Posted on 02/14/2014 5:18:58 PM PST by Kaslin
U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan have skyrocketed under President Obama. Since 2009, 73 percent of all U.S. deaths in the country have taken place, amounting to 27.1 fatalities per month, on average. Billy and Karen Vaughn, Gold Star parents of Special Operations Chief (SEAL) Aaron Vaughn who was killed in action in 2011, are speaking out about why.
U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan are now forced to fight a two-fronted war. Before each deployment, these soldiers understand fully that day after day they will do battle against relentless terrorists with shifting loyalties and unspeakable hatred. But what none of them could have foreseen was the killing field that would open from their rear: the Continental United States.
Our government’s incessant tightening of already restrictive ROE (Rules of Engagement), compounded by the failed COIN (Counterinsurgency) strategy—also known as “winning hearts and minds”—has made an otherwise primitive enemy formidable.
Our best and brightest come home in body bags as politicians and lawyers dine over white linen tablecloths; writing, modifying, and re-modifying these lethal rules. Rules that favor the enemy rather than the American soldier. Rules so absurd they’re difficult to believe until you hear the same stories over and again from those returning from battle.
Rep. Louie Gohmert has spoken out about the current ROE and COIN, which are so restrictive he doesn’t see the “merit in the potential further sacrifice and loss of American lives in Afghanistan.” This sentiment is echoed by some members of the military as well. The Vaughns continue (emphasis mine):
“In a delicate discussion with an Army Ranger who recently left the military, we heard the following: “I had to get out. I have a family who needs me. I didn’t join to be sacrificed. I joined to fight.””
Under the current ROE, U.S. troops cannot fire without first confirming that a Taliban fighter is armed, even if they are sure the target is the enemy.
And if they violate these rules, troops fear being court martialed, imprisoned, or kicked out of the service all together. “The last thing a warfighter should ever be forced to experience is unnecessary fear,” the Vaughns write. “Fear creates hesitation. Hesitation creates flag-draped caskets. Flag-draped caskets create fatherless children, widowed wives, and childless parents. Our heroes deserve the right to fight with swift hands, clear minds, and confident hearts.”
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry sums it up best:
“To the American people an American military life is worth far more than the life of an Afghan soldier or civilian. For the current occupants of the White House and the Administration’s staff it seems to be just the opposite.”
No one wants to be the last soldier killed for that backward-assed country, but Obama is completely willing to throw away American lives for nothing.
ROE?
The reason, I mean.
Yes, it’s absolutely discussing. Pointless deaths and this time. Where is the anti-war crowd when they would actually have a point?
Where is the bastardized , so-called “media” and their reporting on these deaths like they did non-stop when Bush was CIC???
Bootlickers.....all of them!!
The “anti-war” crowd is too busy worshiping their god, Obastard.
Wouldn’t want to upset their king.
...when you have muslims in the WH as advisers, and RoE don’t allow you to protect yourself and a president who is more concerned about fund raising than saving lives...sure numbers will climb
Suicidal ROE policies!
MIA, naturally
What’s amazing to me is the lack of coverage.
27 dead per month?
That’s 1/4 the rate in Vietnam.
Which is still huge. And you hear nothing of it.
The military has been too successful in controlling the media. They do it to prevent the kind of distortion that CBS/NBC/ABC engaged in during the Vietnam war, but that means people don’t hear about this.
By the end of Vietnam everyone knew that the ROE were nuts.
Well, George McGovern and Hanoi Jane didn’t think they were all that bad, but...
There should be more reporting from the front there. Americans should know what’s happening and understand what is causing it.
It will be one more nail in the coffin of this criminal administration’s “foreign policy”.
Writing the ROE to ensure this is "the next Vietnam"--their words, not mine.
They have been making sure their propaganda prediction happens, in the press, and in the halls of policy, and they are willing to shed the blood of our troops (whom they have hated since the '60s) to make it happen, no matter the results.
Meanwhile Afghanistan is setting free the terrorists that these troops were sent there to deal with.
Bring the troops home.
As a VietNam vet, we engaged in “winning the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people. Judging by the lack of the NVA expected “uprising and support’ from the South Vietnamese people for the NVA during TET, maybe we were partially successful. When Walter Cronkite was shown the total lack of NVA strategic military success in the 1968 TET Offensive, he replied, “that’s a great story but I’m probably not going to use any of it”. However, most of us were never subjected to ridiculous ROEs now imposed on our troops. Nonetheless, as in Nam, we were betrayed by our media, yellow bellied politicians and anti-American protestors. This is history repeating itself.
Active Duty ping.
bttt
With the MSM you would not even be aware the war was still going on. It does not exist in the news cycle. Under Bush, they meticulously reported every single death. It becomes glaringly obvious now, and we all knew its beforehand, that the MSM does not give a rats ass about the soldiers. To the MSM, the soldiers are useful only as a bludgeon for political purposes; the purposes being to destroy President Bush.
An emasculated America is dying before our eyes. Hillary in 2016? Sure, why not? We're gluttons for punishment aren't we?
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