To all of those bashing the past admninistration for failures in Afghanistan, let me fill you in on 1st hand knowlege, not second, not something that's been taken of the internet, but 1st hand knowlege- my son was part of the 24th MEU that pushed into Helmand Province during the spring offensive of 2008, for no other reason than the determination of our Marines; their mission was a success, over 1000 enemy combatants eliminated and peace was brought back to the Garmsir district in which our Marines stood static post after the combat was over until they were relieved by the British in Aug 2008. (10) days after our Marines left the British lost the area back to the Taliban- not because of the Brits unwillingness to fight or anything of the sort! My son said they were some of the finest forces he had shared a combat zone with. They lost it because of politics within NATO and lack of support from our "Allies" in keeping this area. As anyone with any clue knows our Marines are a "combat" force, not an occupational force. So the US Marines did their job- NATO didn't as history has told us several times over the years.
Now we fast forward to today my son is still a Marine and currently home visiting his (2) month old son and has just recieved word that his unit (the initial 1000 that keeps getting mentioned in the press)- again- will spearhead the new "push" into Southern Afghanistan and is expected to leave within the next couple of weeks. What people don't realize is that this time it's different for our Marines because their being sent as an attachment to current forces, not as a MEU, for those that don't understand the difference, in simple terms a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit)is self contained, has their own combat support structure etc...for further information on a MEU go to the NATO website and look up the piece they did on the 24th MEU in 2008; (it's a (5) part segment wonderfully done) as I've not got enough time to go into detail. The Marines being sent as an attachement means that they will be DEPENDANT on others for any additional support they might need, i.e. airsupport, artillary, tanks etc... where's that support going to come from? Take a guess- which does nothing to ease the mind of our Marines and their families, in fact, the dangers of this particular deployment are more prevalant than that of the 24th's mission in 2008- and let me state for the record (since that deployment has seemed to have been forgotten about)the 2008 mission was NO pleasure trip for them or their families.
So to all those who like to sit back and arm chair quarteback, second guess or whatever term you would like to use, get over it,we Americans who support our troops and our government (whether Democratic, Republican or Independant administration) and the decisions that are made are tired of hearing from you and the likes of you. Your opinions and comments are insignificant and becomming more so every day.
I am an American, a vetran, son of a WW2 vetran, grandson of a WW2 vetran, nephew to (2) WW2 and (1) Korean war vetrans, and cousin to a Vietnam Marine (3 tours) vetran, and currently a father to a current Marine combat vetran getting ready for his next assignment in the next couple of weeks.
And always remember- this great Nation has an open door policy- you and your kind are free to leave at anytime-
by melchg07 December 1, 2009 12:02 PM EST He already sent 17,000 troops during his first few months as president.
Perhaps you already forgot about that. (hmmm...thats pretty close to the total bush sent in the first SEVEN YEARS) ______________
melch, No, I don't view decisions by this President, through the spectrum of "Bush did blah, blah".....this isn't Bush, it's a new administration....so what, he sent 17k troops....big freaking deal...the community organizer had to actually do his job as CinC
The commander (McChrystal) requests 40-45k to move toward success.
After 12 weeks of sorting through all the information my decision is as follows: Since it takes approximately 1 million per soldier to maintain them in Afghanistan, I would sent in 1,000 marines armed with money. The mission is to seek out the Taliban and give them a "stimulus" check that can only be used for domestic purposes and we can leave in 30 days. Then the rich warlords can fight it out among themselves. Then with the money saved we can buy our way out of the financial mess and pay back our loans from China.
After 12 weeks of sorting through all the information my decision is as follows: Since it takes approximately 1 million per soldier to maintain them in Afghanistan, I would sent in 1,000 marines armed with money. The mission is to seek out the Taliban and give them a "stimulus" check that can only be used for domestic purposes and we can leave in 30 days. Then the rich warlords can fight it out among themselves. Then with the money saved we can buy our way out of the financial mess and pay back our loans from China.
