Deadly Afghan Year Takes Toll on 101st Airborne
- Posted on December 26, 2010 at 11:47pm by
Scott Baker
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FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — The 101st Airborne Division, a force in America’s major conflicts since World War II, is seeing its worst casualties in a decade as the U.S. surge in Afghanistan turns into the deadliest year in that war for the NATO coalition.
The Army division known as the Screaming Eagles, formed ahead of the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, has lost 104 men this year — or about 1 in 5 American deaths in Afghanistan. That is close to a toll of 105 divisional deaths in Iraq during a 2005-2006 deployment that was its deadliest year in combat since Vietnam.
The 20,000-strong division from Fort Campbell has been fighting in two of Afghanistan’s most violent regions, the south and the east, since it began deploying in February under President Barack Obama’s plan to roll back the Taliban with more troops. It is the first time the 101st has deployed in its entirety since Gen. David Petraeus led the division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Few are as directly involved in dealing with each soldier’s death as Kimberley McKenzie, the chief of Fort Campbell’s casualty assistance center.
Among the first to be notified after a combat death, McKenzie and her nine staffers ensure families are informed quickly, helping them over the ensuing weeks and months to navigate a maze of paperwork and decisions.
“We can get the calls at 2 o’clock in the morning, and that happens seven days a week,” she said.
In her office, signs of the somber work are everywhere. Electronic bugles — which now replace live renditions of taps at many military funerals — are lined up in cases. A folded American flag, ready to be presented to a wife or a mother, sits on a desk. Wooden ceremonial display cases for a soldier’s awards and decorations are stored atop filing cabinets. A large whiteboard on one wall displays the names of dozens of soldiers who have died this year.
McKenzie, 46, has been doing this job at Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line since the 1990s, through the Desert Storm and Desert Shield operations against Iraq in 1990 and 1991 to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I have been here so long, which can be a blessing and a curse because you know so many of the soldiers,” she said.
After the initial call, her team hurries to find a soldier’s family. From the moment the death of a soldier is confirmed with the Department of the Army, regulations give them just four hours to notify the primary next of kin.
Often it’s a nationwide search for parents or spouses who are far from Fort Campbell. A family may have moved and not told the Army, listed information may be incorrect or the soldier may be estranged from relatives. Too often, she says, a family member is listed as “address unknown.”
She relies on counterparts at other military installations nationwide for help.
The notification process is highly regulated. Word must be delivered in person. Scripts are memorized and read exactly, because there‘s no room for error when giving the saddest news to a soldier’s family. Even a simple typo or an incorrect rank is disrespectful, she says.
“At that moment we have either gained their trust, or we have lost it forever,” she said. “They need to be able to trust us from the time we knock at the door until they don’t need our assistance anymore.”
Once family is notified, her staff helps arrange for relatives to meet the body at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The military is responsible for preparing the body, securing a casket and transporting the remains for the funeral. Within about seven to 10 days after the death, the family visits Fort Campbell to be briefed on what is afforded survivors, including benefits, life insurance payments, social security and health insurance.
Her staff is also responsible for noncombat deaths, such as auto accidents or illness and sometimes suicides or homicides.
She has learned to set aside her own pain over the loss of so many young men and women. Her focus, she said, is on supporting the widows and parents and children.
“We have a job to do for those families and we owe it to them and the commander,” McKenzie said.
Still, she says she cannot ignore the large numbers of soldiers who have died and the sorrow she bottles up sometimes spills over. On average, 11 Fort Campbell soldiers have died each month in combat since March.
“At the end of the month, it’s almost sickening to me as a person,” she said.
This month the division lost six soldiers in a building leveled by an explosives-packed vehicle at a southern Afghanistan base. In November, six other soldiers were shot and killed by a gunman from the Afghan Border Police during a training mission in eastern Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Francis “Frank” Wiercinski, the senior commander at the post during the division’s deployment, said at a news conference this month that everyone at Fort Campbell feels the loss of each soldier.
