Perspectives

Ahmed Wali Karzai's Assassin Trained by CIA

Sardar Mohammed, the assassin of Ahmed Wali Karzai, is a story of intrique, of espionage, of double and triple crosses, but in a different time or if his target had been a different man, the accusations would implicate the CIA in the deed.  It demonstrates the complexity of Afghanistan, and of international politics. 

For years, the Obama Administration has run a smear campaign against Ahmed Wali Karzai, accusing him through the MSM of being a corrupt War Lord and Drug Runner.  Why not?  The Administration has been campaigning against Hamid Karzai since Obama took office.  Wali was simply a good excuse to be against his brother.  It turns out, the President's brother was not only an influential member of Afghan society, but used his personal finances to pay the Police when the government defaulted.

Is There a Limit to Human Endurance?

Can a man endure great adversity to infinity?  Does each have a specified limit? Is tolerance to adversity built over time?  Does negative reaction build like a poison in a mental appendix until it must be removed?

I believe it was Dr Grossman who quoted a WWI Study that found that Soldiers could endure approximately 100 days of constant combat before they were combat ineffective.  "Shell-shocked" was the term of the day, but today it is called PTSD, or a variant thereof which recognizes that the extreme stresses of combat change a  person's outlook on the world, as well as their means of dealing with the "real world."  Throw in the most common injury of today's battlefield, TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), which was once simply called a "Concussion," and it can be difficult to truly assess what caused wires in the Veteran's mind to become crossed, whether the mental burden of imminent death, or the physical injury of jarring the brain.  The symptoms are too intertwined, as well as is the event, to scientifically assess.

Today's battlefield is as different from WWI as WWI was from Revolutionary War battles.  It is different from WWII and from Viet Nam.  Today's Warrior is also  different.  In early wars, a Soldier knew he was on the battlefield or in the rear.  In Centuries past, a Soldier might fight before a gallery of historians, family, and other onlookers.  In WWI, they might await the next suicidal charge ordered by their commander, or the enemy's commander, for a few yards of ground.  But Soldiers weren't given a mid tour break to visit their family, and they weren't shipped home after a year.  They fought until the war was over.

On Today's battlefield there are no front lines, though there are large FOB's, with their own stressors.  The first modern case of what could be called PTSD, I saw, was of a Soldier who never left the FOB and was not ever in real danger.  He had simply put up with too much BS for too long, and cracked.  The members of the unit that were out running and gunning came out of the tour, ready for a break and a return to the battlefield.

For those of us that were there in the early days, we can appreciate the amenities now available, such as CHU's (tin sheds to live in), a Burger King on the FOB, a hot shower, and a porcelin toilet, while still realizing the spartan nature of the lifestyle, foisted upon those willing to defend Freedom.  A tin shed beats a tent flapping in a hot sandstorm, but it's far from the luxuries of a barracks room, or a small apartment.  And a tent is better than sleeping in a rain soaked trench.

A Soldier will always romaticize that some of the stupidity will go away when they finally get into the combat zone, where people should be less concerned about powerpoints and the freshness of a shave, than a full combat load of ammunition, and the availability of the right equipment to get the job done.  But when the Sergeant Major of the Army takes a special trip to Iraq to brief the Troops on how the repeal of DADT will affect them, it demonstrates the mood of the leadership, as to what is most important to them.  When the post Command Sergeant Major demonstrates more concern for the wearing of a reflective belt than the operational capacity of the Soldier's weapon, it tells the Troops that the focus isn't on combat ability, so much as ensuring a risk averse climate.

And when these Troops, either combat or combat support, return to the "real world," they will be changed.  They may avoid long lines, out of a lack of tolerance for standing around for something they don't have to.  They may avoid crowds, as something they've already experienced too much of.  They may value their alone time more, as something they've had too little of.  They may have little tolerance for a slow, inefficient, apathetic clerk, as something they no longer have to put up with.  And at the same time, may let an insult roll off their back, as pointless, inconsequential, and unactionable.

A Veteran may appear to be emotionless, but often this is the honed ability to control emotion.  Control.  A Soldier learns to control everything that is in his control, and often to accept all that is out of his control.  Worrying over things one is unable to change is unproductive, frustrating, and can lead to an inability to control that which they can influence.  But give a Veteran a responsibility, and the authority to influence the results, and the task will be performed to perfection, with a tad bit of self-chastisement for not achieving more.

