The informed experts here will no doubt correct me, but my own opinion is that people within our government tethered the military a few months ago, and we are now witnessing the fruits of that decision. Iron Hammer came late late.
Hopefully, not too late. Right now, the thugs are taking advantage of every mis-step we make, and they should never have had the luxury.
I should have said this in my last post, but it's always sad when soldiers are killed, no matter how low the number. I hate to see the boys killed, but that is something that goes along with the field. And that's what makes our soldiers so amazing. They know they are voluntarily signing up for a job that might require them to go into battle and pay the ultimate price for their country.
This go around I don't have any family members over there. Last go around my brother was my age and flying missions over Iraq in 1991. I never tried to think about him getting killed, but always thought about him whooping some a$$ and doing his job. He told me that first night the airstrikes took place he was scared to death. He said his heart was racing a millions beats per minute, but that he knew he had a job to do. That's just something these boys do. :) And it's awesome.