“One hurts. Everybody knows one. The level of grief that goes through everybody is incredible,” he said.
These days combat deaths don’t always make front pages, although the Kentucky governor orders flags to half-staff on the days of soldiers’ funerals. But McKenzie says she refuses to believe there‘s any lack of respect and honor for the fallen soldiers outside Fort Campbell’s gates.
“That one loss of a soldier is like a nerve center, or a spider web,” she said. “It’s not restricted to Fort Campbell and our community. It reaches so many lives and impacts them.”
Within months, thousands of soldiers from the 101st will begin returning to Fort Campbell to be greeted with cheers and hugs and McKenzie will feel some sense of comfort.
But that relief is tempered by the knowledge that soldiers from other units have taken the place of those Screaming Eagles in the combat zone.
An internal White House review of war strategy released this month showed that the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops this year has halted Taliban momentum in many parts of Afghanistan, but tough combat is expected to continue for years.
“Until they are all home, whenever that happens, there‘s always going to be someone in harm’s way,” she said.
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Comments (138)
GhostOfJefferson
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 10:03amAfghanistan – Where Empires Go To Die ™
If intelligence reports from the military are accurate, there are less than 100 terrorists in Afghanistan that they are pursuing.
How is it, I wonder, that the government(s) of these united States can use pinpoint satellite photography to discover zoning violations in my back yard, yet they need 90k some odd troops and billions of dollars of heavy equipment and munitions to “find” 100 random idiots in a desolate hell hole?
There needs to be an enforcement of the Constitution. No formal Congressional declaration of war, no authorization to send troops to war, period, full stop.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:57amBlinding total Ignorance or a deliberate lie. There’s a hell of a lot more than 100 terrorists in Afghanistan.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:58amAnd Jefferson invaded a Muslim country for supporting terrorism without declaring war. You need to change your name, pinhead.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:13pm@Passerby
I take it then that you’re only for the Constitution when it suits your own particular views, but reject it when it is inconvenient to your goals. Understood.
Discussion should be above the level of ad hominem. May I politely request that we leave the insults and personal attacks and name calling out of the discussion?
Report Post »AmericanSoldier
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:36pmSuch a lose term of Terrorist is exactly what our Big Government types want. I’ve been called a potential domestic terrorist because of certain beliefs. The 100 that Jefferson mentioned is what our intelligence estimates how many Al-Quida members, the big wigs, the guys that actually plot bombings etc. There are definitely a lot of people in Afghanistan that are part of the insurgency, which you associate with terrorist. Insurgents just want to either drive America away or kill as many nasty Americans as they can before they bite the bullet. You would be an insurgent too if we were invaded by a foreign force. I know I would be. I would never let a foreign force occupy my country, my city, my back yard and apparently there‘s enough Afghan’s that believe the same.
Report Post »HellAndBack
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:52amWow… We really have lost it havent we… “OUR BOYS” Volunteered to go. They fight so that tyranny will be defeated no matter where in the world it raises its ugly head. My Son is in the 101st… He Joined so that the People of the mIddle east might taste true freedom and get hungry for it… We were Hungry once. Cold, Hungry, and azz deep in snow… but we Had a purpose. People Died by the TENS OF THOUSANDS to insure freedom… I dont want frivolous waste of human Life… but its My Sons LIFE!!! His FREEDOM and he wants to share it, Maybe even sacrifice it so that Freedom can be seen and felt by every Human. Dreamer? Maybe. but at one time ALL americans were Dreamers and IT CAME TRUE!! Now… Now we squander it and belittle the very thing that Over a Milllion Americans Died Creating and Protecting. Money? sure it matters… what then is the price of Freedom for others? Are we the only ones who deserve it? Oil? yes, its a factor… but only to those concerned about Money. Things of war are paid for so if the Country seeking Freedom has the Means to pay for the asistance, so be it. Did we not once owe a debt to the French (aaccckkkk) and the Dutch? Pray For Guidance and Resolve…
Report Post »May God Bless America Again! Soon.
