghanistan. All I can say is what a special birthday present for me, to know that people like y'all (yeah, I'm from Mississippi) exist and that you do what you do. God bless you and Shelle, and all your team at Soldiers Angels. No words can ever express the gratitude of thousands of soldiers and their families, for your special kindness and dedication. You are indeed God's finest Angels. <br><br /><br><br />Joe<br><br />Greenwood, MS</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Joe</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19992" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19992" id="comment-19992" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">The Landstuhl Acute Lung Rescue Team and the Novalung System</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19992"><font size="2">Michael, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to use a little space to highlight an extraordinary group who were instrumental in this mission but not covered in detail in the AF article. <br><br /><br><br />The one key piece of specialized equipment needed for this particular patient is called the Novalung, which was developed by the University Clinic at Regensburg, Germany. The device is not yet approved for general civilian use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor I believe by similar regulators in the UK. In order to be used on military patients from those countries, permission from the Next of Kin must be obtained. <br><br /><br><br />Because Landstuhl Regional Army Medical Center is located in Germany, and because of the expertise gained through treatment of thousands of trauma cases over the past several years, a partnership has developed between US Military physicians and the Regensburg hospital. <br><br /><br><br />The Landstuhl Acute Lung Rescue Team – incorporating the use of the Novalung system – was established in 2005 by husband and wife team U.S. Air Force Col. Warren Dorlac and Lt. Col. Gina Dorlac, former Landstuhl doctors. Col. (Dr.) Dorlac is currently serving in Afghanistan. The current ALRT personnel are doctors, nurses and specialists who work in Landstuhl’s intensive care unit, and are now led by Air Force Lt. Col. (Dr.) Raymond Fang and Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Patrick Allan. <br><br /><br><br />The team is not needed often, but when they are, they leave Landstuhl at a moment's notice to pick up patients requiring this very special treatment. A mission will last about 24 hours, during which they are constantly monitoring the patient's condition - whether remotely or during the return flight. <br><br /><br><br />I cannot think of any civilian equivalent. But to these military medical professionals, doing the monumental - the creation of this team and its technologies, and its implementation when required - is simply fulfilling the mission. <br><br /><br><br />Thank you for making sure their story was told - the story of another kind of "quiet professionals".</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">MaryAnn </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19993" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19993" id="comment-19993" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thanks...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19993"><font size="2">A small word, but heartily said... Thanks. <br><br /><br><br />Ex British Army, served alongside US forces for over 2 years at HQ AFCENT way back in the early 90's, was impressed then with the close working relationship we had, so glad to see it hasn't changed.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Frank W </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19994" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19994" id="comment-19994" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank you</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19994"><font size="2">Dear Michael, <br><br /><br><br />And to all the men and women of the United States Armed forces, and supporting organisations and institutions. <br><br />Thank you from the bottom of my heart for working so very hard to save a british tommie in peril. <br><br />And thank you to the angels. <br><br /><br><br /><br><br /><br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Darren </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19995" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19995" id="comment-19995" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19995"><font size="2">Awe inspiring Michael!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Adam </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19996" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19996" id="comment-19996" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19996"><font size="2">Places like Britain with its socialistic government doesn't have the resources or capability to achieve this. ... <br><br /><br><br />Absolute rubbish of an ignorant comment. Why do you have to spoil a good post with this spiteful drivel. Read up on the NHS military unit In Birmingham which saved my good mate's LIFE. There were many aspects and people involved in this exceotional case and there is no doubt at all that had this been the reverse the excat same herculean efforts would be made for US troops - as indeed they are with many US casualties going through the unit Michael mentions staffed by the British medical teams and paid for out of British taxes. This equipment is exceptional, as is this case. Exceptional is not unique to America or American healthcare by any means. These are the kind of comments that make me feel the reality is, outside of this exception and some of the comments here, no..Americans don't care. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">John squaddi </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19997" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19997" id="comment-19997" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19997"><font size="2">John, <br><br />We have, unfortunately, too many ignorant twits such as forlourned who cannot accept this decent, compassionate act for what it is and feel compelled to make it into some worthless political statement.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Scott</span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_19998" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-19998" id="comment-19998" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Choose to ignore the ignorant</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19998"><font size="2">Michael, <br><br />Thank you for sharing this incredible example of humankind working together to save a life. Please ignore the ignorant who would use such an example to belittle a healthcare system they do not understand. Praise for "John squaddi" for pointing out the inaccuracies of the criticism of the UK's technology and expertise to provide quality healthcare - that is NOT the point of telling this story, and it should not be politicized by anyone who has a beef with the healthcare debate. <br><br />Thank you again for your dedication to telling the whole story. <br><br />be well</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Mary </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pa:u" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-19999" id="comment-19999" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Yes I Care !