Family members of the two dead Marines are saying so. Benghazi isn’t the only bloody disaster being covered up by the Obama administration. As I reported in a series of columns and blog posts last fall, three days after the deadly siege on our consulate in Libya, the Taliban waged an intricately coordinated, brutal attack on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. Two heroic U.S. Marines — Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible and Sergeant Bradley Atwell — were killed in the battle. Many surviving Marines have been honored for their brave, quick-thinking actions to save their comrades and civilians caught in the crossfire. [...]
How Aboot Some Coffee, Eh?
THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST THINGS I’VE SEEN IN AGES. God bless our brothers, the Canadians!
The Parwan Transfer
ETP0802 sent this in: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States agreed on Saturday to transfer to Afghan control a prison that houses insurgents and other dangerous inmates adjacent to Bagram airfield, the Pentagon said. The agreement, reached after a week of intensified negotiations between U.S. and Afghan officials, calls for the formal transfer to take place on Monday and includes assurances that inmates who pose a danger to Afghans and international forces will continue to be detained under Afghan law. … A formal ceremony transferring the last prisoners to Afghan custody collapsed at the last minute two weeks ago when [...]
Stray Voltage
Stray Voltage According to Battlelands Secretary Hagel is asking the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to reconsider the precedence of the “Distinguished Warfare Medal?” While I initially thought this much ado about nothing, I realized it really was important when you consider racking and stacking of who has done what in a combat zone. Given the constant brouhaha over the Bronze Star I think we need to reconsider our wartime awards. Let’s separate awards for Valor from awards for Meritorious Service. Instead of Awarding a Bronze Star with V Device; let’s instead award a Bronze Cross or the Bronze Military [...]
The Hurry to Get Out of Afghanistan
“Kajaki Dam project reportedly on the horizon in Afghanistan.” As The Associated Press outlined this weekend, USAID is forging ahead with the project, relying on the premise that Afghan forces will be able to provide the security needed to get the job done. Afghans interviewed in the story sound doubtful it’ll work: … That was in January. The doubts proved well founded. Now, we read this: “$100 Billion in Aid Squandered in Afghanistan.” The decision by the United States Agency for International Development to scrap the completion of a dam project meant to supply electricity to Kandahar, the spiritual home of [...]
“Sketching the Drawdown”
By way of the great Mike Fay, here is part 6 in a series of combat art pieces by free-lance artist and former Marine Rob Bates in Afghanistan. A sample:
From the WSJ: “When the Fighting Stops”
MDL tossed this our way, and we are glad he did. For many of you, this will undoubtedly sound a familiar note. For over a decade now, operations overseas offered tens of thousands of young American men a good opportunity to go and do what young men have done for centuries. One need neither to love the cause nor hate it– nor, indeed, to embrace the idea– to recognize the allure of the promise of a good hard fight against a capable adversary in a far-off and storied land. So, when the fighting stops, what then? For many of them, [...]
DUFFELBLOG SCORES AGAIN: DUNFORD AND AFGHANISTAN
THIS is pure genius. PASHTYLVANIA, AFGHANISTAN – Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, Jr. confirmed late yesterday that he has accepted a wager to spend no less than one year in the supposedly haunted command of United States Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A). Legend has it that there is a terrible curse on the command, located deep in the foreboding mountains of Afghanistan, and that inexplicably bad things happen to the careers of unwary commanders. “I don’t like this,” says Dunford’s career, folding its arms and staring out of Dunford’s car at the darkening sky as they drive up the winding switchbacks toward [...]
Heroes With Four Legs
For several years, Rebecca Frankel has been writing a weekly column about War Dogs and their contributions to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is a link to her latest installment. I have for a number of years believed that our military ought to have a way to officially recognize the heroism of these dogs. I also am of the belief that we owe them a great deal and that our nation can afford to care for them when they are no longer able to serve as Military Working Dogs. As soldiers their only fault is they are loyal to a [...]
Two Items re Afghanistan
Two items; one to be read: When you accompany our men on patrol, you cannot help but admire their fortitude. Each grunt — Army or Marine, adviser or squad member — straps on 95 pounds of armor and gear, goes through the checklist of tactical procedures, and steps in line behind the point man with the metal detector. They will walk carefully in single file for the next several hours. Over the course of his seven-month deployment, each one will sally forth about a hundred times, covering six to eight miles in every day or night patrol. He will take [...]