Nvrforget
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 10:07amMy regards to your son for fighting for what he thinks is just and I hope that he returns healthy and well.
In my opinion, the problem with Afghanistan is that people there don’t want our brand of freedom. Americans knew what they wanted, they stood up for it and fought for it. We won our own freedom. But you cannot force that on someone. To the Afghanis, we’re another invading force, we’re the Russians 2.0 if you will, a foreign intruder in a long line of foreign intruders that need to be repelled.
Report Post »TrueGrit
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 10:21amHellandback…
only those with family on active duty understand.
Only those who have smelled flesh and gunpowder understand.
It’s easy to mouth off sitting on safe soil.
Soil given to them by those of us who have served.
May God watch over our kids… all of them.
Wolverine
Report Post »HellAndBack
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:30amI may be speaking out of turn… but They Crashed Planes Into Our Damn Buildings!!!!! I am Glad BUSH had the Nuts to hit them and stay hitting them. As far as Im concerned I want them hit so Freaking hard that no one would EVER think of attacking USAnything ever again. My country puts out HUNDREDS of BILLIONS in aid from our Government and Private Citizens… HOW DARE they!! We have a Vested right in what they do with the money. SCREW their Impovershed arses!! They put and Keep themselves in these situations. Now Bomb the Hell out of them and MAKE the earth shake. then try once again to put the Giant to Sleep. Only THIS time lets not train the bastard that takes over. Let them have their Civil War… We Did and It made us STRONGEST!!!
Report Post »Bronco II
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:55amMy prayers are with them and their families.But if were not going to let them do what we sent them there to do KILL THE ENEMY please dear GOD let them come home.
Report Post »wampanoag
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:32amThese brave and selfless patriots are giving up their lives in an Afghan civil war that has been going on for 60 years or more. They are not protecting our freedom in the context of the present conflict. We should get out of Afghanistan immediately.
Report Post »Even if Afghanistan became a pristine democracy (which it never will be), the USA will not be any safer from terrorists attack which are just part of modern life. At the fraction of the $150 billion/year that we spend in Afghanistan we can get much better terror detection and prevention program world wide. WE ARE WASTING OUR LIVES AND OUR TREASURE IN AFGHANISTAN!
Outside Looking In
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:59amWill someone please tell me that I‘m becoming so jaded that I’m beginning to believe this Administration is deliberately letting our very best and bravest get themselves killed so as to reduce the total number of those that can stand with us to prevent these socialist/communist/progressives from fundamentally transforming our country?
Obama shows absolutely no interest at all in sincerely ‘winning’ this thing in Afghanistan (no matter how you want to define winning), but seems perfectly content in putting them in harm’s way.
Report Post »What’s the sense in that?
Geopatriot
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:46amI would LOVE to know what the Rules of Engagement (ROE) is for our troops! (When they are allowed to defend themselves) This may be the key to your concerns.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:55amWhat morons, Calling Petraeus “Betray us”.
As someone that opposes dictator and terrorists regardless, it takes the breath away how quickly both parties take the side of our enemies for political gain when they are out of power.
Report Post »jimmythebullet
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:15pmoutside-
Report Post »call me crazy,but that very thought has crossed my mind MANY times.you’re not jaded,it’s just that you have already seen things happen that the “blissfully unaware” asses that used to be friends of mine said “that’ll never happen”.
all you have to do is look at the INSANE ROE’s that our troops are ordered to follow.hell,i‘m amazed they’re allowed to carry live ammo.they’re expected to win an ass kicking contest on one leg.
Helldogger
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:51amEither let ‘em kill the enemy or bring ’em home. They‘re needed here for the civil war that’s comin.
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:25pmThat is PRECISELY why the Traitor-in-Chief doesn’t want them home. Let them rot in Afghanistan, as far as he’s concerned.
Report Post »Sgt.Crust
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:56pmhere, here bullet, you have your head on straight!
Report Post »justice
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 6:21amBring our Men and Women soldiers home. They are fighting morons who will never change, they just want to clam blood on their hands. God bless Our Military.