</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-19999"><font size="2">This is a true testament to the personal spirit that is held by the United States of America ( put politicians aside ). It is a Moral Standard that Her average God loving Citizens and all Her Soldiers most of all, hold closest to their hearts and try to live by. <br><br /><br><br />That when all is in chaos around you and an Ally has been struck down, you do not wait for them to raise their hand in need. You grab that hand from the dirt with a conviction of mind and carry them to safety at all costs without regard to your personal sacrifices and well being. Your only goal at that moment in time is to spirit that Ally away from chaos and give them the chance to live again in peace. <br><br /><br><br />There is no debt to be repaid here. This is simply 'The Right Thing To Do' if you live in a Moral Society. <br><br /><br><br />If roles were reversed, and they have been in the past many times, an Ally would do the same and expect nothing in return as well. <br><br /><br><br />I personally have nothing but the Utmost Admiration for my fellow Ally Soldiers in Arms ! God's Speed to this young man and to ALL my fellow Soldiers in Harms way. <br><br />May God also Bless all their families. <br><br /><br><br />Maintaining the Moral high ground is not easy or cheap, unfortunately. But it has to be Maintained none the less.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Scott E, 19E10 </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /><p></p><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="cx8g" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br><br /></div><br /><div id="o6n0" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51)"><br /><div id="pc_20000" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20000"><font size="2">I have forwarded this article to my father with thanks.He was a director at Macdonald/Douglas that developed all the computer systems on the C17.Some in the AF referred to the planes as "trash haulers" With this they should now be rechristianed LIFE HAULERS. <br><br />Thanks for your continued reporting.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Steve Haupt </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20001" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20001" id="comment-20001" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Interesting twist of history...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20001"><font size="2">It's great to see such sterling teamwork produce a happy outcome. My best wishes to 2 Rifles, Mike and everyone who worked to make it happen. Thank you. <br><br /><br><br />As an aside, american readers might be intruiged by this little bit of history. The 2 Rifles' ancestor regiment is the Royal American Regiment. A regular unit that was raised in colonial america in 1756. So it's strangely apt that Michael's piece here focuses on one of them.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jay </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20002" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20002" id="comment-20002" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20002"><font size="2">I was a Medic stationed at RAF Lakenheath, UK during the Vietman Era and I worked in teh Emergency Department. Yes, they are trained to do the job that you read about, but they are truly the best. I am so, so proud of being a Veteran of the USAF and a Medic to boot.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Medic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20003" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20003" id="comment-20003" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Damn straight, Americans care</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20003"><font size="2">Yet another story from the front, from this generation's Ernie Pyle (with photos to boot!!). <br><br />John squaddi, many of us here in The States (and of course, serving overseas) have long appreciated what England and the Australian, New Zealanders and Canadians mean to freedom across the globe. Since WWI it's been clear, and from what I hear from those serving currently, our mutual respect has never been stronger. <br><br />Just as in England you have those on the far-left who are anti-everything, we too have that faction, as well as a lot of folks ignorant of history and of the current danger to society. <br><br />I don't think the commenter above was belittling England's committment; rather, it was a slap at internal American politics using a misplaced and uninformed argument. <br><br />I'm proud of what ALL of our Troops are doing for our freedom, and the freedom of those who are oppressed by Islamic extremists, extremists who would have us all submit or die.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Uncle Jefe </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20004" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20004" id="comment-20004" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">brothers in arms</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20004"><font size="2">Americans , the most able, generous and gracious soldiers i have ever had the pleasure of serving with,I spent a week on exchange in camp bondsteel , kosovo in 2000 and its a memory i shall cherish</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">wildhaggis </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20006" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20006" id="comment-20006" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Glad to help</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20006"><font size="2">A great story Mr. Yon. We, the U.S. of A; are glad to help a wounded British Soldier. We appericiate what these folks bring to the battle. We respect them for their deeds. We honor them for their losses.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Bob </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20007" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20007" id="comment-20007" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20007"><font size="2">Mr. Yon, <br><br /><br><br />Your efforts are commendable. Many Americans admire your courage and determination. Many millions of us are also humbled and grateful for the service, the duty and the courage of all the allied military, no matter their country. Please extend my heartfelt thanks to all the warriors whoput themselves in harms way in order that liberty trumps chaos. <br><br /><br><br />Please extend my thanks and admiration for all the medical personnel, the doctors, the nurses and every person connected with them who struggle to save and repair our brave warriors. <br><br /><br><br />Dick Besser</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Dick Besser </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20008" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20008" id="comment-20008" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">God Bless All of You</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20008"><font size="2">The title of my post sums up my feelings. May God Bless each and everyone of you.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Richard Zuendt </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20010" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20010" id="comment-20010" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Squaddies...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20010"><font size="2">With the exception of the unpleasantness circa 1775, and again in 1812 (and, even then, there was gallantry), there isn't a more stalwart ally when you're standing the line than Brits and ANZACs... When one of 'em gets hit, we bleed with 'em. <br><br />Good on all the folks who saved that young lad's life and took care of his kin besides! <br><br /><br><br />Does America care about a British soldier? I'd say that the proof is in the pudding! <br><br /><br><br /><p></p><br />"And St. David..."