American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.Of course, the country didn't have that far to go.
Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to help them, the chaplains told The Times in their makeshift chapel on this fortress-like base in a dusty, brown valley southwest of Kabul.
“The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion.
“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not.
The base is not, it has to be said, obviously downcast, and many troops do not share the chaplains’ assessment. The soldiers are, by nature and training, upbeat, driven by a strong sense of duty, and they do their jobs as best they can. Re-enlistment rates are surprisingly good for the 2-87, though poor for the 4-25. Several men approached by The Times, however, readily admitted that their morale had slumped.
“We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer, 20, whose closest friend was shot dead by a renegade Afghan policeman last Friday. “I need a clear-cut purpose if I’m going to get hurt out here or if I’m going to die.”
Sergeant Christopher Hughes, 37, from Detroit, has lost six colleagues and survived two roadside bombs. Asked if the mission was worthwhile, he replied: “If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.”
The only soldiers who thought it was going well “work in an office, not on the ground”. In his opinion “the whole country is going to s***”.
Obama has paid little attention to this war, talking with his top general only twice, and one of those was just a brief 25 minute meeting during Obama's Olympic trip. He clearly doesn't have much interest in what's going on there. Until the political leadership decides it wants to win this thing, there will be little motivation for our troops to go there and risk their lives for a cause nobody appears to believe in.
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5 comments:
And yet the MSM downplays the deaths of our soldiers, unlike the daily barrage of reports we got from them when GWB was president.
When soldiers have little respect for the Commander morale suffers. It is difficult to carry out orders that are seen as insufficient to the task at hand.
This problem starts at the top, meeaning the President, the Commander in Chief. He doesn't give a flip about the war in Afghanistan and has shown it by his disregard for the military and its leadership. I think I would find it most difficult to support this operation if I had a boss like the Commander in Chief. Either we have a desire to WIN and a plan to go along with it, otherwise, we should bring our militry from around the world back home.
When people voted for Obama, did they realize, they were turning their backs on American soldiers?
This is a great insult to our soldiers. All the crap one hears from the left, all the crocodile tears about soldiers, "support the troops/bring them home."
Obama is too much the coward to own his own policy and just leave the field, and too much a coward to fight the war and win it.
Elections matter.
Nightingale ought to watch more and listen to more of the MSM.
His/her point doesn't hold up?
And at this point in time, we have been in Afghanistan 2 years short of the Soviets.
And we have more troops in there than the Soviets ever did.
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