God bless those men
Both GW and Rummy have both stated this will be a long and painful war...
Previously, we relied soley on airstrikes against large troop concentrations. The reason we're sending ground forces in is that when we relied only on the airstrikes, the Taliban/Al Qaeda would just up and leave. They weren't being captured. Some of the troops we're fighting against now probably were among those who slipped away previously.