Afghan Evacuationl; the US Soldier's Perspective

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California

My son served In Afghanistan.
A Seabee, he helped build schools, hospitals, and of course, military structures.
Under fire, under Marine guard, he and his crew went to remote locations to repair and retrieve military vehicles.
On slow days, officers and soldiers lined up outside his 120-degree metals shop to wait while he fabricated parts for their bicycles, and installeded them.
And during down time, he and an Afghan officer shared tea and swapped stories about their families.

(misskey in the title)
 
Last edited:
the afghan crap is just another piece of crap that the US got sucked into by some ego big head in Washington aided by idiot misaligned military advisors. ya we got osama, big deal! pile on the (boots on the ground) and we can win anything. didnt work now and never has. win the hearts of the people, but the people dont want to do it themselves, they want us to do it for them. why should we die for some 8*%^$#&( that wont fight for their country? we learned nothing from past history.... I am beginning to wonder if there was something oddly different about the peoples in the original colonies. Why they felt so strongly about independence that they repulsed a much larger, stronger nation and yet these countries we fight in dont seem to have the same dedication!!


sheesh!!!!
 
Murrmurr said:

My son served In Afghanistan.
A Seabee, he helped build schools, hospitals, and of course, military structures.
Under fire, under Marine guard, he and his crew went to remote locations to repair and retrieve military vehicles.
On slow days, officers and soldiers lined up outside his 120-degree metals shop to wait while he fabricated parts for their bicycles, and installeded them.
And during down time, he and an Afghan officer shared tea and swapped stories about their families.

(misskey in the title)
Click to expand...
We spent trillions of dollars and thousands of lives in order to capture one terrorist. We're nation-building overseas when our own infrastructure is falling apart and we lag far behind the rest of the world with high speed rail. We should have tracked down Bin Laden and assassinated him, which is how we got him in the end, anyway. Or we could have gotten Israel to do it. They're very good at that sort of thing.
 
Irwin said:
We spent trillions of dollars and thousands of lives in order to capture one terrorist. We're nation-building overseas when our own infrastructure is falling apart and we lag far behind the rest of the world with high speed rail. We should have tracked down Bin Laden and assassinated him, which is how we got him in the end, anyway. Or we could have gotten Israel to do it. They're very good at that sort of thing.
Click to expand...
People forget that, while the US agreed to invest the majority of funds, military assets, and troops, this was a NATO mission, an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries, and the mission was to assist the Afghan government in providing effective security across the country and develop new Afghan security forces to ensure Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorists.

Mission aborted. Objective failed.
 
mission aborted? after a dozen years of training? just how long does it take to train a military? after pearl harbor it took us a year to be ready why should it take longer in afghanistan or iraq for that matter... we gave them the training, the weapons(which are now in the hands of the taliban) built facilities for them and guess what? did they fight? nope!!!
people of these third world countries have been at each others throats for so long they dont know how to stop. they dont realize what it is going to take to be independent and free,but they sure want to come here!!!
 
cdestroyer said:
mission aborted? after a dozen years of training? just how long does it take to train a military? after pearl harbor it took us a year to be ready why should it take longer in afghanistan or iraq for that matter... we gave them the training, the weapons(which are now in the hands of the taliban) built facilities for them and guess what? did they fight? nope!!!
people of these third world countries have been at each others throats for so long they dont know how to stop. they dont realize what it is going to take to be independent and free,but they sure want to come here!!!
Click to expand...
It isn't that they don't know how to stop, the conflict is one of theology, which is an endless argument. And their idea of *independent and free* is entirely different from ours.

I use the term Mission Aborted because even after 20 years the Mission was not accomplished.
 
cdestroyer said:
mission aborted? after a dozen years of training? just how long does it take to train a military? after pearl harbor it took us a year to be ready why should it take longer in afghanistan or iraq for that matter... we gave them the training, the weapons(which are now in the hands of the taliban) built facilities for them and guess what? did they fight? nope!!!
people of these third world countries have been at each others throats for so long they dont know how to stop. they dont realize what it is going to take to be independent and free,but they sure want to come here!!!
Click to expand...
Depends what sort of war they are being trained for. Being trained to fight a war that is heavily dependent on air support is not very useful when the planes are not flying because no-one thought to train anyone in the servicing of said planes. It is especially useless when the trainers depart taking all of the air support with them.
 
cdestroyer said:
the afghan crap is just another piece of crap that the US got sucked into by some ego big head in Washington aided by idiot misaligned military advisors. ya we got osama, big deal! pile on the (boots on the ground) and we can win anything. didnt work now and never has. win the hearts of the people, but the people dont want to do it themselves, they want us to do it for them. why should we die for some 8*%^$#&( that wont fight for their country? we learned nothing from past history.... I am beginning to wonder if there was something oddly different about the peoples in the original colonies. Why they felt so strongly about independence that they repulsed a much larger, stronger nation and yet these countries we fight in dont seem to have the same dedication!!


sheesh!!!!
Click to expand...
You know how it feels when dark clouds part, the rains stops, and the sun shines through with its warmth? Thank you for your words. ☀️
 
Murrmurr said:
People forget that, while the US agreed to invest the majority of funds, military assets, and troops, this was a NATO mission, an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries, and the mission was to assist the Afghan government in providing effective security across the country and develop new Afghan security forces to ensure Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorists.