Notice that the very same right wing nuts who cheared on Bush's disasterous incompetence for 8 years and whined that Obama might pull out of the mess Bush made of Afghanistan, are now whining that he's sending in more troops.
The only thing consistent about these rabid, un-American, lunatics is that they will whine and try to undermine everything our President does to fix the mess they created.
Now where are all the teabaggers to protest the amount of taxpayer money for this???? Oh, I get it. We have money to kill people, but not money to help people.
The very same right wing nuts who cheared on Bush's disasterous incompetence for 8 years and whined that Obama might pull out of the mess Bush made of Afghanistan, are now whining that he's sending in more troops.
The only thing consistent about these rabid, un-American, lunatics is that they will whine and try to undermine everything our President does to fix the mess they created.
BeckieBest, the only thing consistent with Beckie, is her obvious obsession with Bush, Jr.....a crush she has on him....notice, how she cannot make any comment without mentioning Bush or the Republicans....I guess she has a massive crush on both....there is no other explaination for her obvious obsession....talk about a nuts, Beckie can fill a jar
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Now we fast forward to today my son is still a Marine and currently home visiting his (2) month old son and has just recieved word that his unit (the initial 1000 that keeps getting mentioned in the press)- again- will spearhead the new "push" into Southern Afghanistan and is expected to leave within the next couple of weeks. What people don't realize is that this time it's different for our Marines because their being sent as an attachment to current forces, not as a MEU, for those that don't understand the difference, in simple terms a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit)is self contained, has their own combat support structure etc...for further information on a MEU go to the NATO website and look up the piece they did on the 24th MEU in 2008; (it's a (5) part segment wonderfully done) as I've not got enough time to go into detail. The Marines being sent as an attachement means that they will be DEPENDANT on others for any additional support they might need, i.e. airsupport, artillary, tanks etc... where's that support going to come from? Take a guess- which does nothing to ease the mind of our Marines and their families, in fact, the dangers of this particular deployment are more prevalant than that of the 24th's mission in 2008- and let me state for the record (since that deployment has seemed to have been forgotten about)the 2008 mission was NO pleasure trip for them or their families.
So to all those who like to sit back and arm chair quarteback, second guess or whatever term you would like to use, get over it,we Americans who support our troops and our government (whether Democratic, Republican or Independant administration) and the decisions that are made are tired of hearing from you and the likes of you. Your opinions and comments are insignificant and becomming more so every day.
I am an American, a vetran, son of a WW2 vetran, grandson of a WW2 vetran, nephew to (2) WW2 and (1) Korean war vetrans, and cousin to a Vietnam Marine (3 tours) vetran, and currently a father to a current Marine combat vetran getting ready for his next assignment in the next couple of weeks.
And always remember- this great Nation has an open door policy- you and your kind are free to leave at anytime-
He already sent 17,000 troops during his first few months as president.
Perhaps you already forgot about that. (hmmm...thats pretty close to the total bush sent in the first SEVEN YEARS)
______________
melch, No, I don't view decisions by this President, through the spectrum of "Bush did blah, blah".....this isn't Bush, it's a new administration....so what, he sent 17k troops....big freaking deal...the community organizer had to actually do his job as CinC
The commander (McChrystal) requests 40-45k to move toward success.
is to seek out the Taliban and give them a "stimulus" check that can only be used for domestic purposes and we can leave in 30 days. Then the rich warlords can fight it out among themselves. Then with the money saved we can buy our way out of the financial mess and pay back our loans from China.
is to seek out the Taliban and give them a "stimulus" check that can only be used for domestic purposes and we can leave in 30 days. Then the rich warlords can fight it out among themselves. Then with the money saved we can buy our way out of the financial mess and pay back our loans from China.
The only thing consistent about these rabid, un-American, lunatics is that they will whine and try to undermine everything our President does to fix the mess they created.
The only thing consistent about these rabid, un-American, lunatics is that they will whine and try to undermine everything our President does to fix the mess they created.