</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Sgt B </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20011" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20011" id="comment-20011" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20011"><font size="2">"These are the kind of comments that make me feel the reality is, outside of this exception and some of the comments here, no..Americans don't care." <br><br /><br><br />It appears that you took one (politically driven) post and made a generalization about most Americans. I too find these post to be in poor taste, however, have no ability to make them go away. The citizens of our two countries are not so different. I am sure that there are British who would also take a heart warming story like this and twist it for their own political purpose. Should I take their comments as an indicator of the way all British think? I personally would not, but just saying. I tend to put more weight in all of the other commenters, some who have served alongside soldiers from our allies. Please don't minimize what they are saying by focusing on the negative. <br><br /><br><br />I hope this soldier is able to make a quick recover and return to his family. I am thankful that the technology and enormous teamwork existed to save this soldiers life. It really doesn't really matter to me about who did what. <br><br /><br><br /><p></p><br />To answer Michael's question...without a doubt!!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Annette </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 19, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20012" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20012" id="comment-20012" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">The "Devils Advocate" on this wonderful story</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20012"><font size="2">Folks, <br><br /><br><br />An incredible story which shocked even the British Army to the extent the US was willing to go to to save a British soldier. <br><br /><br><br />And while I am very glad the USAF did all this without even hesitating because it was not US soldier, it shows a glaring problem with the USAF. It is either the biggest and best and 100% solution in aircraft or nothing. <br><br /><br><br />Below is a small part from that article: <br><br /><br><br />Aircraft: <br><br />- One C-17 aircraft to get the medical team and equipment from Germany in place at the hospital in Afghanistan. <br><br />. <br><br />- One C-130 aircraft to fly a pulmonologist from a different hospital in Afghanistan to the Soldiers’ location. <br><br />. <br><br />- A second C-17 aircraft to fly the patient from Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. <br><br />. <br><br />- LifeBird German civilian medevac helicopter to fly the patient from Ramstein Air Base to Regensburg University hospital. <br><br /><br><br />The first and third item. In the old days the USN and USAF had converted DC-8 medi-vac aircraft with even a small operating room in it. Now they have to use a C-17 whether it is one man lightly wounded or 15 men in critical condition. There is no in between. The USAF does not want to fund the in between that could do the job (and at higher transit speed most likely) because they want the funds for the C-17 (ie like the trap the USMC is in with the MV-22 tilt rotor now). <br><br /><br><br />The second item. They used a C-130 to fly one person inside Afghanistan. And probably at a slower speed that a good "large" business turbo prob could have done or even a small turbo prob tactical transport. One USAF who did not want his name used said in Iraq that he thought it was ridiculous to use a C-130 to fly one pallet of supplies that was less than 1/10 the standard load and range of the C-130 But that was the only choice. <br><br /><br><br />Finally, not to say the USAF did not do the right thing. It would have been right if they used five C-17s and two B-1 bombers. But just because you have over kill does not mean you should not look at alternatives with smaller aircraft. <br><br /><br><br />Jack E. Hammond <br><br /><br><br />. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jack E. Hammond </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20013" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20013" id="comment-20013" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">More Rubbish About British</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20013"><font size="2">Folks, <br><br /><br><br />One member claims that the US had to move in to save that one British soldier because the British could not do it because they are socialists and lack that good old capitalist ability. <br><br /><br><br />As one member stated it is rubbish. The US could do it because it has such a large GDP. And a lot has to do with that large GDP because we have a lot of natural resources (coal, oil, iron ore, etc) and just a much larger nation and population. <br><br /><br><br />The UK government in fact went against an all European program to develop a large transport aircraft (the A400M) to lease then purchase some US made C-17s at great expense. See the same situation with the tanker contract. Boeing while taking the UK money for the C-17s in a free trade agreement use massive government influence to make sure that the USAF did not purchase a European aircraft (ie which the UK is partner in) to be the next tanker. In America our defense industry is one of the most socialists institutions on the earth. <br><br /><br><br />And always remember that the UK lost its massive Empire after WW2 due to the massive loss of men it took in WW2 and the refusal to make a deal with Hitler in 1940. If the UK had made a deal with Hitler -- ie instead of holding out alone for a year and a half -- it would not have lost its Empire which created a massive trade and a massive GDP. <br><br /><br><br />And then after WW2 when most nations were disbanding their military, the British at great expense kept their large navy and army to hold the fort in Europe while the nations that did not come under Stalin's thumb could rebuild under US and UK protection. <br><br /><br><br />And last, for almost three decades the UK British Royal Navy held the fort down in the Indian Ocean, East of Suez. And that cost a lot of money. <br><br /><br><br />Jack E. Hammond <br><br /><br><br />PS> GAWD! I wonder sometimes how the citizens of the UK and Canada put up with us Americans. (For further research look at the percentage of Canadians per population that died in WW1 and WW2.) <br><br /><br><br />. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Jack E. Hammond </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20014" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20014" id="comment-20014" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Do Americans Care About British Soldiers?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20014"><font size="2">They sure as hell do! Firstly, what an inspiring and moving article - well done for sharing it with us. Not only do our American Allies fight alongside us for the same cause, they care for us back in the U.S. too. My son Andy is serving with 2 Rifles (British Army) in Sangin, Helmand Province. He has just been sent a care package and some gear from an email friend of mine (Douglas Vanderberg) who is the U.S. Navy. I have not even met Douglas in person and nor has my son, yet he is prepared to do this for us. The Americans are the most generous people I have ever encountered. They looked after my son when he was in the Texas and Louisiana last year and he says the same thing too. God bless America - our closest Allies. <br><br /><br><br />Best regards, <br><br /><br><br />Michael Florence (ex-Leading Seaman Diver, Royal Navy - That's the British Navy!)</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Michael Florence </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20015" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20015" id="comment-20015" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20015"><font size="2">Why has this amazing story not reached the wider press, it should do. Thank you.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Joanna </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20016" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20016" id="comment-20016" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Worth or not?