ping
Thanks. I read the letter on Blackfive. I am trying to figure out if these are the same guys we worked with (they have renumbered the units, and renamed them from BANA which was an English acronym to Khandak (battalions), a renaming which was very pleasing to the Afghans.
While I was there, French soldiers were doing basic training and an NCO academy, and US Army Special Forces were doing advanced training and acting as unit advisors -- much like this Marine says he is doing now. It was a very ordinary SF mission but the conventional Army wanted in. IMHO it is much, much better in the hands of the Marines than soldiers of a US infantry division. The other services make fun of the Marines, but the Marines *think*.
The one real loss is that the Marines don't have good medics, or I should say, as good medics as special operations elements do. It is a huge boost to morale to know that you have a couple guys who could intubate you, crack your chest or do a cutdown to an artery.
The units are carefully recruited to have a representative ethnic/racial/tribal mixture both overall and in key positions. Of course, many of the troops retain a loyalty to their home family, tribe and warlord...
If the battalion I saw and operated with was any indication (and Operation Roll Tide was the ANA's first combat mission) they are going to be alright.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F