Report Post »Living In NYC
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 5:48amThis is so sad..so many American losses…and how do the the liberals treat our military?
Our commander and chief has no idea what he is doing to our troops with his war. Didn‘t the Soviets fight the same war in the 1980’s?…And what was the outcome?
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:51amThe United States of America isn’t the Soviet Union. More than 4% of the Afghan people supported the mujadeen, only 4% support your precious Taliban.
Glad to help.
Report Post »Koran Burner
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 4:27amONLY 104?!? WTF do you think the Paratroopers sighn up for??? THIS IS WHAT WE DO! KILL and DIE for SHCMUKS who have NO idea what is behind the MOTIVATION for our actions!
It is called sacrafice.
Report Post »PoliticallyAwake
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:45amTotally tangential from the story: is it just me or did anyone else notice the photo headlining the story is faked? The bullet coming out of the gun – two things strike me – the shutterspeed speed of camera required to stop a bullet and the fact that it looks like the whole shell casing is being fired with the slug plus the trajectory in relation to the barrel seems off. Just curious if this is some photoshopped stock image or an actual AP photo and if the latter, why would they do that?
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:26amWhat you are seeing is the spent shell casing being ejected from the weapon. Due to the angle from which the photo was taken it appears to be going out the barrel. It is not the bullet going down range and is not a doctored picture.
Report Post »DVT
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:15amHooah! Fallen, but NOT forgotten!
Report Post »TrueGrit
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 10:07amSeems like most above have missed the point!
As a Combat Vet with a son out of the 101 and another LTC AF Surgeon,
I feel for the men and women and their families. Fighting for a cause that most Americans
are far from in body and thought.
We will never change these people. Generations of nomadic fighters. That’s all they know.
Our government is clueless. They are as corrupt as the Afghan leaders and just plan stupid.
The 101 and 82nd will always fight on, as does Sp Ops, etc. and all the kids in service.
How many in Congress have family in the srevice?
Maybe pelosi should spend times shaking scorpions out of her fancy shoes every morning.
Bring them home.
Stop sending financial aid to them all and let them self destuct.
Maybe Clinton should not have destroyed most of our B52′s.
Drones and Carpet bombing would save many brave soldiers.
It is sad and frustrating to sit by and watch this tragety unfold.
God Bless the 101, 82nd, 1st Cav., 10th Mountain, etc., etc.
Wolverine
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:06amWe won in Iraq. Our kids did it. And we’re winning in Afghanistan.
What Petraeus did isn’t complicated. If you can get the locals to point at the bad guys, we can kill them dead. All you have to do is get them to point. That’s what we did in Iraq, and that‘s what’s happening in Afghanistan. And most of it is simply having our kids hang out with them. Stay in the same place and protect them. Our kids make the sale on a personal level.
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:14pmLiar.
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:17pmSorry, politically dyslexic liar.
Report Post »AmericanSoldier
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:28pmWhere’d you get that statistic, btw?
We won in Iraq? Interesting. Noted. Point out the bad guy, huh? I’ve had to go around several villages with a biometric scanner. Do you know how many of these guys were detained by American forces? I was amazed! If I got a positive result on the scan, it was almost guaranteed they were detained. A majority of those detailed (based on the subnotes on the system itself) said they were falsely accused by a rival/business competitor/feud and was released. Released after about five months or more of processing and imprisonment. I’m sure they have nothing but good things to say about America.
Things aren’t so black and white on the ground. The bad guys and the innocent local nationals know one thing. The bad guys will kill the family of those that help Americans. They both know the American‘s won’t do anything if they don’t cooperate. Guess which option they choose? American forces can’t protect them 24/7. Afghan police are easily corruptible. The local ANP near my FOB had their entire staff FIRED at one time, multiple times, for fear of corruption.
Good luck winning.
Report Post »AzDebi
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:49amThank God for those men and women who have given their lives for our freedoms…lets work hard to make certain that we keep America strong here at home so that those who return home safely return to a country worthy of their sacrifices!