</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20016"><font size="2">Having served in the British Army for 7 years and also having realatives in the American Army I can honsetly say the two countries are all fighting as one. Some people may disagree with the war, that is thier choice. The one they they all should agree with it the fact that injured soliders or the families of those who have not been fortunate to come home alive need everyones support. The should be praised for what they are doing for thier country and not criticised. <br><br />The sheer cost behind this operation to save one soldiers life was it worth it? Only answer to that is yes. He was prepared to die for his country which is the ultimate price so the price to save his life should be greater. We owe it to all our armed forces</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Ex army medic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20017" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20017" id="comment-20017" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20017"><font size="2">What a great report i am so grateful to America for this effort my son is detatched to the 2nd Rifles in Sangin Helmand Province and was wounded last night i was releved to hear how good the medics are out the god bless you for this Noel Herbert</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Noel Herbert </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20018" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20018" id="comment-20018" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20018"><font size="2">Thanks to every single member of the Coalition.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Solo </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20019" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20019" id="comment-20019" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20019"><font size="2">Truly amazing story. <br><br /><br><br />For the people who think this is proof that socialized healthcare doesn't work, I'd say this shows that government and health care DO work together well. A private health insurance company would have seen the multi-million dollar bill for this treatment and told the guy to take a hike. <br><br /><br><br />You think all those amazing medical devices this soldier needed were created on the free market? Hell no. Most were invented by researchers working with university, NIH or Army money. The actual care was then provided by the federal gov't, not some private health insurer. <br><br /><br><br />I don't understand why people can't believe the government is capable of amazing things when everyone agrees to work together. The United States Armed Forces is proof of that.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">p </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20020" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20020" id="comment-20020" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20020"><font size="2">As a Brit i'm sure all the allies out in Afghanistan do amazing things to help each other every day, but this does seem a particularly supreme effort. From reading around this report and the comments above, it would seem that neither the Us nor the UK had the particular equipment or procedural training to treat the wounded soldier, which was only available in Germany (a country, along with France, that some people slag off quite regularly for their contributions to the Afghan war). It was of course the efforts of the USAF that got the soldier to where he could be treated (thanks!) - it makes you think when two C-17s are used (amongst others) - the UK as a whole only has six of these aircraft! <br><br />It's a shame when someone tries to hijack what is, after all, a warming human interest story, to try to make cheap political points about 'socialised' health care (shouldn't a true society have the means to care for everyone in that society?) but I think everyone can see how silly that poster is. <br><br />I just wish the powers-that-be here in the UK would finally admit that we really are at war, and have been for 7+ years (longer than WW2!), and would put the resources the military needs into its hands, whilst at the same time the armed forces (I'm looking at your RAF) would properly plan what they need - why, as someone posts above, don't we have small, fast emergency ambulance planes, why doesn't the UK have proper battle support planes (like A-10 or AC-130) rather than fast jets hastily modified to drop bombs at great cost? or sufficient helicopters to minimise the risk to all the troops? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. <br><br />Finally thanks to Michael for his very informative writing and reports - all we seem to get on the news here is when more troops are killed, so it is nice to read more about what the troops are doing (I'd recommend looking at Ross Kemp's TV series' from Afghanistan, they are a bit simplistic but at least let the soldiers tell their side), so please keep it up. And thanks again to all the allied personal for their efforts in saving this young man's life, I hope he makes a full recovery, and I hope that soon we won't have to read about such things, but I am afraid I doubt that.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">elizzar </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20021" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20021" id="comment-20021" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Oh, yeah...</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20021"><font size="2">Yes, we care. We care about every injured soldier, no matter what nationality. We've got some of the best doctors and medical facilities in the world, and we use them to save lives. What a story. How awe-inspiring to know the WHOLE story though. Thank you, MaryAnn!!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">AFSister </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20022" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20022" id="comment-20022" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">elizzar</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20022"><font size="2">"It's a shame when someone tries to hijack what is, after all, a warming human interest story, to try to make cheap political points about 'socialised' health care (shouldn't a true society have the means to care for everyone in that society?)" <br><br /><br><br />I agree that this isn't the right place to make cheap political points about health care, but I'm amazed that you then immediately went on to make a cheap political point about health care...</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">jic </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20023" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20023" id="comment-20023" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">rep - thanks</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20023"><font size="2">"whilst at the same time the armed forces (I'm looking at your RAF) would properly plan what they need" + "or sufficient helicopters to minimise the risk to all the troops?" <br><br />even if we had all the equipment we want in the world there would be a significant other problem. manpower. the RAF has fulfilled of its allotted numbers and still some squadrons are running at 30% manpower. there would need to be a significant increase in the numbers of men, especially techies (one of the reasons the HC3's are still mainly in the hanger, not enough techies to convert them all at once) <br><br /><br><br />increases in both require the go-ahead and monetary support from the government and this government abandoned the forces long ago. <br><br /><br><br />"why doesn't the UK have proper battle support planes (like A-10 or AC-130) rather than fast jets hastily modified to drop bombs at great cost?" <br><br />all fast jets in RAF service were able to drop bombs before the conflict. there has been no conversion "at great cost". the tornado GR4 is a fighter bomber, the harrier equally as the US can attest. the typhoon and F-35 coming into service also have significant ground attack capabilities. AAC also use our heavily modified apaches for CAS. <br><br />are you getting confused with the pre-planned upgrade of the GR4 for the new weapons systems (brimstone etc) that are entering service? <br><br /><br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Toxicseagull </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20024" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20024" id="comment-20024" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank God, yes!