Unbelievable. This guy makes a pretty accurate critique of US warfighting policy in Afghanistan (as neither sufficiently aggressive nor savvy), and you folks take it as an insult to the honor of the 82nd Airborne.
It's a fair bet that anyone who really cared about the 82nd -- or our armed forces in general -- would be interested in seeing it employed in a proper, war-winning manner rather than huddling in base camps and taking fire day after day.
Try reading for content. Not everything in the Guardian is trash.
imho everything in the guardian is trash.
I fail to see how our Afghan attack could have been done better. The Taliturds couldn't wait to run to Pakistan. They collapsed almost overnight with minimal casualties on our side. Guardian was (at that time) telling us we would lose thousands. NOT! 82nd is infact engaging in aggressive patrolling. SF has complained about it being "too aggressive."
And this "research fellow" would do better reporting on the British rifle that doesn't go bang when trigger is pulled. SA-80 is a piece of junk. Big scandal there. Time for them to go back to the FN-FAL before their troops enter Iraq.