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An Afghan teenager killed an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck while he played with a group of local children, officials said Monday.
May of 2012 I started calling for the immediate withdrawal of all of our soldiers since they are not allowed to do their jobs anymore of being an Army who’s job it is to kill bad guys and destroy our enemies. Telling out enemies when we will leave does nothing than embolden them to wait us out.
I have said it on this blog in the past, the Afghans have a saying of “The Americans may have the watches, but Afghans got the time” and now they know how long they have to wait for us to be gone. So why do we continue to keep soldiers on the front lines being wounded and dying for objectives (if there are any) that cannot be achieved by next year.
Lets be honest here, as the number of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan get cut over the next 20 months, the soldiers that are there will not be focusing on warfighting or even training Afghan forces. They will be focused on helping pack stuff up, closing up FOBs and shipping stuff home, which means we are essentially ending our kinetic operations a lot sooner than the end of 2014.
So I ask why are we going to hang around? Why are we going to watch our sons and daughters be murdered like the soldier mentioned above? Not just murdered, but murdered by a Afghan child who he was trying to bond with and show humanity to.
My heart bleeds for this family to know they lost their loved one via an unselfish act their soldier was performing trying bond with Afghan children.
The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in Taliban attacks last year, and officials said Tuesday that there was actually no change in the number of attacks on international troops from 2011 to 2012.
The corrected numbers – from the original reports of a 7 percent decline to one of no change – could undercut the narrative promoted by the international coalition and the Obama administration of an insurgency in steep decline.
So it seems that a “clerical error” continues to try and support the notion of faking progress.
In mid-December, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said “violence is down,” in 2012, and that Afghan forces “have gotten much better at providing security” in areas where they have taken the lead role. He said the Taliban can be expected to continue to attack, “but overall they are losing.”
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman George Little said Panetta was “concerned to learn of the errors” and was only very recently briefed on the matter.
“This particular set of metrics doesn’t tell the full story of progress against the Taliban, of course, but it’s unhelpful to have inaccurate information in our systems,” Little said.
I chalk it up to Panetta, who in my opinion is probably the worst Secretary of Defense this country has had in 40 years, trying to pad his legacy and resume as he walks out the door as the self-proclaimed champion of military equal opportunity.
It supports why I think he is one of the worst as he tries to spin the numbers and make it look like our warfighters are not fighting the hard fight, like they know they are. This country deserves more than putting lipstick on a pig and calling it pretty. It deserves the damned truth, as ugly as it may be. Our young men and women are not being wounded and dying for politicians to cover it up and create a great sounding soundbite on the 6PM news.
The Afghan president has ordered US special forces to leave Wardak province within two weeks.
The decision was being taken due to allegations of disappearances and torture by Afghans considered to be part of US special forces, said a spokesman for Hamid Karzai.
The strategically significant, central province of Wardak has been the recent focus of counter-insurgency operations.
Don’t just stop there Mr. Karzai, let us help you get them out of every province and in fact not just Special Forces. Lets pull ALL US FORCES out of all of Afghanistan in the next two weeks. Come on, you got it Karzai, you can do it, you and your grotesquely corrupt government and your falsely inflated numbers of an Army and Police force. We have been there since 2001, and training your forces since 2002. You surely have it all together by now. You can plan, lead and execute military operations like the best coalition partners helping you out. You can maintain your force and equipment conduct support missions by air and provide all the medevac and other combat multipliers with ease and without our help.
So go big or go home, Karzai, kick all of our forces out, and with our forces will go all their equipment, weapons and oh yeah….MONEY. You know the stuff that pays your salary and the salary of your entire government because you can’t secure your country enough to provide a development and extraction of raw materials which could be extracted and sold on the world market in order for you to have a GDP.
I call on our Administration and Military leadership to give the Mayor of Kabul what he wants, complete control over his security forces and the security of the country. Start demolishing they new, big buildings on Bagram, shipping out all the MRAPs and don’t let the door hit us on the way out. Bring every C-5 and C-17 in our inventory to Afghanistan and start filling them to the brim with troops, ammo and equipment.
It is time to go, actually it has been time to go for almost a year now.
Oh and Mr. Karzai, don’t call us, we will call on you….when we see terrorists starting to organize and plan inside your borders again. And that calling will be in the way of JDAMs, Tomahawks and AC-130 Specter Gunships.
…by adding more enemy fighters to try to kill out soldiers
KABUL, Afghanistan — Some 250 prisoners formerly held by the U.S. have been released by Afghan authorities in hopes that this will lead to reconciliation in the 11-year conflict, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.
Police Maj. Jalal Uddin said that 80 were freed from prisons across the country that day, the latest batch of a total of 400 to be released this week. The released prisoners had been captured in operations against the Taliban and other groups.
“We are certain they can help to bring peace in Afghanistan and will support the government,” he said. Uddin said that members of the Afghan High Peace Council as well as relatives were at the Kabul prison for the release. The council is tasked with seeking a peace agreement with the Taliban and other militant groups before NATO, including the United States, withdraws most of its forces by the end of 2014.