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20024"><font size="2">As the father of a soldier preparing to deploy to Iraq soon, I cannot tell you how deeply this touches me. My father shared the stories of his experiences in Europe in WWII, including a stint in the hospital for pneumonia. The increased level of care for today's men and women is fantastic. <br><br /><br><br />I just hope and pray that the current administrations in the US and England do not cut the budgets for our men and women over there.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Graybeard John </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20026" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20026" id="comment-20026" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Thank God, yes!</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20026"><font size="2">Don't want this thread to become political. Just facts. There is a proposed increase of 11% for our service men and women, This includes a pay raise and increased services for our veterans in many ways.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Scott Dudley </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20029" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20029" id="comment-20029" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">rep - thank god yes</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20029"><font size="2">thats great for the US. the Brits have proposed cuts of Regular 3 battalions, and rumoured half cuts of the gurhka force. <br><br />the TA (our reservists) despite being heavily deployed in both operations will be suffering cuts of 45% projected. <br><br /><br><br />this is despite the Army asking for an increase in manpower of roughly another 10,000. <br><br /><br><br />never mind the navy and airforce reductions in equipment planned :/</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">toxicseagull </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20031" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20031" id="comment-20031" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">Grateful in WI</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20031"><font size="2">So inspiring....... <br><br />I run out of words to express my gratitude for the job all of our fighting men and women.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Charlie elk </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20032" class="jomentry1" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(247, 246, 246)"><a name="comment-20032" id="comment-20032" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102)"><b><font size="4">Proud and thankful for All of the Troops</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20032"><font size="2">As mom of a US Marine infantryman, I can absolutely say yes, we do care. Every single one of the troops is appreciated for their service and their sacrifice. Bravery and honor cross all national lines. We salute these servicemen and women. Thank you again, Michael, for reporting the "real" news to us, and please know we are praying for this British soldier's recovery and the safety of them all. <br><br /><br><br />Best wishes. <br><br /></font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Proud Marine Mom </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="pc_20034" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20034" id="comment-20034" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">a little clarification</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20034"><font size="2">sorry if my comments were poorly phrased, i really didn't mean to do so - what i meant was my admiration for the efforts people went to in order to save a single life - something i think we should all support, that's all. i won't say anything more on that. as for the comments on the RAF planes, it could apply across the board to a lot of our equipment - designed and procured for a war that no longer exists. yes tornados, eurofighter etc can drop smart bombs for gorund support - but it's a singularly expensive way to do so compared to a UAV, helicopter or slower turbine plane etc. the tornado is a fast, low-altitude strike bomber designed to penetrate soviet radar - the eurofighter, primarily an air superiority airplane, has had ground attack capability bolted on tranche 1 and 2 releases - only the tranche 3 (of which the UK will effectively buy ~16) has the capability in its design. the f35b (the version we will buy) is still having design issues and will not be in service for 5+ years, and then will have limited ground attack capability compared to an a-10 or apache. <br><br />if we have a limited pot of money to pay for our services, then surely operation 'now' needs should come first - as toxicseagull states british army troop number cuts are being proposed right now (to take our army well below 100,000 men) and the troops fighting are still waiting for more local airlift (chinooks, merlins etc). <br><br />i would finish just by reiterating how proud i am of the british armed forces, and how thankful i am for the friendship of the usa, it just makes me a little angry when i see how poorly our military gets treated by politicians etc. <br><br />sorry.</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">elizzar </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /></div><br /><p></p><br /><div id="d3nf"><br /><div id="j7mr" class="jomentry2" style=" background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 238)"><a name="comment-20036" id="comment-20036" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153)"></a><br /><h5 class="jc_comment_title" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(153, 153, 102)"><b><font size="4">True Journalism Editor</font></b></h5><br /><div class="jc_comment_text" id="comment-text-container-20036"><font size="2">Thank you for bringing to light the care our medical teams provide no matter who it is or where they are from. And thank you, too, for keeping us informed about our own allies in this fight. Mainstream is fairly silent on reporting about our allies, unless it is criticism. I'm sick and tired about mainstream media's lack of interest, yet boy oh boy, we'll hear about the latest on Britney or Idol. You are the real deal and I am so appreciative of the information you give us! Stay safe and keep the faith, Michael!</font></div><br /><div class="jc_clear"></div><br /><div class="jc_bottom_container" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><br /><div class="jc_user_details" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); float: left"><font size="2"><span class="jc_comment_author">Cathi L. </span>, <span class="jc_comment_date">August 20, 2009</span></font></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></span><br><br /><div><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04"><font size="1">As always, this dispatch has been reprinted with permission from the author, Michael Yon.</font></font></i></b> <a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a><br /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">Please support this mission by making a <a id="dn4o" href="https://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=117" target="_blank" title="direct contribution">direct contribution</a>. Without your support, the mission will end. Thank you for helping me tell the full story of the struggle for Iraq and Afghanistan.</font></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#783F04">To read more on Michael Yon, or more information regarding the military, please go to the <a id="x4g6" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a> Gather Group</font></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-73275632297499351952009-08-16T20:24:00.001-05:002009-08-16T20:24:18.223-05:00Learning History Through Flora & Fauna<div style="text-align: center;"><b><font size="5">Learning History Through Flora & Fauna</font></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="6"><b><font size="5">Part II of a Series</font></b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><font size="4">Why am I writing this article to <u>you</u>?