Editors Note < I normally just post a link to entries I write for the VAMC blog, but I wanted to get some circulation on this one so I decided to post a duplicate version here. On another note, I know there are some who read my blog routinely and will read this and may think they want to nominate me. Please don’t. I have already had more than my fair share in the spotlight last year. There are many, many others out there proudly serving who deserve this a lot more. >Editors Note

The Army Times has opened nominations for the 2008 Nominate a Hero contest. It is actually not just Army Times, but all the different publications of the Military Times papers. So not only a Soldier of the Year, but also a Sailor of the Year, Airman of the Year, Marine of the Year, and Coastguardsman of the Year.

Anybody can nominate any serving member, regardless if they are active duty, national guard or reserves. The nominee does not have to be someone who saved a life, was wounded or even served in war. It can be anyone that any submitter thinks is a hero, and as long as the person can submit a good reason in 300 words or less. There are thousands serving that are probably very deserving of this honor, but only one can be awarded. However, if you donÂ’t nominate that person who you feel is a hero how will you ever know?

Go to www.militarytimes.com/smoy/nominate.php?pub=arm to put in a nomination.

In a follow up to earlier posts I have written about Garry’s Doonesbury strip where he is covering the character Toggle as he is medevaced from Iraq and back to Walter Reed, military.com writers have interviewed Garry about how he gathered the information for the strip and how he prepared for it. If you click on the link below, it will take you to the military.com story. Within the story is a link to the actual interview.

It is a good read and I am very proud to say that at least one of the references in the interview is to me. Well I can say that I did tell Garry about hooking the ipod into the Humvee intercom system, so I will assume he is talking about me in that part of the interview.

The link is www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161971,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

This is the third draft I have written for this post in the last several days. The reason I have started and stopped so many times is because there is so much news coming out of or about Afghanistan, I am not sure where to stop or start. The headlines have been attention-grabbing from “Afghanistan is a Lost Cause” to “A Surge is needed” to “Afghanistan could destroy Nato”. Well in reference to the last one, I could only hope so, of course that is just my humble opinion.

Anyway, the point of this blog is to point out to anyone reading it that I hope you are keeping up with what is going on. I predict right now that 2008 will be the year that makes or breaks us in Afghanistan. SecDef Gates is going a great job calling our ‘allies’ on the carpet and telling them to put some skin in the game, there are not enough troops there (even with a small increase of 3200 Marines, by the way I refuse to call a battalion-sized element a surge). Right now, he and Secretary Rice are flying all over the world trying to diplomatically pressure and convince these supposed allies to step up to their commitments. Personally I think all our Government needs to do is buy commercial air time on their local channels and show footage from 9/11 and then show these countries the pictures that came out in the days following 9/11 where many in most of these countries setup memorials and made statements like “we are all NYers or Americans right now”, they should also play the recordings that I am sure the White House has of the phone calls from their elected leaders pledging support and committing to do whatever they could. Well guess what, it is seven years later and we have not forgotten the offer. The side of the Pentagon may be repaired and the ground may be filled in out in Pennsylvania, but there is still a huge hole in downtown Manhattan, we still have Air Marshalls on our flights, there are over 3,000 families missing loved ones at the dinner table. There are still American service-members, along with some “true” allies dying on the sands of Afghanistan. The fight is not over, not by a friggen long shot.

The Commanders on the ground have made statements from this will be a light year for combat because they think the enemy will focus on Pakistan; to this will be the worst year ever. Personally I see no reason why the trend wonÂ’t continue, which means it will be the worst year ever. It has been a harsh winter over there so far with over 750 dying because of the cold and snow. The Afghans donÂ’t see the government helping them while they are watching family members dying because of the lack of infrastructure. So this means that come spring and summer when the bad guys move back into the villages they will capitalize on this fact and sway the easily-influenced locals to support them. In addition to that, the enemy has seen how big of a deal the recent Kabul hotel bombing was and how much attention it grabbed. Bombing and attacking public places has been the norm in Iraq for a couple of years now, but it has not been the norm in Afghanistan. I predict to see many more of those too. The enemies in Afghanistan are 2-3 years behind the enemies in Iraq on weapons, technology, tactics, techniques, and procedures. Unfortunately I think we will see this trend in Afghanistan this year.