The council also hopes that the release of 26 Taliban prisoners by Pakistan over the past two months will help end the conflict, with the freed serving as intermediaries between Kabul and the Taliban leadership.
I just picked this up on military.com and it continues to strengthen my stance on why our soldiers needs to be out of Afghanistan like YESTERDAY! I had a great talk with my one son who was born on a military base and has been an Army brat his whole life. A boy who watched his father and then older brother both go to Afghanistan. Yet still wanted to go to The Citadel and would love an Army contract to serve as an officer himself. He has always been very worldly and still is. He pays attention to areas of the world that usually only our intelligence agencies do like Africa and South America.
Anyway we talked about this topic at great length, including my post http://www.bouhammer.com/2012/05/this-is-it-bring-our-troops-home-now/ that I wrote last year.
Here are the facts, we have a highly effective and very successful military. The reason our military has so many marks in the WIN column is because we do what military organizations are supposed to do, we kill the enemy, destroy their infrastructure and protect the innocent people. We are not an Army of nation builders, well diggers or educators. Yes we can do that, but our primary mission that every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine is trained to do from day one is to kill our enemies with extreme prejudice and do it quickly with minimal damage to those that are not a threat.
If you want our Army to do that, then let us do our jobs. If you want to close with and destroy the enemies of our nation, then our Military is the group to answer the call. If you want to nation-build, fund development projects and over-see Government building then call the State Department. That is their responsibility.
To release our known and proven enemies back on to the battlefield (yes the entire country of Afghanistan is a battlefield) is just a slap in the face of all those risking their lives every day and essentially makes our troops cannon fodder.
I am not a cut and run guy by any stretch of the imagination, however if the Govt. of Afghanistan continues to do this kind of crap they might as well be the enemy. What is the difference between Pakistan and Iran moving fighters into Afghanistan to battle our troops and the Karzai Government releasing experienced fighters back into the fight? None, so as far as I am concerned the Govt. of Afghanistan may as well be the enemy themselves. The quandary I am in is if you read the link to the blog post I put up last year you will see our own military has been doing this too.
In light of all that I feel stronger than ever that if you are not going to let our military do the jobs they are trained to do, you are going to restrict their abilities with insane Rules of Engagement and you are going to release known bad dudes back into the world to try to kill them, then BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW.
The draft handbook offers a list of “taboo conversation topics” that soldiers should avoid, including “making derogatory comments about the Taliban,” “advocating women’s rights,” “any criticism of pedophilia,” “directing any criticism toward Afghans,” “mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct” or “anything related to Islam,” according to the Journal.
Yes there is a new handbook being considered for our soldiers in Afghanistan that tells them to ignore some of the most basic human rights and values we as a sane western society adhere to, pedophilia.
I have written about this and many other atrocities conducted by the Afghan security forces that our soldiers have to deal with and struggle with in how to react. Now the Center for Army Lessons Learned has seriously drafted a handbook telling soldiers that speaking up about these and other “taboo” things in the Afghan lifestyle is why the forces we have been embedded with for 10 years are all of a sudden turning on us an trying to kill us.
The draft of the newest Army handbook seems to suggest that ignorance of Afghan culture is to blame for deadly attacks by Afghan soldiers against the coalition forces, according to The Wall Street Journal, which got a peek at the 75-page document. But its message of walking on eggshells around the locals is not going over well with U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top military commander in Afghanistan.
Do they think our soldiers just recently started these practices? I was there FIVE years ago and I admonished Afghan soldiers for homosexual acts and drug use on missions, beastiality, and pedophilia among many other acts of indecency and unprofessionalism. There were green on blue acts back then but DOD and ISAF were not tracking them. They didn’t officially start that until 2009. However I never felt threatened by an Afghan for talking to them about these things. They only time I or anyone on my team felt threatened is when we tried to correct an act by an Afghan which put the lives of US soldiers, Afghan soldiers, Afghan civilians at risk or compromised a mission. Not every time these things happened, but some times when they did.
I am encouraged to see that Gen. Allen thinks this handbook is crap too.
“Gen. Allen did not author, nor does he intend to provide, a foreword,” said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. “He does not approve of its contents.
As long as he holds his ground and is not forced by the administration to allow this handbook then maybe there is a chance this will never see the light of day. Regardless this just shows how disconnected some senior leaders in our military have become, along with other “experts”.
Whoever authored this handbook and approved it, needs to have their teeth kicked in and then sent to Afghanistan to live among the locals for a few months. Then I would like to see how touchy-feely and PC they would like to be.
They next thing they are going to say is that we should not talk bad about, cuss out, or say anything derogatory about the Taliban as it may upset them and encourage them to try and kill us.
The winter 2012 Afghanistan deployments have been announced. The 101st and 10th Mountain continue to contribute to the war effort.
DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation
The Department of Defense today identified three major units to deploy as part of the upcoming rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan. The scheduled rotation involves two infantry brigade combat teams one with roughly 1,400 personnel, the other with roughly 2,800 personnel and one division headquarters with roughly 620 personnel to rotate in winter 2012 and spring 2013. The deploying units include:
Brigade Combat Teams:
1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
DoD will continue to announce major deployments as they are approved. For information on these respective deployments, contact the following: 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, contact the 10th Mountain Division public affairs officer at 315-772-7634; 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division Headquarters, contact the 101stAirborne Division public affairs officer at 270-798-9962.
The Department of Defense today identified two major units to deploy as part of the upcoming rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan. The scheduled rotation involves one armored brigade combat team with roughly 1,390 personnel — and one combat aviation brigade with roughly 1,700 personnel to rotate in winter 2012. The deploying units include:
Brigade Combat Team:
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Combat Aviation Brigade:
1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Bliss, Texas.
DoD will continue to announce major deployments as they are approved. For information on the respective deployments, contact the 1st Cavalry Division public affairs office at 254-287-9400 and the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 915-744-8406.
I wonder at what point did OPSEC get thrown in the trash in the interest of political fodder. Our fathers and grandfathers who have fought before us must be having fits or turning over in their graves for those who have left us.
We might as well be yelling to the enemy that they should attack now because we are the at the lowest level of combat readiness in two years.
In the military we have a saying “stay in your lane”. What it means is don’t stick your nose in someone else’s business. Stay in your lane and focus on doing your job and what is required of you, not worrying about someone else.
I have told my boys so many times that “if you worry about yourself as much as you worry about someone or something else then you would be squared away and never be in trouble.” In fact I have actually told many soldiers that too.
So here is an example of a guy who I have met and interviewed in person (and is someone I really liked and respected at one time) going way out of his lane….
The top U.S. military official has asked a Florida pastor to pull his support of an anti-Islam film that may have played a role in inciting protesters who attacked U.S. diplomatic posts in Libya and Egypt.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with Terry Jones by phone Wednesday morning to voice his concerns.
“In the brief call, Gen Dempsey expressed his concerns over the nature of the film, the tensions it will inflame and the violence it will cause. He asked Mr. Jones to consider withdrawing his support for the film,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said.
He is the friggen Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so his focus should be on talking to the members of the military, DOD Civilians, Congress and the President…NOT a private citizen.
A couple of weeks ago he stepped out of his lane and out of line by saying former and retired military members should not be talking about politics. Apparently he missed the memo that said once your service is done you can say whatever the hell you want. Most in the military community chalked that up to him just trying to appease his boss, The President, and keep his job.
However calling this pastor has nothing, and I mean NOTHING to do with his job. If anyone, it should have been Secretary of State Clinton that made the call, not a military general.
In fact if as a Four-Star General he really believes the attacks yesterday have anything to do with some little film trailer on You Tube and not connected to the anniversary of 9/11, he needs to put his stars on the desk and walk out out the door, because he is not smart enough to have that job.
That pastor has every right guaranteed every American citizen to say what he wants. In fact he didn’t even make the film from what I understand, he is just supporting it. If idiots in this country can wear valorous medals and pretend to be war heroes and degenerate snot-nosed in-grateful hippies can walk on and burn the flag, and the Westboro Church inbreds are free to protest military funerals and spread hate, then I think this pastor can say whatever the hell he wants.
DOD Identifies Units For Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation
The Department of Defense today identified three major units to deploy as part of the upcoming rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan. The scheduled rotation involves three brigade combat teams (BCT) – one Infantry brigade combat team with roughly 2,800 personnel; one armored brigade combat team with roughly 4,000 personnel and one infantry brigade combat team with roughly 2,870 personnel — to rotate in winter 2012. The deploying units include:Brigade Combat Teams:
The Bouhammer [boo-ham-er] blog is owned by a 22-year Retired Army First Sergeant. It is now one of the leading and award-winning blogs written primarily on operations in Afghanistan and other military related topics. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy what you see. If you care about what is happening in the land where the attacks of 9/11 were planned and if you care about our military, this is the blog for you. Click Here to Contact Bouhammer
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Bouhammer Polls
When is the right time to leave Afghanistan?
NOW, as in pull all our troops out TODAY (38%, 24 Votes)
We should have left years ago (16%, 10 Votes)
After we have killed all the enemy and the Afghans can support themselves (16%, 10 Votes)
By the end of 2012 (8%, 5 Votes)
We should never totally leave. We should leave a presence there like we do in Germany and Japan (8%, 5 Votes)
Other (Please leave a comment explaining your other option) (6%, 4 Votes)
By the end of 2013 (6%, 4 Votes)
Whenever the military leaders say it is time to leave (5%, 3 Votes)
By the end of 2014 (3%, 2 Votes)
Whenever the President says it is time to leave (0%, 2 Votes)
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