Posted on 10/22/2010 6:53:49 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Damn, I’m so proud to be a citizen who can say that my country’s military is pure unadulterated “awesome”. Recent ground news, despite the political fray surrounding it all, has me swelling with pride…and hope yet.
Intercepted Taliban communications are showing good news about our boys on the ground (see: “Marines are crazy!”). Now the goal is to push onward and drive that message even farther to a forfeit or…ahem…annihilation if they insist.
So what’s got the enemy spooked? Right now, NATO and Afghan forces are clearing out Kandahar province, located in the southeastern part of Afghanistan, as an offensive aimed at securing the three surrounding districts is underway. Rumor has it that the area is Taliban-free already. This comes on the heels of the offensive mission to clear out Marjah province, located in the southern part of the country in the Helmand province. These southern and eastern pushes are part of the larger goal of enhanced, um, persuasion, and from the sounds of the Taliban, it’s working even with difficulties arising in certain areas.
Hey, these pushes and clearances are kind of a big deal. The Taliban movement was started some four miles away in a village nearby Kandahar, and the area has been a prime-time hub for them thus far. This is good news!
On the civilian (sort of) front, the Taliban and Pakistan are leveraging in for talks in Kabul. There must be some serious business underway because there’s a push for certain Taliban GITMO detainees to be released to spur on peace talks and no huge opposition bluff. In somewhat recent days, Afghanistan Commander General David Petraeus made the rounds to spread the message that reconciliation with the Taliban may have to be a viable option considered for an Afghan solution, and counterinsurgency strategy certainly makes the case for negotiations being a must for success.
We’re going in a good direction, and this progress with the resources available is a good sign. Being that there’s a review coming due in December for Obama to look over, here’s wondering what it’s gonna take to get total commitment to “V” for “Victory”. Will he change his beat? Is it worth it?
My thoughts?
When the Taliban say “Marines are insane”, we know there’s still hope for Afghanistan.
The Japanese were also told that US warriors were cowards and for a while many believed it.
BEcause at first they would surrender if they had no chance to survive. Then they learned that that was a worse fate than death.
My squadron in Japan hosted Sakai and some other zero pilots for a one day friendship cruise on the USS Independence. We sat him down in the cockpit of a Tomcat and the first thing he asked was how to shoot the gun.
Hey Taliban, just wait until the Marines get REALLY serious about kicking butt. The Germans, Japanese, North Koreans, Viet Cong and Iraqis all PO’ed the Marines and found to their regret that that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
YOU’RE NEXT!
It was a company from Marine Special Operations (MARSOC), under the command of SOCCOM. They whacked everyone (360 degrees) after an ambush was initiated against them.
The explaination was that given the terrain and the location of everyone, there was no way that the nationals were not complicit: lessons learned from Iraq.
But they were sent out of country nonetheless.
2/9, Hell in a Helmet
Semper Fi.
Insane? Nah...
Disciplined, brave and well trained? ABSOLUTELY!
Because the Taliban hold none of those traits, I can understand why they are so disconnected with the reality of the USMC to the point of labeling them “insane”.
I wonder what the Talibunnies would think if the CHinese were to join the Marines.
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