22 September 2009

Who will the folks who support the troops support?

From the war front: I guess the Generals want to send more drones to fight the "Tally Ban". I guess this may be safer for the troops...but my question is: What will the good people like Hope do? What do you send a drone airplane in a war zone? Socks? Coffee? Candy bars? Porn?
Maybe a pack of batteries and some video lens cleaner.

1) Officials ponder adding drones, not troops
The White House is looking at expanding counter terror operations in Pakistan as an alternative to a major military escalation in Afghanistan. Two senior administration officials said Monday that the renewed fight against al-Qaida could lead to more missile attacks on Pakistan terrorist havens by unmanned U.S. spy planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made. The prospect of a White House alternative to a deepening involvement in Afghanistan comes as administration officials debate whether to send more troops - as urged in a leaked assessment of the deteriorating conflict by the top U.S. commander there, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

8 comments:

Coffeypot said...

You're sounding kind of bitter.

And why attack Hope and make what she does sound like a joke?

If the drones do the job, great.

If it takes more men, I don't really know, Dude. I don't want to loose anymore troops, but what are the alternatives? We are in a war, and allowing politicians determine the rules of engagement is ridiculous. Let the men do what they are trained to do. Kill and destroy.

Spending time on all the TV shows and cracking jokes while our guys are dying doesn't seem to productive either.

CI-Roller Dude said...

Coffey Pot,
Wow, do I sound bitter. Nope, I love what Hope is doing...she's a hero in my book. I guess it's all on how you read shit..or what you read into it.
Or maybe I just need to take a day off...
Drones are great, but you'll never solve a problem like that without putting troops on the ground.
I was just trying to think what the fuck you'd send to a drone for christmas.

LL said...

Drones are deliverable "on call" artillery and overhead surveillance. As such they have value. They don't hold ground, they can't take prisoners or interrogate them. They can't win hearts and minds, their use is very LIMITED to a real ground war.

General W. T. Sherman, USA said, "War means fighting and fighting means killing."

General T. J. Jackson, CSA said, "Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible manoeuvering you can hurl you own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible."

It seems to me that the Taliban are following General Stonewall Jackson's tactics and those espoused by General Sherman and the Americans are becoming adept at flying drones. Who do you think will win the war?

Opus #6 said...

You understand why Obama is attracted to the idea of DRONES, don't you? Don't make me spell it out. Think back to when your parents explained the birds and the bees to you.

Tika said...

On the one hand, it would make mil support a bit easier as there would be less numbers to spoil and pray for. . . but I fear it might lead to even less numbers (injury, etc) to support. . .

I'd send a few choice bumper stickers and one of those 18 wheeler mud flap girls. Or would that be culturaly insenstive? I could black out areas with a Sharpie :)

CI-Roller Dude said...

Now I'll have to do a posting about my former Batallion commnader...(the dipshit who never went to a real war) who tried to tell us during training about some new computer software that was going to make our job easier and things would work better, bla, bla bla, bullshit...

Anonymous said...

1. Am fairly close to flagpole and get a lot of info on this stuff.
2. LTGEN McChrystal isn't fighting Al Qaeda.
3. Those Sunni guys are forted up in Pakistan.
4. His opponents are Taliban and fellow travelers. They are Pashtuns and Tajiks, primarily. The Hazaras can always been counted on for some gratuitous violence, as well.
5. When the Russians invaded, a lot of these guys celebrated. Did essentially the same thing concerning us.
6. Knew a couple of the high speed types who were funneling the Stinger missiles in, back then.
7. They were fairly complimentary about the Pashtun mindset: their ability to utilize new weapons, new tactics and their bloody-minded willingness to close with and inflict major hurt on their enemy.
8. When they say things are going downhill, they are mostly referring to increasing amounts of violence in Northern Alliance territory (read Tajiks).
9. If every tribe in the country is stirred up and attacking us, who the hell are we protecting -and from whom?
10. Engaging in warfare against non-state opponents is something we haven't figured out yet.
11. It isn't beyond our means or ability, but will take a long time and a lot of resources.
12. In the bad old days, troublemakers were wiped out. End of story.
13. Remember how rotten I felt in April of 1975 -and I hated the Vietnamese, the war, the Army....
14. See a couple of similar let downs ahead, when we finally give up on other folks who refuse to turn into copies of ourselves.
15. USMC LTC (ret) Tim Lynch publishes a blog: Free Range International, that gives a lot of good info on Afghanistan.
16. He's on the ground in Jalalabad.
17. Ground truth rules. He's more optimistic than I am -but getting less so.
18. "Old Blue" is more optimistic, too.
19. Boy do I hope they are right!
V/R JWest

Kanani said...

Well, I guess you'd send a drone a can of WD-40.