We need to always remember the thousands of men and women who do return home but suffer from permanent disabilities as a result of their injuries…
How Webster the Monkey Helps An Injured Marine
Webster works like a service dog, but he isn’t one. And he sometimes acts like a bratty little kid, but he isn’t that either. Webster is a 21-year-old capuchin monkey that lives with Marine Cpl. Tim Jeffers, who lost his legs, right eye, part of his right forefinger and part of his skull in Iraq in 2006.
Jeffers, 25, lives with Webster in an apartment in San Diego. Through intensive rehabilitation, Jeffers can move about with the help of a wheelchair or custom made prosthetic legs. But tasks like turning on a light switch and using a remote can cause him great pain, which is where Webster comes in.
“To me, the most indispensable thing about Webster is his companionship,” says. “If someone would point a gun at Webster, I would actually jump in front of the bullet for him. I never thought I would say that in my life about anybody.”
The 5-lb. monkey was trained by Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, a Boston-based organization that trains monkeys to assist those with disabilities.
Helping Hands placed Webster with Jeffers in 2008. It typically takes time for new recipients to acclimate to their furry companions, but for Webster and his new master, it took less than a week. 15 months later, Jeffers may only be his master in theory.
“I still pay the bills, but he tells me what to do,” Jeffers says. “He gets fussy, like a little kid. He always wants my food, even though he isn’t going to get my food.”
That’s because Webster has a restricted diet, one that’s limited to protein and complex carbohydrates. Even though he loves oatmeal and chicken, Webster is “a fiend for Cheetos,” Jeffers says.
It’s trying to keep the Cheetos and pizza away from his monkey, along with all the other facets of being responsible for Webster’s care, that keep Jeffers going.
“Webster has this way of really making Tim happy,” says Jeffers’s mother, Brenda Pitts. “Webster is his reason to get up every morning, and that is good. I am glad that he has Webster.”
If you go to youtube you can also search to find videos of these Capuchin monkeys…they are amazing!
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:33am\As a former Screaming Eagle & recent combat vet of the GWOT – thank God for the casualty assistance office. They are providing an important & sacred service.
Casualty assistance duty was the only mission I ever truly feared but while in harms way I was comforted to know it was there for those left behind.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:27am(P.S. Obama campaigned for his first cousin Odinga that burned the Christians alive, men, women and children. Odinga says he’s his first cousin, Obama says he’s not sure.)
Doesn‘t excuse taking the Taliban’s side againt Petraeus and our kids dying over there.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:23amWASHINGTON — The deadliest group of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has not conducted a complex large-scale attack in the capital city of Kabul for seven months, its momentum stymied as elite American-led commandos have escalated raids against the militants’ bomb makers and logisticians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/world/asia/27policy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Even the NY “Saddam’s Little Helper” Times admits it as the Republicans scramble to the Taliban/Al-Qaeda’s rescue.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:15amWar in Afghanistan: A ‘breeze of change’ blows in helmand
As British troops spend their 10th Christmas in Afghanistan, Thomas Harding reports on growing signs of success in the fight against the insurgency.
…Commanders are understandably reticent about trumpeting success in Helmand but they are getting close enough to whisper phrases such as “irreversible gains” and “unstoppable momentum”…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8226342/War-in-Afghanistan-A-breeze-of-change-blows-in-helmand.html
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:12amCould the increase in casualities be due to Obama‘s tying the soldier’s hands behind their backs due to the increase in combat restrictions on them? Hey, with Obama giving medals for restraint, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out his agregious criminal intent.
Of course, the government-media is not reporting on this war in Afghanistan at all. Could that be because their Messiah is in office and he could do no wrong? Ah, yes. I’m sure it is.
I‘ve been hearing atrocious things about PM Karzai and his acceptance of huge amounts of cash from Iran and that he’s bragging about it. If so, why isn’t this being reported on? What are our troops fighting and dying for over there, I’d like to know, if we are accepting a corrupt government run by a corrupt thug who’s bragging about receiving blood money while our troops are dying?
