Not in the Know

Part of what makes a deployment so hard is the complete lack of information that a soldier...a special forces PJ....can tell his wife. I am insanely curious by nature. My mother always teased me about how curious i was from even before i could talk.  Perhaps part of that curiosity about the world and those around me has evolved into the desire to pursue journalism.

Bo and I get to talk fairly often but i want to know every detail, every nuance of what his day entails. Its bad enough he has to be away from me, but it makes it more bearable if i can share his days with him.   I know that it is not his choice to not tell me things, but literally is for the sake of his team, and the cause in Afghanistan.  You literally never know who is listening i guess.

I was perusing the New York Times to see if i could find out anything about what maybe Bo is doing....

Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) -- A roadside bomb killed four United States soldiers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the United States military said, the latest example of the growing strength of the insurgency there as President Obama prepares to deploy additional troops to the country

In southern Helmand Province on Monday, coalition and Afghan forces killed 16 militants when responding to gunfire from insurgents on their convoy, the United States military said in another statement...

                                                                                              In whatever action Bo sees or doesn't see, 

I guess my greatest hope is for him to find fulfillment. He joined this 

career field to help, to rescue, to go in when no one else could or would; he joined to serve. "The mission of a US AF Pararescueman is to recover downed and injured aircrew members in austere and non-permissive environments."  He is one of the most highly trained men out there. His safety is in God's hand....as is his ability to be used.  

"hacking the mish"

So the guys over in the "sandbox" as they like to call it often refer to their jobs as "hacking the mish". That is what they live for--doing the mission.  Cutting through the red tape and get the opportunity to actually do what they've been training for years to do is always a challenge and one of their greatest frustrations. In fact, because of one reason or the other, their inability to do the job they are way more than qualified to do, is one of the top reasons guys get out of this AF Special Ops field.  

I often feel like i'm "hacking the mish" myself back here in the states.  Although i wanted a full last semester to keep myself busy while Bo is gone, i've never had a more stressful, more difficult few months. The term workaholic is depressingly, albeit not by choice, accurate. I love challenging myself and staying busy with projects and schoolwork i find truly fulfilling, but there is no way i could do this amount for very long.  Thank goodness i have zero desire to go to grad school any time soon. :)   

So while my husband may be fulfilling the real meaning of the term, i find myself feeling pretty beat up by the same concept. 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week.   My "deployment" here to VU will be up with my May 9 graduation and I'll finally have my diploma in one hand and my husband's hand in my other.  What a good feeling that will be.

A Needed Surge

Everyone is talking about the expected 30,000 troop surge to Afghanistan.  Many of those troops are already there or are en route--my husband's base no exception.  The real question remains though, what is this relatively small number of increased ground power really going to do?  The country-side remains  the real threat and most agree the Taliban is growing faster than we can force them out. The big cities remain in NATO's control, however the vast majority of the population live in tiny villages scattered like toothpicks on a bare kitchen floor.   A nightmare of a situation to take control of and then to keep that control.   

Anne Applebaum in her Op-Ed Column of the Washington Post argues that the only "surge" that will last is if the Afghan army itself is enlarged to where it is able to have a real and visible presence in the whole of the country. Right now its some 80,000 soldiers are hardly that.   I am inclined to agree, as well, with her notion of the Afghan military being one of the few solutions to unifying a country who's tribes, dialects, and ethnicities are mind-bogglingly numerous. National identity is crucial to instill in these soldiers who come together for a common cause--one they can believe in and have a real hand in creating--and who can also instill that feeling in their fellow country-men.  

The Allied troops who are there are brave, loyal and most have the best intentions. We are not, however, Afghani and are not privy to a complete understanding of an exceptionally unique civilization who has withstood a surprising number of invaders.  So the point is this:  Our ability to enable the Afghans to not only defend their country themselves, but to create national identity in which it is possible to defend it, is undeniably crucial to our success in this war against terrorism.     This surge of troops must have the goal of not just seeking out the Taliban or providing support, but also for helping to create an institution in Afghanistan of which their own people can admire, respect and ultimately trust.   

The timetable for this will not be indefinite.  Already our support is waning and the number of innocent civilians caught in the cross-fire increasing. In another article in the Washington Post, author John F. Kerry said, "We shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that we are in anything but a race against time in a region suspicious of foreign footprints...Our goal has never been to dominate Afghanistan but, rather, to eliminate al-Qaeda's haven and to empower Afghans to govern their country in line with their best interests and our national security."

We must win the battle of the support of the Afghani people, specifically through training their military, to ensure our success over the Taliban.   And we must win them over soon.