[AlaskaErik]

Looks like my next tour there will be a bit more interesting!

[gleeaikin]

"My next tour there will be a bit more interesting!"

Not necessarily. It will depend on what kind of unit you are with. My son is there now. He says he is more likely to be killed in a traffic accident than combat or IED, or by a US soldier who hasn't remembered to clear his weapon.

His most recent emails comment on our Army's failure to use special forces effectively, with dependence on the big Army for what is essentially a guerilla campaign. He sees this as the same mistake we made in Vietnam, with possibly the same results. I will put a number of his emails together and post them in the next month.

In case you are interested you can see two previous FR posts composed of our war correspondence: "Front Line Views of Iraq/Afghanist War Situation", and "Front Line Views..., No. 2." He is not a very happy camper. At any rate, good luck.

[thinkthenpost]

IMO only:
I believe the United States will have fighting forces in Afghanistan for the next decade, perhaps not large numbers but a definite presence. Depending on how basing forces in Iraq shakes out, the US maybe in Afghanistan longer than Iraq.