Also, I’ve been hearing that condoned pedophilia is going on in the same tribe that Karzai comes from where they are openly flaunting their men-boy criminal behaviors amongst themselves. This was leaked by Wikileaks just recently and there’s tapes to prove it. I’ve viewed the sickenly disgusting tapes and it made my blood boil since these same duplicitous Muslims are stoning women to death and openly beheading people for committing much lesser crimes than this. I guess it’s okay for the Islamic male supremacists to do anything under their brutal Sharia Laws, just because they can. They’ve got a good game going on, don’t they? They put their women under a stumble-shroud, and stone them for not wearing it, and then they have their 4 wives and unlimited temporary wives, and any other sordid thing that they can think of, and they get away with it!
I find it reprehensible that Barack Obama knows that this is going on yet he does nothing about it.
Of course, Barack Obama, while he was a Senator and was the only one to vote for not giving a baby born from a botched abortion medical care, went to Kenya and supported another thug-leader Raila Odinga, who, when he lost the elections there went on a rampage and herded over 50 Christians into a Church and set it on fire and burned them alive, and when they tried to escape hacked them to death with machetes. Yes, this is the Barack Obama you all don’t know about. A ruthless man, who hides behind his fake politician’s smile and sit-on-the-fence-ethics and a heart of stone to boot.
I want to see more coverage of this war in Afghanistan that Barack Obama was going to end. Just another one of his fake-promises he’s broken, of course. Because he can. He’s the messiah and he can do no wrong! The post-American president of no-values.
I’m sure if there was a Republican in charge that the usually Liberal fawning press would have been all over these huge casualties in Afghanistan by now. Meaning that it was never about the deaths of our troops at all, and all about the partisan politics for them. As always.
One thing I do know is if O-ba-ma is condoning PM Karsai’s disgusting behavior and tying our soldiers hands behind their backs in this huge battle against the insane mass-murdering Islamists who are still living in the Stone Age and have killed over 270 million non-Muslims in the 1400 years that Islam has been in existence, then he’d better start pulling our soldiers out of there asap. Any CIC who would put our national treasure at risk for these thug-leaders is a criminal as far as I’m concerned. Let’s not be hypocritical about this War on Islamofascism, shall we?
If we’re at war, since they’ve declared it, let’s fight it and hold their thug-leaders to account. Otherwise pull the hell out of their riddled-in-crime countries!
Now!
Report Post »The Third Archon
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:15amSounds like the good ole days when Reagan was in charge and we were cutting deals with dictators “fighting” “communists.”
But no one can dispute that Karzai is a soiled piece of trash and should be put in the ground.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:16amNow the Republicans are calling Petraeus “Betray us”.
That didn’t take long.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:18amAs if our government isn’t corrupt and rotten to the core too. As if every government in the history of the earth hasn’t been.
Any excuse for the Republicans to abandon our kids fighting to defend us, with 90% support from the Afghan people.
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:10pmTHANK YOU, Silent Reader, for pointing out the man-boy rape Muslim societies secretly practice while publicly condemning homosexuality. Perverted sons of the evil one.
Report Post »Flux
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 4:31pmAMEN!!! @SilentReader!!!
Report Post »I could not have said it better if I had a hundred years to prepare my comment. You are all over it! I don’t know how these corrupt bastards sleep at night with all the blood on their hands. They obviously do not have a conscience. I’ll never understand it, it is sickening.
The Third Archon
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:08amI take solace in the fact that for every one of ours lost, we kill 10, 20, 25, sometimes even more of theirs. Our soldiers are doing what they do best–killing the enemy, and I wonder at how many extremists can be left. I mean, it can‘t be good for recruitment at your local terror cell knowing that every battle you engage with the Americans you’re liable to just be the next class of cannon fodder for you extremist imam so they can mow you down with their tanks and humvees and .50 cals and their slick @$$ rifles that hit stuff from a mile away, and their bombers, and their…
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:01pmThe new “Medal for Courageous Restraint.” How’s that for a weapon against jihadist terrorists, huh? I know where this traitor-in-chief belongs.
