11years......2000 dead Soldiers.......11 years.......billions of taxpayer dollars....Where is our victory? We can’t beat a bunch of goat herders in 11 years? I can respect someone’s service and disagree with their thinking. We’ve been 11 years in Afghanistan with no victory in sight. Please argue with me and show how that is success. This Colonel is somehow bad because he trained his Soldiers too hard? So now victory is defined by how happy the troops are? Bullshit. Creighton Abrams was also viewed as being too hard on his troops in WWII. The troops thanked him after the war. There’s a bad case of groupthink going on in the Army and it has got to stop. These goat herders can’t do much to us in the states, but we have other enemies who look at us floundering around in Afghanistan and maybe that emboldens them. The first thing a Soldier is taught is obedience. The first thing an American is taught is to question authority to make sure things are done right. 11 years in Afghanistan......2000 dead Soldiers.......billions of dollars of hard-earned US taxpayer money......for what? So admirals and generals can draw a good retirement? No Sir. There needs to be some good old-fashioned boots put up people’s asses for this. Nelson told his subordinates that they could never go wrong if they placed their ship beside the enemy to fight it out. If this Colonel focused on going after the enemy, then he should be a General.
Such asinine statements vastly oversimplify the situation. You've already shown yourself to be completely ignorant of the situation on the ground over there.
Creighton Abrams was also viewed as being too hard on his troops in WWII. The troops thanked him after the war.
Good for Abrams. If this was WWII, then that would mean something.
Nelson told his subordinates that they could never go wrong if they placed their ship beside the enemy to fight it out.
You insist on making these conventional war similes. Why?
You are trying to change the argument. I distinctly said that his letter contains many valid points. Don’t look to me to defend our political approach to the war in Afghanistan. Within the context of the political approach to our wars of the past 10 years, the Stryker Brigades have been a shining example of success. In my view, the Stryker vehicle was but a small part of this success. Their training, organization, and leadership stood out in comparison with other units. Except for this brigade. It was dysfunctional and it had to do with the command climate issues that all pointed by to Tunnell. Did you know Creighton Abrams? I did. I believe that Abrams would have relieved Tunnell and it would have had nothing to do with how hard they trained.