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OT: Afghanistan from a soldier's viewpoint

Hi everyone.

I'm still alive but freezing my tail off. We got 8 inches of snow last week and it reached 5 degrees below zero that night. That's not why I'm e-mailing though.

You may have heard about a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul last Thursday. It was at one of our FOB's (Forward Observation Bases) about

27 miles from here.

But the real story is why no one was killed. We employ several thousand Afghans on our various bases. Not to mention the economy that is fed by the money these locals are making.

Some are laborers and builders, but some are skilled workers. We even have one Afghan that just became OSHA qualified, the first ever. Some are skilled HVAC workers. Anyway, there is this one Afghan that we call Rambo. We have actually given him a couple of sets of the new ACU uniforms (the new Army digital camouflage) with the name tag RAMBO on it.

His entire family was killed by the Taliban and his home was where our base currently resides. So this guy really had nowhere else to go.

He has reached such a level of trust with US Forces that his job is to stand at the front gate and basically be the first security screening.

Since he can't have a weapon, he found a big red pipe. So he stands there at the front gate in his US Army ACU uniform with his red pipe.

If a vehicle approaches the gate too fast or fails to stop he slams his pipe down on their hood.

Then once the gate is lifted the vehicle moves on the 2nd gate where the US Army MP's are. So he's like the first line of defense.

Last Thursday at 0930 hrs a Toyota Corolla packed with exp losives and some Jack Ass that thinks he has 72 Virgins waiting for him approached the gate.

When he saw Rambo he must have recognized him and known the gig was up. But he needed to get to that 2nd gate to detonate and take American lives. So he slams his foot on the gas which almost causes the metal gate to go up but mostly catches on the now broken windshield.

Rambo fearlessly ran to the vehicle, reached thru the window and jerked the suicide bomber out of the vehicle before he could detonate and commenced to putting some red pipe to his heathen ass.

He detained the guy until the MP got there. The vehicle only exploded when they tried to push it off base with a robot but know one was hurt.

I'm still waiting for someone to give this guy a medal or something. Nothing less than instant US citizenship or something.

A hat was passed around and a lot of money was given to him in thanks by both soldiers and civilians that are working over here.

I guess I just wanted to share this because I want people to know that it's working over here.

They have tasted freedom. This makes it worth it to me.

JOHN W. HUNT, CPT , US ARMY

Operations Officer

Bagram Afghanistan

--Andy Asberry--

------Texas-----

Reply to
Andy Asberry
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Hey TMT,

Don't let your justifiable cynicism with regard to the Iraq mission colour your evaluation of Afghanistan. The Afghan action was demonstably justifiable, and may be (probably is) achievable with regards to the mission. Both of those are points of distinction between the two actions.

The US readers my not be aware that there a couple of thousand Canadian troops stationed as part of the NATO mission in S. Afghanistan. They are not subject to "caveats" (kinds of action the government won't allow them to be deployed to), unlike most of the W. European members of the NATO mission. They have seen real fighting, and taken significant casualties. All this is just to say that w/ regards to Afghanistan a Canadian's opinion is not entirely hypothetical (unlike Iraq). I don't like the casualties (obviously), but I don't feel they are useless, and from what I've read reported, neither do our troops.

Adam Smith Midland, Ontario, Canada

(I'm not expressing an opinion with regards to Andy's post, it isn't relevant to my opinion on the mission.)

Reply to
Adam Smith

OSHA Qualified.

Bravo Sierra detector confirms BS.

Reply to
clutch

I completely agree. There is way too much on the line for anything other than complete honesty and sincerity in discussing this stuff.

Adam

Having said which, I now go back into lurk-mode. It is early in the year for me to have used up my annual OT quota!

Reply to
Adam Smith

Are you so biased you can't separate the war from the warriors?

The group asked for a real report from a real soldier. Here is one right between your eyes and you don't recognize it. As you go through life looking through your brown stained glasses, guess what the world sees on your face?

--Andy Asberry--

------Texas-----

Reply to
Andy Asberry

"Andy Asberry" wrote

It's the neo-cons who fail to "separate the war from the warrior". Anyone who supports _the_troops_ would pull them out of Iraq. Whatever the neo-cons may be supporting, in Iraq, they are not supporting _the_troops_. Even in Afghanistan, the best thing _for_the_troops_ would be to _not_ be in harm's way. If you support a war (any war) because you think it is essential to our national security, you may be right or you may be wrong. But if you support a war (any war) because you think that's how to "support the troops", you are neither right nor wrong but merely confused.

Well, what we _see_ is a post from you. Having seen bogus "points of view" posted before now, we are naturally suspicious of our lying eyes.

-- TP

Reply to
tonyp

There is no "point of view" here, merely a report of one incidence on one morning. How one powerless man made a difference in the world.

Our soldiers are human and have performed many compassionate acts while in combat zones. From a lone puppie to an orphaned child to whole villages. Things happen in life; things happen in war. Some tragic, some heroic, some damn hilarious.

We can debate the war but that is not what this thread is about. I appreciate you having a position. I loathe those who are ambivalent because they think it doesn't concern them.

--Andy Asberry--

------Texas-----

Reply to
Andy Asberry

I whole heartedly supported the invasion or Afghanistan and the ouster of the Taleban. I thank God NATO is in charge there, instead of George W. Bush.

That has nothing to do with the veracity of your story.

LIes do the most damage when they are used in a well-intended but ill-conceived effort to defend objective truth.

Reply to
fredfighter

That is exactly where we disagree.

Reply to
fredfighter

"Gunner" wrote

Does the military exist to serve the nation, or is it the other way around?

Do we owe "the troops" our moral and financial support if being "on the ground" is _their_ idea?

Unlike Gunner, some of us actually believe in the Founders' idea that government is set up to do the bidding of the citizenry. The military is part of the citizenry, but so is the IRS. Should we set tax policy based on what "job" IRS agents "WANT" to do?

-- TP

Reply to
tonyp

Your goal post change is again noted. Wasnt it YOU that claimed we would be doing them a favor by bringing them home? Now you suddenly change your tune..and no longer doing them a favor...when that favor means keeping them there is important to you.

Typical leftard hypocrit. And an utterly predictible fool.

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Reply to
Gunner

Good story, Andy, thanks

Andy Asberry wrote:

Reply to
Rex

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