Report Post »AmericanSoldier
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:19pmAnd what you don’t understand that not all of the 10,20, 50 or more that are killed were Taliban. Every time an innocent is killed by Coalition forces, their numbers grow. I would join the insurgency in a heart beat if some international police force came to America and dropped a bomb on my house, killing my entire family. Collateral damage to you is not the same to them.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:07am4% of the Afghan people support your precious Taliban/Al-Qaeda. America is winning.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:56amWell didn’t take long for the Republicans to going back to supporting the terrorists against America.
Report Post »twofoot_trucker
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:00amYou are a broken record, and a fool.
Report Post »Passerby
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:04amBetter than a supporter of the terrorists against our kids fighting to keep us free.
Report Post »Jsh1284
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:20amWhat? Supporting terrorists? I think you’ve got it backwards, my friend. Obama is weak on terrorism. He thinks he’d even got to be politically correct with Islamic Extremists! The socialist progressives will be the downfall of this nation. They are allowing Mexican drug runners to poison our youth as an invasion is happening every day on our southern border! Furthermore, by pussing out on extremism, these guys are going to become more freaking powerful in the end. Sure, he sent more troops to Afghanistan .. but we need more. PLUS .. we need restrictions taken off our soldiers so they can defend themselves more freely. Obama won’t have it though ..
Report Post »Jsh1284
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:25amPasserby .. it’s funny how you attack the only group of politicans who are supporting our “boys” in Afghanistan. The Dems certainly won’t support the war. Libertarians want us to go cower in our little slice of the world. It’s only conservatives who are pushing to win the war. You are politically dyslexic.
Report Post »Jsh1284
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 3:27amAt the same time, independents America is divided 50/50 on whether or not they want to have pizza or dung for dinner ..
Report Post »New-American-Saviors
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:36amWelcome to the Real World ! We should stay soverign and self reliant…a little late now though if not impossible. Quit being the World’s Peace-keepers, Police and Charity fund !
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:44amyes bring them home tomorrow, why are we over there ?
Report Post »Just a distraction so the Banksters can rob us blind.
Supreme Galooti
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:19amThe very most unfortunate thing of all is that we cannot trust our own government who is putting these men in harms way. The integrity of Congress is completely nonexistent, and THEY are the watchdogs who are supposed to monitor the integrity of the military command, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs, et alia. Furthermore, we cannot rely on our news “professionals” to bring anything of a positive nature to the issue – with altogether too few exceptions.
It is a most sad state of affairs, and it is fraught with peril.
Report Post »Supreme Galooti
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:43amI believe that no President should be allowed to commit troops to a foreign conflict for more than two weeks without a formal declaration of war. Period.
Additionally, any time our troops are engaged in battle overseas ALL enemy combatants – including American lawyers – should be subject to immediate lethal action. Incidental civilian casualties should never be a factor, especially when dealing with human fecal detritus like muslims (who, by the way, are not fit to clean the latrines for the likes of the Japanese soldiers we faced in WWII.) A war properly executed in Afghanistan should take no longer than a year or two before they are abjectly defeated, and the country is being run by AMERICAN military command. But then one must ask the previous question, “What are we actually DOING there anyway?”
Report Post »Nvrforget
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:02am“A war properly executed in Afghanistan should take no longer than a year or two before they are abjectly defeated,”
Those people resisted the Russians for years who didn’t care about war crimes or human rights. Most of the adult population knows nothing but warfare. Why do you think we should be victorious where the Russians failed? The Afghans will never stop fighting the invader because that’s all they ever did for as long as they can remember.
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on December 26, 2010 at 11:59pmIts Bush’s fault.
Report Post »We know
TruthTalker
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:14ampay attention to what evolves.
