Second major mistake just as wrong. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. They are there to fight and win a war. No second guessing.
Third is the idiotic idea that troops are also Peace Corp Workers. Any Commanding Officer ordering or allowing his troops to rebuild, paint, or help a country in a war zone should face immediate Court Martial and removal from service. Any Civilian official elected or appointing ordering such should be fired, impeached, and/or removed by appropriate means.
A United States Serviceman to do the job in war must maintain a healthy dosage of detachment from their task in the same Paramedics, Firemen, and policemen, must do so they can do their job. Having to shell or raid a home one night due to it being a suspected or confirmed next for snipers then having them help rebuild the next day is wrong.
Vets in every war this nation has been in have had to do things we do not see here in the United States. A soldiers raid on a suspected hideout and killing all inside is as right as a carpet bombing of an entire area. Each is done so to achieve a military objective.
When all vets up through WW2 came home they were welcomed hero's. As Marxism became more prevalent after WW2 the returning Vets found themselves being attacked and scorned for doing a job which the description and requirements are written in The Holy Bible.
Much of the cause and affect of returning servicemen come from nothing more than very bad policy on the part of our Presidents and Congress in both parties.
I hear the term or popular catch phrase SUPPORT THE TROOPS. That includes most of all not second guessing them, Not Judging Them, Not Over extending them, and not Over Deploying them into levels of combat way beyond that of even WW2. It also means giving them all the necessary manpower and equipment needed so we are seen as a military power not to be messed with. meaning Reagan Doctrine is needed for our National Defense.
Our returning troops need at least the rest of their enlistment for their minds to heal from one such deployment. This has not been done since Post Vietnam and it is creating major issues. A serviceman should not feel guilty for leaving the service or going home after being wounded as if he let his fellow troops down, Congress needs to get off it's A Double S's and do it's job getting our troops proper rotations.
I love it when I read something that has been written from the heart, and is full of compassion and understanding.