Why would some radical young muslim studying under a radical mullah in Pakistan need to travel all the way to Iraq to martyr himself and head on up to heaven to get 72 virgins when he could just ride over the border in a taxi and do it within a few hours of his house?

The independent think tank that made the recommendations to the Administration for the surge in Iraq that was so successful in Iraq this last year has just wrapped another brainstorming session and has come up with new, unsolicited recommendations for Afghanistan. Guess what, they are suggesting two more Army Brigade Combat Teams and a Marine MEU to join the two Brigades that are currently there, the 3200 Marines heading there, and the Task Force Phoenix Brigade that I was part of (which is responsible for training and leading the Afghan Army and Police forces). That will essentially put two and a half divisions on the ground. This is a start and has been something I, and others on my team have been talking about for a while. Afghanistan is huge, very spread out and very rural. In order to be everywhere and make sure we have eyes on as much real estate as possible in order to keep the enemy from moving in, we have no choice but deploy those levels of forces into country.

One of the guys that will start posting blogs on this site soon sent me an email today and phased it better than I ever could have. He said, “It is hard to have a real impact when there are so many issues going on to resolve, simply not enough troops or equipment to go around, but that is the MO for all the AO’s*. For every foot print we leave, a fierce wind storm seems to erase soon after we depart. Keep the faith that is all I can say. The men and women are doing their best with what they have here.” If that does not put chills down your spine, then I guess you donÂ’t read those statements for what they are. National Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty soldiers are over there, sometimes in groups small enough to count them on one hand, running around with Afghan police and army and no other support. They are doing awesome things, making differences with the locals and performing heroic deeds all without support from higher. I never realized all we accomplished while I was there living it, but did after I got back and reflected on the days, the attacks and the firefights. I am truly amazed and believe it is an act of God and a miracle that my team made it back. I cannot say enough prayers for my Brigade, my friends, and most importantly my son as they are about to head over and take over the Task Force Phoenix mission.

Now can you see why I have had a hard time writing this one, I am all over the map.

Until the Next RantÂ….

*AO- Area of Operation

I have reached out to several guys I know that are currently deployed in Afghanistan and have asked them if they would like to blog on this site. I have had some agree to do so, so I hope to have some recent “downrange” stories posted on here soon. The people I have asked represent a cross-section of soldiers that are from all different locations around the country. I am hoping this will provide all of them the therapeutic release that blogging provided me, plus give the readers of this blog some new insight in the lives as a soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008. Keep an eye out here for these new stories showing up soon.

I found out today from an old friend (State Command Sergeant Major Gordon Choate) in Alaska that my old LRSD Sergeant and good friend Rick Morlock died last July in an apparent accidental drowning in Alaska. Rick was the Senior NCO in my Long Range Surveillance Detachment (Airborne) in the Alaska National Guard. Rick, along with my wife Christine pinned on my E7 rank when I was promoted a few months after leaving the Active Army and joining the National Guard. He selected me to be part of the team to represent the Alaska National Guard at the 1998 Leap-fest International Parachuting Competition Team where I placed 8th place out of 300 competitors. Rick had also put me in for Pathfinder School (which was a school I wanted my entire time in the Army), but was unable to attend because of my new civilian occupation.

He ran the Mt. Marathon Race every July 4th weekend in Seward, Alaska and our family went down there a couple of years to watch him race, running all the way to the top of the mountain and back down to finish every time. He was a family man, with a large and loving family. Our families had cookouts and enjoyed some quality times together. The one thing I remember most about Rick besides his running of the race in Seward every year, was his love of his family and how much he was looking forward to retiring and spending quality time with them.

He died boating across a famous lake in Alaska called Lake Louise (which I fished in quite a few times), taking supplies to his cabin. He never made it to the cabin, and after someone saw his boat making circles in the lake with the motor running they launched a search looking for him. His body was found a day later and from what the Troopers concluded, he fell in somehow and the waders he was wearing filled with water and caused him to drown.

Rick will be missed and I am truly sorry that we did not stay in as close as contact as I would have liked. I am also very sorry that I never knew about him passing until now. He was a soldier, a patriot and a hell of a friend. Rick I am sure that you are enjoying the fu-fu smelling soaps in heaven old friend. Remember Jumpmasters never die, they just go off of jump status.