One of the truly great things about FR, is that the place is full of people who have in depth knowledge and personal experience about almost every topic under discussion. Of course, this feature is of no use if someone launches into a discussion with a very limited understanding of the topic and cannot recognize when other posters are gently trying to point out that they might want to become better informed on a particular topic.
Future Snake Eater has tried to do this with this discussion. If you had followed the numerous posts on this topic and followed the comments, you would understand that he knows what he is talking about. I checked with other members of this brigade and they verified FSE’s account. It all matched with the rumors that I had heard, but its always dangerous to spread what you hear from the rumor mill.
Tunnell makes many valid points about our strategic, operational, and tactical approach in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the command climate that he established in this brigade negated every good idea that he had about how to fight this war. As for Yon, the days of his outstanding reporting from the ocmbat zone are long gone, he’s just recycling old grudges in hopes of pulling in a little income to support his bizarre lifestyle in Bangkok.
As you gain experience here on FR, you will hopefully learn how to sort the knowledgeable and insightful posts from the nonsense of those who believe everything they see on the internet. Listen, read, learn. Good luck to you.
11years......2000 dead Soldiers.......11 years.......billions of taxpayer dollars....Where is our victory? We can’t beat a bunch of goat herders in 11 years? I can respect someone’s service and disagree with their thinking. We’ve been 11 years in Afghanistan with no victory in sight. Please argue with me and show how that is success. This Colonel is somehow bad because he trained his Soldiers too hard? So now victory is defined by how happy the troops are? Bullshit. Creighton Abrams was also viewed as being too hard on his troops in WWII. The troops thanked him after the war. There’s a bad case of groupthink going on in the Army and it has got to stop. These goat herders can’t do much to us in the states, but we have other enemies who look at us floundering around in Afghanistan and maybe that emboldens them. The first thing a Soldier is taught is obedience. The first thing an American is taught is to question authority to make sure things are done right. 11 years in Afghanistan......2000 dead Soldiers.......billions of dollars of hard-earned US taxpayer money......for what? So admirals and generals can draw a good retirement? No Sir. There needs to be some good old-fashioned boots put up people’s asses for this. Nelson told his subordinates that they could never go wrong if they placed their ship beside the enemy to fight it out. If this Colonel focused on going after the enemy, then he should be a General.