The Human Being is a resilient creature.  Our WWI and WWII Veterans went on to lives of great success in the Civilian World.  Our Viet Nam Veterans succeeded greatly, after a longer period of re-adjustment, and provide a path to excellence.  Our current generation of combat Veterans are fighting new battles at home as they did abroad.  They didn't fight the Forgotten War, as did Our Korean War Veterans, but neither have their Viet Nam era Brothers allowed them to be embattled by Our Own Citizens  when they return.  They don't get parades as did Our WWII era Brothers, but they aren't spit on as were Our Viet Nam era Brothers.

Perhaps, this will be remembered as the Ignored Wars, rather than the Forgotten War.  To win would take decades, and Americans just can't seem to take that much time out of their trips to the mall to buy the latest Chinese products, while bemoaning the unemployment rate.  Too many citizens would prefer to spend tax dollars on UAW bailouts and government subsidized electric carts than on the weapons of war and Soldiers to secure our Nation.  Too many would prefer to save money on a foreign car than to spend the money on the car their neighbor built.  Too many would prefer to complain that manufacturing is moving overseas, than to spend the extra money to get a quality product built at home.  Too many would rather have a management or service job than toil at the factory.  Too many would rather complain that Government should do something about the Greedy Corporations, than do something about their own purchasing decisions.  Too many want the easy life, rather than the life of sweat and blood and sacrifice, or even to pay those that are willing to live such a life to secure their easy life in Freedom.  Too many prefer "free" to Freedom.

The Veteran will wonder if it were selfish to leave before one more tour of risk and sacrifice, or a worthless sacrifice to go when the Citizenry couldn't even bother to know what he did.  The Veteran will wonder if his brothers needed him one more time, or if the protected would rather have the money to pay for free cellphones for the projects.  And the Veteran will watch as the Citizenry bicker over what to do with the money "saved" by delaying his retirement check for 30 or 40 years, and increasing his financial obligation for the care of the wounds he endured.

Across the Political Divide

In one small University, in one small department, is one small woman, who happens to be dating a Soldier.  Though she's in the minority in many ways, she's not a minority based on skin color or other accepted "minority" standards, other than her sex, which isn't a minority in the Nation (roughly half of the population) and certainly not the environment. 

As an anomoly to the culture, her colleagues take swipes at her beliefs in politics.  At times, it's merely an attempt to convert her to the party of their indoctrination.  At others, it's expressed as a hostility to the criteria by which she votes.

But she is the only connection her co-workers have to the military, so she is awed and shocked, that they find that to be a reason why her Soldier would not support their party.  Somehow, the majority at her workplace, having no connection to the military, have come to the conclusion that the Troops support retreat from  Afghanistan.   For some reason, they have swallowed the line that the Military would prefer "ending the war" over winning it.  For some reason, this crowd forgets why we went to Afghanistan, and thinks that 'ten years is enough.'

Declaring Independence & Other Thoughts on the 4th

Another Veteran emailed me this morning to wish me a Happy 4th and express some of his thoughts on the 4th of July, including how he read the Declaration of Independence, again, to remind him of its importance.  That inspired me to post it to our own site.  And in reading, I had many thoughts, but didn't feel it appropriate to write them there.

I remembered how the current officeholder, in two consecutive speeches, omitted "endowed by the Creator," in an awkward pause, that I interpreted as confusion as to what to do with a part of the text he didn't like on his teleprompter.  If I remember correctly, they eventually blamed the omission on a low-level staffer, but the awkward pause did not seem as if it had been left out on the teleprompter, rather by the speaker.  Why is that phrase so important?  Should it be stricken from the record, as part of this new "interpretation" of what isn't written, i.e. "separation of church and state?"

California City Bans Fireworks on the 4th

A 4th of July without fireworks?  I was recently made aware of just that, where else but in California? In An American Carol, Leslie Neilson opens with a story of how the 4th of July was saved from a group of miscreants attempting to ban the holiday.  It was released to theaters in 2008.  In 2009, a California town banned fireworks.  It claimed that it cost too much to patrol the beaches for criminals preying on its citizens and visitors.  Instead, the city preys on its citizenry which might want to celebrate:

"The Monterey Police Department would like to remind everyone that ALL fireworks are prohibited within the city limits of Monterey.  Officers will be out to enforce the ban through the holiday weekend.  Fines for violation of the ban start at $1000.00" LT Leslie Sonne

To ensure fireworks wouldn't return to the budget, the city spent $20,000 to sink the barge that was used to launch them.  Is this life imitating art?