S-2
PROFESSIONAL
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 4,210
- Reaction score
- 0
"i personally liked 'ain't no sunshine'."
Cool. Bill Withers. From back in my day.
"I think there was something in the air about US helping train/equip FC...was something started on these lines?"
Train the trainers. F.C. officers and SOG, I believe. It's going on now at your SOG base. We'll see. I really prefer partnerships and where our combat units have established semi-permanent training/mentoring relationships with Iraqi or Afghan army units, we see quick improvement. Some of it's competitive but there's a definite momentum towards soldiering.
At some point, you have to swim on your own so it's perhaps better this way and is the only way permissable for the present. Maybe that'll change in time.
"The militants are not only well versed with the terrain but are excellent veteran fighters and well armed, rather too well armed."
Not necessarily. We've met all types throughout the nation. Some areas show fighters of greater commitment and skill than others. Kunar is a rough one. Lots of arabs, chechans, and uzbeks. Heavy infantry weapons- mortars, recoiless rifles, rockets, heavy machine guns. The COPs are sniped, mortared and rocketed a lot. It's dangerous there 24/7.
We might see substantive change in Kunar's local culture in, oh...fifty years- if we really work and devote ourselves to the task. I personally think that our guys don't take that mission there quite as seriously as even in neighboring provinces. To that end, the COPs have less to do in Kunar with establishing bonds than surveillance on infiltration routes and occasional cover out of the fire in a hostile locale.
"The numerous Indian consulates and staff in Afghanistan do not make the situation better..."
They've four and a bombed-out embassy unless you know something that I don't there- Mazur-I-Sharif, Herat, Kandahar, and Jalalabad. Only two are near the Pakistani border. Of that, only one truly near the Baluchi border. Their presence isn't illegal nor has a case been made that they've great numbers of personnel engaged in nefarious doings.
I'm unaware of a similar number of Pakistani consulates and would assume that's a prime interest of your government to hold a presence in Afghanistan. Is that the actual case?
India will certainly hold a presence in Afghanistan. They've good relations with one another. Perhaps when enough Pashtus register for afghani elections that might change. Until then, I'd encourage the Pakistani gov't to do all it could to establish a VISIBLE counter-vailing presence in Afghanistan.
Doing so without the traditional below-the-radar assistance of the ISI would be a wonderful thing for everybody concerned.
"What more can a country expect from her sons in uniform?"
I recall the incident well. Your soldiers are of the finest material and are clearly devoted to their nation. Now if their nation, government, and military leaders would only return the favor and focus on the fight at hand in the west.
Cool. Bill Withers. From back in my day.
"I think there was something in the air about US helping train/equip FC...was something started on these lines?"
Train the trainers. F.C. officers and SOG, I believe. It's going on now at your SOG base. We'll see. I really prefer partnerships and where our combat units have established semi-permanent training/mentoring relationships with Iraqi or Afghan army units, we see quick improvement. Some of it's competitive but there's a definite momentum towards soldiering.
At some point, you have to swim on your own so it's perhaps better this way and is the only way permissable for the present. Maybe that'll change in time.
"The militants are not only well versed with the terrain but are excellent veteran fighters and well armed, rather too well armed."
Not necessarily. We've met all types throughout the nation. Some areas show fighters of greater commitment and skill than others. Kunar is a rough one. Lots of arabs, chechans, and uzbeks. Heavy infantry weapons- mortars, recoiless rifles, rockets, heavy machine guns. The COPs are sniped, mortared and rocketed a lot. It's dangerous there 24/7.
We might see substantive change in Kunar's local culture in, oh...fifty years- if we really work and devote ourselves to the task. I personally think that our guys don't take that mission there quite as seriously as even in neighboring provinces. To that end, the COPs have less to do in Kunar with establishing bonds than surveillance on infiltration routes and occasional cover out of the fire in a hostile locale.
"The numerous Indian consulates and staff in Afghanistan do not make the situation better..."
They've four and a bombed-out embassy unless you know something that I don't there- Mazur-I-Sharif, Herat, Kandahar, and Jalalabad. Only two are near the Pakistani border. Of that, only one truly near the Baluchi border. Their presence isn't illegal nor has a case been made that they've great numbers of personnel engaged in nefarious doings.
I'm unaware of a similar number of Pakistani consulates and would assume that's a prime interest of your government to hold a presence in Afghanistan. Is that the actual case?
India will certainly hold a presence in Afghanistan. They've good relations with one another. Perhaps when enough Pashtus register for afghani elections that might change. Until then, I'd encourage the Pakistani gov't to do all it could to establish a VISIBLE counter-vailing presence in Afghanistan.
Doing so without the traditional below-the-radar assistance of the ISI would be a wonderful thing for everybody concerned.
"What more can a country expect from her sons in uniform?"
I recall the incident well. Your soldiers are of the finest material and are clearly devoted to their nation. Now if their nation, government, and military leaders would only return the favor and focus on the fight at hand in the west.