Mission aborted. Objective failed.
Click to expand...
NATO is as much of "an intergovernmental military alliance" as is the 8 provinces of North Korea. Pyongyang tells the other provinces what to do and what to say while Washington tells the other nations what to do and what to say.
 
Last edited:
Murrmurr said:

My son served In Afghanistan.
A Seabee, he helped build schools, hospitals, and of course, military structures.
Under fire, under Marine guard, he and his crew went to remote locations to repair and retrieve military vehicles.
On slow days, officers and soldiers lined up outside his 120-degree metals shop to wait while he fabricated parts for their bicycles, and installeded them.
And during down time, he and an Afghan officer shared tea and swapped stories about their families.

(misskey in the title)
Click to expand...
EDIT: I'm in a foul mood today.
 
Last edited:
Verisure said:
NATO is as much of "an intergovernmental military alliance" as is the 8 provinces of North Korea. Pyongyang tells the other provinces what to do and what to say while Washington tells the other nations what to do and what to say.
Click to expand...
I understand you, Verisure.

I'm aware we are little plastic parts on a massive Chutes and Ladders board, that it's rigged with far more chutes than ladders, and that the plastic pieces never get to roll the dice, they just count off the spaces they bounce on. I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on my son's love-hate relationship with his military career.

Just shy of 30 years ago, at about 4am, after being rode hard and sent home drunk, I was about to drop face-first onto my bed when I noticed the red light flashing on the message machine on my bedside table. It was Grant, my son. He was at boot camp at the time. The recording went, "Dad, I just...I just need to talk to someone. I need to talk to you, Dad." And then he started sobbing. "I've made the biggest mistake of my life, Dad." He was referring to the day he enlisted. The recording went on, Grant choking up, sobbing, bucking up, apologizing.

It was 4am, my son was 800 miles away, and he needed me. I couldn't even feel the who-knows-how-many whiskey shots and rum 'n' Cokes at that point, just a mountain of guilt for not being there when he called. An epic fail. When I finally got a hold of him he said sorry, he was fine, don't worry about it, he'd had a bad day.

Today Grant says that enlisting in the military was hands-down the best decision he ever committed to. He could go on and on about the military–industrial complex, how soldiers are pawns and all the rest of it, but he doesn't. So I just wanted to take a moment.
 
Murrmurr said:
I understand you, Verisure.

I'm aware we are little plastic parts on a massive Chutes and Ladders board, that it's rigged with far more chutes than ladders, and that the plastic pieces never get to roll the dice, they just count off the spaces they bounce on. I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on my son's love-hate relationship with his military career.

Just shy of 30 years ago, at about 4am, after being rode hard and sent home drunk, I was about to drop face-first onto my bed when I noticed the red light flashing on the message machine on my bedside table. It was Grant, my son. He was at boot camp at the time. The recording went, "Dad, I just...I just need to talk to someone. I need to talk to you, Dad." And then he started sobbing. "I've made the biggest mistake of my life, Dad." He was referring to the day he enlisted. The recording went on, Grant choking up, sobbing, bucking up, apologizing.

It was 4am, my son was 800 miles away, and he needed me. I couldn't even feel the who-knows-how-many whiskey shots and rum 'n' Cokes at that point, just a mountain of guilt for not being there when he called. An epic fail. When I finally got a hold of him he said sorry, he was fine, don't worry about it, he'd had a bad day.

Today Grant says that enlisting in the military was hands-down the best decision he ever committed to. He could go on and on about the military–industrial complex, how soldiers are pawns and all the rest of it, but he doesn't. So I just wanted to take a moment.
Click to expand...
I’m with you. I understand you. I was a son 56 years ago in a much dirtier and deadlier war than Afghanistan. So, your relationship to your son is one thing but justifying his war or mine I cannot accept, neither directly, between the lines, sublimely, nor by default.
 
as an aside, let me remind you that the government does not have any money... that is OUR money we paid in taxes of one form or another. The government spends it willy nilly cause how the hell else to you get 23 trillion in debt...sheesh wish my bank would let me do that! (you wanna build a bridge over what swamp?)
 