Report Post »Koran Burner
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 1:22amBeating a dead horse DON’t make a fight out of it! WHEN are you A$$ hats gonna get it through your thin heads that Bush was only a PART of the problem, and he was nothing more than an extention of his FATHER and CLINTONS administraitions!!!@ Ya frikkin DOLTS!!!!
walkwithme1966
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 2:22amIt doesn’t matter whose fault it is – it is just tragic that we keep losing the young men and women of our country for a war that many are not sure we should be in. They are our future and many of them will suffer for the rest of their lives, as well widows and orphans of those killed. Its ashame!
Report Post »http://maboulette.wordpress.com
kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 5:18amAf-Pak is Obama’s war: “American candy for jihadist IEDs.” TRAITOR.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 7:17amOur traitorous politicians continue to play their games and line their pockets, while their schemes and incompetence are paid for by the blood of our soldiers, who get little or nothing in return for their sacrifices. As a veteran and parent of a deployed soldier, it outrages me to see our men and women in uniform being maimed and killed, trying to protect a country that the traitors in Washington are working overtime to destroy.
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:20amIf Afghanistan was the terrorist’s base, we should’ve wiped them off the face of the Earth, instead of invading Iraq before the job was done.
Report Post »Now, we have a perpetual corrupt government sucking us dry, in blood and treasure.
So yeah, it is Bush’s fault.
wesaluteyou
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:39amReally? Bush went to war on his own?
Report Post »Congress Approves Iraq War, Friday, October 11, 2002
The Senate approved the measure 77-23 early Friday morning, the House voted for the resolution Thursday afternoon, 296-133.
Stuck_in_CA
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:52am@wesaluteyou
I refer you to the postings of Supreme Galooti
Says it very well.
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 9:55am@wesaluteyou
Posting of Nvrforget also nails it.
Report Post »hickoryrat
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 10:40amThese and all other troops need to be on our border.
Report Post »Sinista Mace
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:17amAll blame is attributed to Lucifer.
Bush worships Lucifer.
He will receive his share of hellfire.
Report Post »Sgt.Crust
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 11:43amEVERY stinking politician out there lies and they plot to ruin our country, it is not one man’s fault, it is ALL of them, so get off the high horse of blaming one person for this country’s ills – the progressive communists come in all stripes, Dem, Rep and Ind, they all line their pockets and rape WE THE PEOPLE every day!
Report Post »kryptonite
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 12:53pmStuck_in_CA
Sure, man! Bush should have disregarded world intel and let Hussein take over all the oil fields of the ME. Yeah, carry on, Saddam — just ’cause the gutless libs say so!
After the Iraq surge was a success, the bad guys started their exodus (back) to Afghanistan. However, Obama polarized Pakistan even before he took office, when he said he would invade them if need be to win HIS war. Moreover, he created new ROE, and if you don’t believe he f***-ed up Afghanistan as well, then you are conveniently disregarding your own lib source from Rolling Stone Magazine.
Obama destroys everything he touches. His handling of Marjah was criminal. He should be put on trial as traitor to his troops for that. HIS counterinsurgency strategy, exemplified by the new Medal for Courageous Restraint, is NOT the same as Bush’s. Obama is a Muslim traitor who wants our troops to keep the enemy contained, but won’t let them fight to win. This losing war in a nuke country is OBAMA’S WAR.
Report Post »AmericanSoldier
Posted on December 27, 2010 at 8:12pmI’m tired of the deaths, the loses, the grief. I’m tired of how often we have remembrance ceremonies here on Fort Campbell. I was selected to be an usher at one remembrance ceremony because one of the soldiers was from my BN. It was heart wrenching seeing the families, the friends, especially the kids. The first moments of the day that almost had be on the ground was in the family room when the first family walked in and the little son (roughly 4-5 years old) of the fallen soldier walks over to the table where his fathers photo was and said “Look mom it’s daddy!” too young to really understand that he’ll never see his father again. If I hadn’t been in a position where I needed to show strength and support, I would have broken into tears that moment.
None of it is worth it. My company didn’t lose anyone this deployment (we did have some loss of limbs, etc) or the 2008 deployment, but I want all my friends back home today. Bring the troops home, NOW!
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