Sorry to pounce. Saw that you served, and greatly appreciate your service.
The feeling is mutual, and I mean it. I apologize for being so caustic on this.
We can agree that we have different opinions on these things, and I concede that having a larger and more intrusive footprint may indeed have alleviated the issues our troops now face.
But I also feel just as strongly that having a larger footprint may have introduced elements into the conflict, both physical and psychological that would have been counterproductive.
One thing I feel strongly about, and I suspect you feel the same, is that as a civilian, one cannot "support the troops" and not support "the mission". Perhaps this explains my mindset of supporting a policy that some see as a failed or broken down one. I see it as an evolving approach that we will need to adapt to as time goes on.