Posted on 08/07/2011 7:42:45 AM PDT by joesjane
Today my husband and I mourn the loss of 31 Special Operations Servicemen on last Saturday. Last Saturday my husband lost several friends.
This morning we were listening to the Mike Slater conservative radio show over our morning coffee. His subject of conversation was the loss of these warriors. He posed the question of why are we still in Afghanistan?
Both myself and my husband have served in the middle east, spending time in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. I have felt a growing sense of anger regarding the war for some time and today I was moved to post a vanity comment about this subject. I hope I don't ramble too much and I thank the free republic members in advance for allowing me the opportunity to vent.
Once upon a time I was a rabid supporter of our war effort in Afghanistan. I went over there with what was admittedly a simplistic view. These cavemen facillitated the attack on our civilian population back on September 11, 2001. To this day I have such a hatred in my heart for these people and wanted to do my part to destroy them.
After deploying to Afghanistan I realized the mission was not one that I believed in. Again in my simple view, we were attacked and our military should be over there to irradicate the threat but this was no longer what the mission was. I was appalled to see that our military were hamstrung in order to reduce collateral damage of civilian population and win media and world wide support.
We have spent blood and treasure worth more than all redeamable human beings in that God forsaken region of the world. I am sick in my heart that we lose good men there.
What should we do? I don't know. It is too late now for us to enact a scorched earth mission....that is really too bad. I do know that these warriors are following orders, they will be there as long as they are ordered to be. They will be there until their last breath if it is to protect the homeland. I just hope everyone keeps the families of these men in their prayers, they face a lifeime of grief following the loss of their loved ones.
It is interesting you say that. I emailed out the following WTS quote on 9/12/01 in a longish rant to a large list of friends and acquaintances:
“We cannot change the hearts of those people, but we can make war so terrible...[and] make them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.”
The U.S. basically operated under Grant/Sherman total war doctrine from the Civil War through the end of WWII. We have seemingly forgotten that legacy in favor of kinder, gentler war that has not served the country, and especially our front-line troops, well.
The reason why men “run towards the guns” is thaat their friends are there.
This was my thought as well, that they were set up. One of the men was a former high school classmate of my son. It was a large class, over 1000, and I only recognized his name, however, this is personal. Our men and women are being put in undue danger by a gov’t who is busy playing games with their lives. LBJ boasted that in Vietnam, our military couldn’t blow up an outhouse without his approval, now we have another megalomaniac leading our country, pray for change.
Thank you for your service. We won, we punished the taliban, now lets get out. If they screw with us again, then we go back and scorch their miserable world. There is no need for us to stay.
Long term, Iraq is important, Afghanistan isn’t. Iran? We should have bombed the hell out of their military complexes but not stayed around to rebuild them. I think we should have taken them and Syria out after we rolled over Saddam. It would have saved a lot of our soldiers lives and would have stabilized the area as much as could have been done.
I thought I was the only one who could imagine something this despicable from our CinC. After first hearing this gut wrenching news my intense sadness and sense of loss was followed by the question of why. Only one answer came to mind, one that I never would have imagined in another time in America. This retired O-6 thinks the time to leave these barbarians to their own means has come. Not one of those men deserved to lose their life for this mission.
When my ETS date came up I chose to get out (as do a lot of our people with war time only missions ie: shooters and targeters). I spent the next 4 years in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan along with an awesome job on a little island not too far off the coast of Florida.
To this day I miss it. The friendship and camaraderie surpass all the relationships I ever had here in the states. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but there is nothing like the relationship you have with your fellow troops.
Some, not all of our troops feel this way. There are those in uniform who joined to pay for college or because they have no other opportunities but that is an entirely different discussion. All I can tell you is that in the true warrior community it is very difficult to pull yourself out of the fight.
Now that is what I am talking about. Easily done. Part of me thinks that the only way we will get back to that type of policy is to get a prior service person in the WH.
Thank you Riptides. Freepers are one of the few things that restore my faith in the American people and lead me to believe I did serve some outstanding Americans!
After fighting the war against a state where the American army suffered losses on a scale that we do not want to endure again, Sherman did not manage to wrap up the Indian problems so quickly.
George W Bush and HW Bush, have both dealt with the middle East, and they were ex-military.
Thank you for sharing your beliefs. If we had gone into this to win the war we would be long gone by now. Instead? PC was the weapon of the war. My heart breaks for all who have been lost. It seems SENSELESS. We’re there to protect our own country and yet our own country is fighting a battle from within against terrorists and illegals crossing our borders, killing ranchers etc. Why are we somewhere else giving protection when here at home we are losing the war? God help us all.
Tahnk you and your husband for your service and for all military members around the globe. Our condolences to you on the loss of your friends this weekend. Our hearts and prayers have gone out to their families. We can’t imagine the pain and suffering that is taking place in those homes around the country grieving for the loss of their loved ones.
It’s not right. Protect America first and... with all that is going on here...we need to bring our military home so they can protect the very country they were FIGHTING for. It’s all upside down and frankly...it disgusts me to the bone. I am disgusted with the commander in chief and all politicians who are doing NOTHING. NOTHING!!! They can’t even protect us in our own country. I think theya re all worthless and just damned well don’t know what to do.
Anyway, sorry. I cannot control my passion when I think of all the lost parents, relatives etc we have sacrificed for OTHER countries while our very own is BURNING. God bless you.
From the time we read the news stories my heart was filled with grief. I pray for all that are serving and have served. As well I pray for those who have lost family & friends.
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