This Afghan mess reminds me of Vietnam....a huge waste of military resources, and our tax money that accomplished little or nothing. When we bailed out of Saigon, it was left to those people to decide for themselves how they wished to be governed. Now, the people of Afghanistan need to figure out their own future.


The U.S. needs to stop trying to police the world, IMO. Once Bin Laden was located, and killed, our mission should have ended.
 
Don M. said:
This Afghan mess reminds me of Vietnam....a huge waste of military resources, and our tax money that accomplished little or nothing.
Click to expand...
I am compelled to remind you that the "accomplishment" you speak of is achieved in the consumption of both your "tax money" and those "military resources". THAT is the full purpose of such wars.
Don M. said:
The U.S. needs to stop trying to police the world, IMO. Once Bin Laden was located, and killed, our mission should have ended.
Click to expand...
Once again I have to remind you that the U.S. is not policing the world. "Policing" is a smokescreen explanation the government employs to get at your tax money in order to keep the corrupt Military-Industrial Complex machinery in motion. PR-ing the idea that a policing action is needed is a pure concoction with no basis in reality.
 
Verisure said:
I’m with you. I understand you. I was a son 56 years ago in a much dirtier and deadlier war than Afghanistan. So, your relationship to your son is one thing but justifying his war or mine I cannot accept, neither directly, between the lines, sublimely, nor by default.
Click to expand...
I think I should elaborate, just in case there's actually a misunderstanding.

"Today Grant says that enlisting in the military was hands-down the best decision he ever committed to" - not because he's a patriot or believes the US can or should win hearts and minds or anything, but because of who his service made him.

A few months after he got back from his first deployment to Iraq, it hit him that he needed to finally be himself. He divorced his wife, took some courses, and got the civilian career he always wanted (he was a reservist). Time had meaning to him and he started doing what he wanted with it. He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, and even though he's sarcastic, brutally honest, and comes off as a know-it-all, he's very well-liked, even admired...by people who aren't irked by him.

He served in Iraq a second time, and in Afghanistan about 4 years before he retired. He was more *himself* every time he came back. That's what he loved about his 23 years of service. I'm super proud of him.
 
Don M. said:
This Afghan mess reminds me of Vietnam....a huge waste of military resources, and our tax money that accomplished little or nothing. When we bailed out of Saigon, it was left to those people to decide for themselves how they wished to be governed. Now, the people of Afghanistan need to figure out their own future.


The U.S. needs to stop trying to police the world, IMO. Once Bin Laden was located, and killed, our mission should have ended.
Click to expand...
We didn't kill Bin Laden until 2011 after we had already been at war for nearly 10 years, and he was hiding in Pakistan for some if not most of that time. What the U.S. did was the dumbest thing we could have done, which was invade a sovereign country just to go after one terrorist. We should have just hunted him down and killed him. Or we could have put a bounty on his head of a couple million dollars and then just waited. He would have been dead within a month.
 
Irwin said:
We didn't kill Bin Laden until 2011 after we had already been at war for nearly 10 years, and he was hiding in Pakistan for some if not most of that time. What the U.S. did was the dumbest thing we could have done, which was invade a sovereign country just to go after one terrorist. We should have just hunted him down and killed him. Or we could have put a bounty on his head of a couple million dollars and then just waited. He would have been dead within a month.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't even remember being told that's why we went there....to get Bin Laden. If it is what we were told, I didn't buy it.

The reasons I remember were to stop the Taliban and blow up radicalization camps.
 
Murrmurr said:
Yeah, I don't even remember being told that's why we went there....to get Bin Laden. If it is what we were told, I didn't buy it.

The reasons I remember were to stop the Taliban and blow up radicalization camps.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what we were told. Bush said, "We're going to get those responsible," and then we proceeded to bomb the crap out of Afghanistan. And we were going after Al Qaeda — not the Taliban, which is kind of ironic since we created Al-Qaeda when we armed the mujahedeen to fight the Soviet Union. Bin Laden was one of those "freedom fighters" in the mujahedeen that we armed.
 
Irwin said:
Yeah, that's what we were told. Bush said, "We're going to get those responsible," and then we proceeded to bomb the crap out of Afghanistan. And we were going after Al Qaeda — not the Taliban, which is kind of ironic since we created Al-Qaeda when we armed the mujahedeen to fight the Soviet Union. Bin Laden was one of those "freedom fighters" in the mujahedeen that we armed.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, Al Qaeda.

And speaking of the Mujahedin, I'm waiting to see if we give them another go. It won't surprise me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top