</font></b></div><div><br></div><div><font size="2">Hi, would you like to help us write/collaborate on an article or two about the history of </font><font size="2">the flora and fauna of Afghanistan</font><font size="2">? We would love to feature your thoughts and work in our educational News Room. A quote from Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</font><font size="2">*</font><font size="2">:</font><i><font size="2"> </font></i></div><blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none"><i><font size="2">More than 380 bird species are found in Afghanistan, with more than 200 breeding there. </font></i><i><font size="2">About a 100 species of wildfowl and birds besides Siberian crane, flamingos and falcons cross over from the Siberian route over Afghanistan in their migration to India.<br></font></i></blockquote><div><div style="text-align: justify"><div><font size="2">Below is a list of topics that can be approached singularly or combined:</font></div><div><br></div><div><b><font size="2">Flora and fauna of Afghanistan</font></b></div><div><br><div></div><div><b><i><font size="2">subcategories:</font></i></b></div><div><br></div><div><font size="2">Birds<br>Butterflies</font></div><div><font size="2">Insects</font></div><div><font size="2">Indigenous plants</font></div><div><font size="2">Mammals</font></div><div><font size="2"><strike>Reptiles and amphibians</strike> - Taken 8/22/08</font></div><div><div><br><div><div><b><font size="2">Agriculture & farming in Afghanistan</font></b></div><div><br></div><div><b><i><font size="2">subcategories:</font></i></b></div><div><br></div><div><font size="2">Herbs<br>Food plants, irrigation techniques<br>Food and Economy, food customs at ceremonial occasions<br>Land Tenure and property<br>Farm animals</font></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify"><font size="2">If you are interested and would like to submit a document, you and your group will be credited and promoted. There is room for several individuals to work on these topics. Through the Gestalt Group, there will be assistance with gathering information and photographs/illustrations. Please contact me at your earliest convenience and we can work out the details</font><font size="2"> of this incredible project! Be a part of the education process.</font></div><div style="text-align: justify"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify"><b><font size="2">Who am I?</font></b></div><div style="text-align: justify"><br></div></div><div><div class="msg 1st"><font size="2">My name is Cathi L.</font><font size="2">**</font><font size="2"> and I have been a </font><font size="2">Gather</font><font size="2"> member since February 2006. I own a Gather group called </font><font size="2">Michael Yon Dispatches</font><font size="2">***</font><font size="2"> which includes articles from an independent war correspondent named Michael Yon, who embeds with troops, both US and our allies, and writes about his experiences. There are other articles within the group, all relating to support of our military or information on current situations. Allow me to share a little bit from the Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement</font><font size="2">****</font><font size="2">:</font></div><div class="msg 1st"><br></div></div><blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none"><i><font size="2">The Michael Yon Dispatches group was formed to provide a unique perspective</font></i><i><font size="2"> </font></i><i><font size="2">to the general population of</font></i><i><font size="2"> </font></i><i><font size="2">what is happening during a time of war. Following the mainstream media's newsfeeds, watching the television reports and specials, I have come away with a total disbelief of not only the misinformation, but the lack of information about our military, who fights by our side and the countries in which we are fighting.<br></font></i></blockquote><blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none"><i><font size="2">Secondly, I wanted to share a visual panorama of where we are fighting and who we are fighting with or against. Where in the world, what is the history, what are the people like, how do they live, how are we affected, and how are we affecting them. What other </font></i><i><font size="2">countries are our allies and why are they participating? What do they see their involvement will accomplish? What do</font></i><i><font size="2"> </font></i><b><i><font size="2">we</font></i></b><i><font size="2"> </font></i><i><font size="2">see our involvement will accomplish.<br><br></font></i></blockquote><div><div class="msg 1st"><div style="text-align: justify"><div style="text-align: justify"><b><font size="2">What am I looking for?</font></b></div><div style="text-align: justify"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify"><font size="2">T</font><font size="2">hat being said, I am developing ideas for a series of articles regarding Afghanistan and its history. One way to explore history would be to write about traditional Afghani life which reflects the diverse nature of the country itself. Afghanistan has been a cultural crossroads and a political battlefield for a long time, with centuries of invasions and migrations. All of these have created a great ethnic variety within the country, as well as adding to its troubled history.</font></div><div style="text-align: justify"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify"><font size="2"><b>From the website, Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</b></font><font size="2"><b>*</b></font><font size="2"><b>:</b></font></div></div></div></div><blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none"><font size="2"><i>The country has been at war for many years and has suffered tremendous environmental damage and destruction. Afghanistan has an extreme continental, arid climate where plant life is sparse , in the north it is dry treeless steppes in the south desert.<br><br>With low rainfall, the monsoon rains depleting by the time they reach Afghanistan a major part of the precipitation is snow. Common trees in the mountains are deodar, oaks and wild olive in Kunar, Nuristan and Paktia provinces, with poplars, wild hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios is different areas. Common plants in the arid regions are camel thorn, locoweed, spiny restharrow, mimosa, and wormwood, a variety of sagebrush. There are a number of medicinal plants like rue, wormwood, and asafetida.<br></i><br></font></blockquote><div><b><div style="text-align: justify"><div><p class="authors" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><b><font size="2">Agriculture in World History*****</font></b></p><p class="authors" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"><font size="2">By </font><b><font size="2">Mark Tauger</font></b></p><p><br></p></div></div></b></div><blockquote class="webkit-indent-blockquote" style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none"><font size="2"><i>The survival of the human race since earliest times has depended on its exploitation of the land through agriculture. Mark Tauger looks at farming in early civilizations – from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to early China and India – and asks how it is that since farmers have played a critical role in the fate of the species that they have never enjoyed high social status.<br></i></font><br><font size="2"><i>Following medieval farming through to imperialism, agricultural revolution, then to decolonisation, the Depression and the Cold War, this wide-ranging survey brings the story of farming right up to the present day. It examines contentious current issues such as contrasting aspects of overproduction and famine, the role of the World Bank and the IMF, environmental issues and GMO.