Marines in Afghanistan: A Day in the Life
Wednesday will mark the 8-year anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, and the situation for American troops there is not getting any better.
The U.S. Marines in the country's south face the toughest fight, and the worst conditions, reports CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. They're surrounded by hard-core Taliban fighters in Helmand province, and the local people are often hostile - but sometimes war can deliver the unexpected.
CBS News Special Report: The Road Ahead
For Marine Sgt. Anthony Matthews, the unexpected came in the form of a kiss on the hand from an Afghan child as he taught the youngster a handshake.
Matthews, a father of two, can't resist reaching across the cultural divide - trying to pass on a few American traditions - even here in the most violent part of Afghanistan.
"When you see people that can't help themselves and you can provide them with just a little security, it's worth doing it, and that's the thing about it," said Matthews.
In Afghanistan, that means something different every day. Recently, Sgt. Matthews and the Marines of Echo company used a canal as a secret approach into a Taliban-held village.
After an hour in the water, Marine engineers came scrambling back; they'd found a series of roadside bombs.
It took five more hours of waiting in the water before the bombs were destroyed.
Most days, they have to force their way through thick cornfields because the ground they patrol is so heavily mined with roadside bombs.
Getting through these cornfields is hard because the ground is uneven and it's full of mud. The humidity is stifling and it's hard to breathe, but it's great for cover.
Back at the base, there's nowhere to shower, no way to get comfortable. It's blistering hot and filthy dirty. Marines sleep wherever they can. They haven't washed for months.
"As you can see, just living out in the dirt, that's never good. The shower situation, the bathroom situation... going out every day, getting shot at, walking through the mud... you're never dry you're always wet," said Matthews, "just stuff like that."
What makes it bearable? When the mail truck finally arrives with letters from home.
"It's a struggle. You worry about your Marines here, you worry about family at home, it's hard trying to keep your head in the game," said Matthews. "Try to keep your mind off of home as much as possible here."
Many of these Marines are on their third or fourth deployments, and a lot of them have small children and young wives at home. But you really don't hear them complaining. That's a big part of the Marine culture.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The U.S. Marines in the country's south face the toughest fight, and the worst conditions, reports CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. They're surrounded by hard-core Taliban fighters in Helmand province, and the local people are often hostile - but sometimes war can deliver the unexpected.
CBS News Special Report: The Road Ahead
For Marine Sgt. Anthony Matthews, the unexpected came in the form of a kiss on the hand from an Afghan child as he taught the youngster a handshake.
Matthews, a father of two, can't resist reaching across the cultural divide - trying to pass on a few American traditions - even here in the most violent part of Afghanistan.
"When you see people that can't help themselves and you can provide them with just a little security, it's worth doing it, and that's the thing about it," said Matthews.
In Afghanistan, that means something different every day. Recently, Sgt. Matthews and the Marines of Echo company used a canal as a secret approach into a Taliban-held village.
After an hour in the water, Marine engineers came scrambling back; they'd found a series of roadside bombs.
It took five more hours of waiting in the water before the bombs were destroyed.
Most days, they have to force their way through thick cornfields because the ground they patrol is so heavily mined with roadside bombs.
Getting through these cornfields is hard because the ground is uneven and it's full of mud. The humidity is stifling and it's hard to breathe, but it's great for cover.
Back at the base, there's nowhere to shower, no way to get comfortable. It's blistering hot and filthy dirty. Marines sleep wherever they can. They haven't washed for months.
"As you can see, just living out in the dirt, that's never good. The shower situation, the bathroom situation... going out every day, getting shot at, walking through the mud... you're never dry you're always wet," said Matthews, "just stuff like that."
What makes it bearable? When the mail truck finally arrives with letters from home.
"It's a struggle. You worry about your Marines here, you worry about family at home, it's hard trying to keep your head in the game," said Matthews. "Try to keep your mind off of home as much as possible here."
Many of these Marines are on their third or fourth deployments, and a lot of them have small children and young wives at home. But you really don't hear them complaining. That's a big part of the Marine culture.
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The greatest fighting force in world history and US Marines are treated as if their lives mean nothing just like in Vietnam.
Sending them into combat without the finest equipment and total air support is not negligent, it is criminal.
I hope Obama wakes up and gets rid of all those political generals who jumped up the promotion ladder under GW Bush because they supported his bogus invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
also i am close to a few soldiers deployed there and they have all expressed frustration because they say we are not hearing the whole story and they agree the taliban do not pose a threat to the U.S. They pose a threat to unocal, and from what I understand the majority of military over there believe unocal should protect their own interests or
die trying.
Finally like I said I don't think anyone in Afghanistan had anythingt o do with 9/11 and more and more evidence is sipporting that view, though some believe we should just shut up and accept the official version.
I do however believe if the troops do stay everything should be taken, all natural resources, everything and should be used to strengthen the position of the U.S. in the global economy. If we could keep developing countries from acquiring oil and gas we could slow or stop their economic growth. We live in a world of limited resources so the less they have the more we have. To me it is not about helping others, it is doing what is right for the majority in the U.S., f--- everyone else.
We cannot walk away because it will give them more encouragement to try to bulldoze our civilization by imposing their backward ideology.
I am a Democrat who believes that it might not be a popular war, but it is an important one.
The senior counsel on the 9/11 commission John Farmer has come out and said the whole investigation and the findings are a cover up. This just supports the position that the 9/11 hijackers had nothing to do with Afghanistan, just liek they had nothing to do with Iraq. Does anyone really still believe that the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history was planned and carried out from mud buildings and caves in Afghanistan? There is so much evidence going against this theory it would have been disproved by now if the media were independent enough to ask thier own questions.
Afghanistan and the taliban do not pose any threat to the U.S. They don't have weapons that can even reach here.
People will use the terrorist bogeyman line, but that is getting old. Right now they keep talking about the Afghan national in Denver who was going to make a huge bomb using 18 12 ounce bottles of peroxide. I am not an expert on bombs but I have not been able to find anything saying that small amount of peroxide could be used to make a bomb. Now since this guy will never have a trial by jury, or even a criminal trial we will never hear what actual evidence they have against him. I think he is being scape goated to keep up the pressure to stay in Afghanistan.
The other factor nobody is talking about is the Obama administration has already decided the Hamid (unocal) Karzai will be taying in power no matter what the investigation into election fraud finds. What this means is they tried to cheat to keep thier man in power, but because of UN observers have gotten caught, and are now sayong so what, they guy stays. When you look at it like this you cannot blame the Afghanis from being pissed. They don't owe us anything, we need to get out of their country and leave thier natural resources to them.
Unbearable Heat, Constant Mud, No Showers and Taliban Shooting At them, Marines Still Don't Complain
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Some things never change.