It was October 7, 2009, approximately 2130hrs(9:30 pm for those that do not comprehend the 24 hour clock, also known as military time). Soldiers were on guard duty, others in their hootches, sleeping in the hot, sultry night, still others at MWR working out or calling home or playing online computer games. suddenly, and not unexpectedly, the night erupted. RPG fire was coming in. Sleeping soldiers were awake, on their feet and ready to defend the outpost immediately. Soldiers at MWR were headed to their gear, to repel the enemy. The soldiers at COP Able Main are nervously prepared for anything, especially following a week which saw an outpost just 75 miles to the north overrun and eight soldiers killed. The Taliban fired approximately 100 RPG rounds at the gate, when the gates fell, Taliban fighters charged through. Having been slated to be closed by the great military expert Barack Obama, the outpost was seriously undermanned. Eight brave American soldiers were killed.
The men of COP Able Main were well aware of what happened. They have been on heightened alert since. When the RPG rounds started coming into Able Main, they were ready, and the enemy never got a chance to charge the gate. What the enemy did accomplish was, perhaps, more telling of the situation our troops face in Afghanistan.
Shrapnel from one of those RPG rounds punctured a 10,000 gallon fuel bladder. The bladder had recently been refilled and almost the entire 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked onto the ground. Early the next morning, the men of Able Main were forced to face the fiercest enemy they could ever have imagined, the EPA.
The official from the EPA began by harassing lowly privates with no authority, then moved to the sargeants, the squad leaders, the platoon sargeant, the platoon officer, and on up the chain of command. The EPA was mad, they were mad because of the fuel leak. The official informed everyone there that the fuel bladder hadn’t been properly protected. Each of the soldiers that had the misfortune to engage this enemy tried to explain that the reason it wasn’t “properly protected” was because the Army hadn’t given them the equipment needed to protect the bladder properly. Apparently, that wasn’t the EPA’s concern, nor was it what the EPA would consider a legitimate excuse for failing to “properly protect” the fuel bladder.
One would certainly think our troops have enough things to be concerned with. The enemy that wants them dead, a Commander in Chief that promises to send the manpower and equipment they need and then refuses to listen when his generals tell him more troops are needed, rules of engagement that are designed to not offend the enemy, these should be more than enough for any soldier to worry about. But no, not in President Obama’s world. In President Obama’s world, the great American military men and women also have to worry about the enemy from Washington, the EPA.
As of yet, the White House and the EPA have failed to answer any questions about why the EPA has chosen to harass American troops in combat.
President Obama took a little time out of his busy schedule to meet with his commander in the Afghan war, General McChrystal. It was only the second time they have spoken in the 70 days that General McChrystal has been selected to head up the war effort. Obama promised us that he would listen to his generals in the field about how to win the war. It would seem that once again Obama has LIED to the American people.
General McChrystal has asked for another 40,000 soldiers. He says that time is of the essence, we will lose in Afghanistan if we do not commit the troops and resources needed. Failure in Afghanistan would have a devastating effect on America. It was Afghanistan where Al-Qeada hatched and launched the attack on Kobar Towers, the American embassy bombings in Africa, the attack on the USS Cole, and the 9/11 attacks that murdered almost 3,000 of our fellow countrymen. It was the Taliban in Afghanistan that provided cover for the terrorists of Al-Qeada. If we lose here, they will return, not only to Afghanistan, but to America as well.
American soldiers in Afghanistan tend to agree with General McChrystal. They believe that we need more troops, in more places. While the Democrats play “political generals” and talk about pulling back to the cities where Afghanis “like” the US, soldiers on the ground tend to believe that we need to get troops into the mountainous regions where we can’t drive. They tell me that those regions are where Al-Qeada and the Taliban are. Troops would have to be airlifted in to those regions, prepared for a long hard fight. They would have to be resupplied by airlift. By taking those regions, and setting up outposts, the American military could establish a relationship with the Afghanis and take still more of the Taliban’s and Al-Qeada’s support.
The problem with General McChrystal’s and the troops’ assessment of how to win in Afghanistan? Obama is president. That and the Democrats have control of both houses of congress. That currently appears to be a pretty large obstacle, even for General McChrystal and the greatest military power on earth. Obama won’t listen to his general. His National Security Advisor, General James Jones, USMC, Retired, claims that McChrystal’s assessment is mere “opinion.” Obama, even though his hand-picked general says there is no time to waste, is wasting time on the idea that “we don’t want to rush these decisions.” The Democrats in Congress are pushing for a withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling it a quagmire, the same tactic they used to snatch defeat from the North Vietnamese in the early 1970’s, pushing for a pullout, preventing the US from actually fighting to win, forcing failure and defeat on the American military. McChrystal’s problem? He is in charge of a military that doesn’t know how to lose, but has to answer to and depend on a democratically controlled government that doesn’t want to win, that actually likes to lose, a democratically controlled government that whines about the deaths of military personnel but goes out of its way to prevent our military personnel from surviving and winning.
McChrystal’s problem, he wants to win, Obama wants to lose. If we win, we will offend the Taliban and Al-Qeada. Obama doesn’t want to offend anyone except Conservatives.