</i></font></blockquote><div><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><p style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px"></p><div><br></div><div style="text-align: justify"></div></div><div><br></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><b>*</b></font><a id="jicg" href="http://www.hindukushtrails.com/other_trips/afghanistan_flora_fauna.asp" target="_blank" title="Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna">Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</a></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><b>**</b></font><a id="wvga" href="http://catbird707.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Cathi L.">Cathi L.</a></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><b>***</b></font><a id="crj6" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches">Michael Yon Dispatches</a></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><b>****</b></font><a id="pzre" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?grpId=3659174697257807&articleId=281474977741876" target="_blank" title="Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement">Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><b>*****</b></span><a id="b7-i" href="http://www.routledgehistory.com/books/Agriculture-in-World-History-isbn9780415773874" target="_blank" title="Agriculture in World History">Agriculture in World History</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><a id="ch9:" href="http://www.google.com/search?q=agriculture+in+afghanistan+history&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHMZ_enUS328US328&tbo=p&ei=Dh6HSoj0FZiNtgei5dnnDA&sa=X&oi=timeline_other_dates&ct=timeline-other-dates&tbs=tl:1,tlul:1800,tluh:1879" target="_blank" title="Agriculture in Afghanistan History 1800-1879">Agriculture in Afghanistan History Timeline 1800-1879</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1923792082936084652.post-42796066671773217922009-08-16T20:14:00.000-05:002009-08-16T20:15:10.623-05:00Learning History Through Flora & Fauna Part II of a Series<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><div style="text-align: center; "><strong><span style="font-size: large; "><span style="font-size: large; ">Learning History Through Flora & Fauna</span></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: center; "><strong><span style="font-size: large; "><span style="font-size: large; "><br /></span></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: x-large; "><strong><span style="font-size: large; "><span style="font-size: large; ">Part II of a Series</span></span></strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: x-large; "><strong><span style="font-size: large; "><span style="font-size: large; "><br /></span></span></strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span style="font-size: x-large; "><strong><span style="font-size: large; "><br /></span></strong></span></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: medium; ">Why am I writing this article to</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: medium; ">you</span></span><span style="font-size: medium; ">?</span></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: small; ">Hi, would you like to help us write/collaborate on an article or two about the history of</span> <span style="font-size: small; ">the flora and fauna of Afghanistan</span><span style="font-size: small; ">? We would love to feature your thoughts and work in our educational News Room. A quote from Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">*</span></span><span style="font-size: small; ">:</span></div><div><em><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></em></div><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">More than 380 bird species are found in Afghanistan, with more than 200 breeding there.</span></em> <em><span style="font-size: small; ">About a 100 species of wildfowl and birds besides Siberian crane, flamingos and falcons cross over from the Siberian route over Afghanistan in their migration to India.</span></em></blockquote><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 40px; "><em><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></em></blockquote><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Below is a list of topics that can be approached singularly or combined:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">Flora and fauna of Afghanistan</span></strong></div><div><span style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span><div><strong><em><span style="font-size: medium; ">subcategories:</span></em></strong></div><div><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></em></strong></div><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Birds<br />Butterflies</span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Insects</span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Indigenous plants</span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Mammals</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small; "><span style="text-decoration: line-through; "><span style="font-size: small; ">Reptiles and amphibians</span></span> <span style="font-size: small; ">- Taken 8/22/08</span></span></div><div><div><br /><div><div><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">Agriculture & farming in Afghanistan</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></strong></div><div><strong><em><span style="font-size: medium; ">subcategories:</span></em></strong></div><div><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></em></strong></div><div><span style="font-size: small; ">Herbs<br />Food plants, irrigation techniques<br />Food and Economy, food customs at ceremonial occasions<br />Land Tenure and property<br />Farm animals</span></div><div><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: small; ">If you are interested and would like to submit a document, you and your group will be credited and promoted. There is room for several individuals to work on these topics. Through the Gestalt Group<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">******</span>, there will be assistance with gathering information and photographs/illustrations. Please contact me at your earliest convenience and we can work out the details</span> <span style="font-size: small; ">of this incredible project! Be a part of the education process.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">Who am I?</span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></strong></div></div><div><div class="msg 1st" style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: small; ">My name is Cathi L.</span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">**</span></span><span style="font-size: small; ">and I have been a</span> <span style="font-size: small; ">Gather</span> <span style="font-size: small; ">member since February 2006. I own a Gather group called</span> <span style="font-size: small; ">Michael Yon Dispatches</span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">***</span></span> <span style="font-size: small; ">which includes articles from an independent war correspondent named Michael Yon, who embeds with troops, both US and our allies, and writes about his experiences. There are other articles within the group, all relating to support of our military or information on current situations. Allow me to share a little bit from the Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement</span><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">****</span></span><span style="font-size: small; ">:</span></div><div class="msg 1st"><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></div></div><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">The Michael Yon Dispatches group was formed to provide a unique perspective</span></em><em><span style="font-size: small; ">to the general population of</span></em><em><span style="font-size: small; ">what is happening during a time of war. Following the mainstream media's newsfeeds, watching the television reports and specials, I have come away with a total disbelief of not only the misinformation, but the lack of information about our military, who fights by our side and the countries in which we are fighting.