U.S. soldier in Afghanistan: ‘We scrounge for everything.’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/23/us-soldier-in-afghanistan-we-scrounge-for-everything/

U.S. soldier in Afghanistan: ‘We scrounge for everything.’

In last week’s Democratic debate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said he was told by an Army captain that his platoon’s resources in Afghanistan were shortchanged because of the Iraq war. Seeking to turn Obama’s remarks into a political attack, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) immediately questioned the authenticity of the statement. But ABC News contacted the Army captain, who backed up Obama’s story. And now the New York Times reports that soldiers in Afghanistan are still strapped for resources:

And they felt eclipsed by Iraq. As Sgt. Erick Gallardo put it: “We don’t get supplies, assets. We scrounge for everything and live a lot more rugged. But we know the war is here. We got unfinished business.”

Jon Soltz and VetVoice have more

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=632


Priorities
by: MajorMatthew
Sat Feb 23, 2008 at 19:00:52 PM EST



One of the lessons I learned in military training was to prioritize. Remember when we had to decide whether to take demerits for not shining our boots or not study for a test? Well, that's when we learned that we put the highest priority first. The worst thing we could do, we learned, was to do two things half-ass.

That's what we've done by waging a second war without finishing the first. We left Afghanistan half finished and then we started one in Iraq under the Bush Doctrine and made several huge mistakes in the process. Then we did the worst thing possible. We poured resources meant for Afghanistan into Iraq to fix a sinking ship.

I never doubted that Senator Obama's words were true when he referenced the Captain that served in Afghanistan. When I was up to deploy to Iraq in 2006, the powers that be evaluated all the interrogators coughed up to them by the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Army, and the contractors, and they sent the best to Iraq and those with less experience, or seasoning (if you will), went to Afghanistan. Personally, I wanted to go to Iraq because I thought I'd be more involved there and at the time, it was a hot bed, as it continues to be. But morally, I wanted to go to Afghanistan. It's the only war I haven't participated in since the first Gulf War (I was still in college at that point).

more...

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=632

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[Earth_First]

2. A friend of ours who is in Afghanistan has mentioned this several times...

He claims that when new units are rotated into country that their gear and personal items turn up missing. No one will debate the subject in public, but behind closed doors with friends and family it is assumed that our soldiers that have been inadequately supplied towards the end of their missions are stealing from their fellow soldiers in order to provide for their own personal safety/preparedness.

[babylonsister]

4. So pathetic; I read Warner is full of indignation, but he really

won't do anything about it if he hasn't done so already. 'Support the troops' - :eyes:



Warner to Obama: Bring Me Your Captain

By Leslie Wayne

One of the dramatic moments in Thursday’s Democratic debate came when Senator Barack Obama — in making the case that Iraq was the wrong place to launch a war — cited an Army captain in Afghanistan who told him of a rifle platoon that lacked manpower, ammunition and Humvees. As Mr. Obama recounted, the soldiers looked for captured Taliban weapons as it was easier to be armed that way than “to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.”

Conservatives pounced on the story, questioning its authenticity. Senator John Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican and former chairman of the Armed Services Committee who has endorsed Senator John McCain, wrote to Mr. Obama on Friday seeking more details. Senator Warner wants to find out of the story is true -– and, if so, who might be responsible for any lapses. He said that he will also raise the issue with Army Secretary Peter Geren and Army Chief of Staff William Casey when they testify next week before his committee.

In the letter, which begins “Dear Barack,” Senator Warner said that the incident most likely occurred while he was chairman of the committee, whose members also include Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

more...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/warner-to-obama-bring-me-your-captain/

[w8liftinglady]

3. thanks-I just purchased the author's book-"The War I always Wanted"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0760331502/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War (Hardcover)
by Brandon Friedman (Author)
From Publishers Weekly
This cynical but appealing memoir by a lieutenant in the elite 101st Airborne recounts his unpleasant times fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. After a quick review of his youth (shy, smart, dreaming of glory), Friedman describes his unit's deployment to Afghanistan after 9/11 to fight the Taliban. Its mission turns out to be guarding an air base, four months of demoralizing boredom followed by urgent orders into battle. The result is an exhausting 11-hour march high into freezing mountains, where the soldiers arrive as the fighting ends. A year later, as American forces invade Iraq in March 2003, Friedman's unit advances almost to Baghdad without encountering resistance but yearning to fight. There follows three months of dull occupation duty until, to everyone's horror, a grenade kills two soldiers on patrol, and the insurgency begins. The author accepts that America needed to fight in Afghanistan, but can't fathom why we invaded Iraq. He does not re-enlist. Given the public's waning support for the war in Iraq, Friedman's voice is likely to be heard by sympathetic ears.

[annabanana]

5. k&r. . . . . . . . . n/t