</span></em></blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><em><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></em></blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">Secondly, I wanted to share a visual panorama of where we are fighting and who we are fighting with or against. Where in the world, what is the history, what are the people like, how do they live, how are we affected, and how are we affecting them. What other</span></em> <em><span style="font-size: small; ">countries are our allies and why are they participating? What do they see their involvement will accomplish? What do</span></em><strong><em><span style="font-size: small; ">we</span></em></strong> <em><span style="font-size: x-small; "><span style="font-size: small; ">see our involvement will accomplish.<br /></span><br /></span></em></blockquote><div><div class="msg 1st"><div style="text-align: justify; "><div style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">What am I looking for?</span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><strong><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: small; ">T</span><span style="font-size: small; ">hat being said, I am developing ideas for a series of articles regarding Afghanistan and its history. One way to explore history would be to write about traditional Afghani life which reflects the diverse nature of the country itself. Afghanistan has been a cultural crossroads and a political battlefield for a long time, with centuries of invasions and migrations. All of these have created a great ethnic variety within the country, as well as adding to its troubled history.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">From the website, Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: x-small; "><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">*</span></span></strong></span><span style="font-size: x-small; "><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">:</span></strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><strong><br /></strong></span></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">The country has been at war for many years and has suffered tremendous environmental damage and destruction. Afghanistan has an extreme continental, arid climate where plant life is sparse , in the north it is dry treeless steppes in the south desert.<br /><br />With low rainfall, the monsoon rains depleting by the time they reach Afghanistan a major part of the precipitation is snow. Common trees in the mountains are deodar, oaks and wild olive in Kunar, Nuristan and Paktia provinces, with poplars, wild hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios is different areas. Common plants in the arid regions are camel thorn, locoweed, spiny restharrow, mimosa, and wormwood, a variety of sagebrush. There are a number of medicinal plants like rue, wormwood, and asafetida.</span><br /></em><br /></span></blockquote><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><p class="authors" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong><strong><span style="font-size: medium; ">Agriculture in World History<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">*****</span></span></strong></strong></p><p class="authors" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-size: small; ">By</span> <strong><span style="font-size: small; ">Mark Tauger</span></strong></p></div></div></div><blockquote style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: x-small; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">The survival of the human race since earliest times has depended on its exploitation of the land through agriculture. Mark Tauger looks at farming in early civilizations – from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to early China and India – and asks how it is that since farmers have played a critical role in the fate of the species that they have never enjoyed high social status.<br /></span></em></span><span style="font-size: small; "><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small; "><em><span style="font-size: small; ">Following medieval farming through to imperialism, agricultural revolution, then to decolonisation, the Depression and the Cold War, this wide-ranging survey brings the story of farming right up to the present day. It examines contentious current issues such as contrasting aspects of overproduction and famine, the role of the World Bank and the IMF, environmental issues and GMO.</span></em></span></blockquote><div><p style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; "> </p></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><strong>*</strong></span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.hindukushtrails.com/other_trips/afghanistan_flora_fauna.asp" title="Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Hindukush Trails: Afghanistan Flora & Fauna</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><strong>**</strong></span><a target="_blank" href="http://catbird707.gather.com/" title="Cathi L." style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Cathi L.</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><strong>***</strong></span><a target="_blank" href="http://truejournalism.gather.com/" title="Michael Yon Dispatches" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Michael Yon Dispatches</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><strong>****</strong></span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?grpId=3659174697257807&articleId=281474977741876" title="Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Michael Yon Dispatches Mission Statement</a></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); "><strong>*****</strong></span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.routledgehistory.com/books/Agriculture-in-World-History-isbn9780415773874" title="Agriculture in World History" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Agriculture in World History</a></div><div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.routledgehistory.com/books/Agriculture-in-World-History-isbn9780415773874" title="Agriculture in World History" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); "></a><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); ">******</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; ">The Gestalt group is the brainchild of Darren Lynn, Alaska-based, creative and artistic. Based on his desire to broaden others' scope of knowledge and relay the principle that information can be more than just a linear construct. He created this group as a method where people from all backgrounds can work together in a collaborative effort of researching and compiling information, to add clarity and context to a written article, and to generate a wide variety of knowledge.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; ">Based on his desire to broaden others' scope of knowledge and relay the principle thatinformation can be more than just a linear construct. He created this group as a method where people from all backgrounds can work together in a collaborative effort of researching and compiling information, to add clarity and context to a written article, and to generate a wide variety of knowledge.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px; "><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.google.com/search?q=agriculture+in+afghanistan+history&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHMZ_enUS328US328&tbo=p&ei=Dh6HSoj0FZiNtgei5dnnDA&sa=X&oi=timeline_other_dates&ct=timeline-other-dates&tbs=tl:1,tlul:1800,tluh:1879" title="Agriculture in Afghanistan History 1800-1879" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153); ">Agriculture in Afghanistan History Timeline 1800-1879</a></div><div><br /></div></span>Cathi L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10647576436672011007noreply@blogger.com0