Get Informed
Yes, we are still at war in Afghanistan. However, if you talked to some people you would never know it. I have had some people actually ask me if there is still a war going on over there and if I have seen any “real” combat. Part of me wants to choke them for asking such a dumb question and part of me wants to hug them and feel sorry for them because they are so ill-informed and ignorant.
You may ask yourself how can someone not know that we sill have troops actively engaged in combat in Afghanistan? Well, it is because these people either have their head in the sand or use the nightly news reports as their only source of information. Unless there is body count higher than 50, some foreign missionaries kidnapped, or tons of opium destroyed you simply do not hear anything about Afghanistan. It is sad that people either choose to ignore all what their country is involved in or what their own countrymen are risking their lives for. All someone has to do in order to see that we are still very active in Afghanistan is to read articles like this, http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,148038,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS or this http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,148220,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS , on the web. Better yet they can just check out Afghanistan news specifically at http://www.afghanistansun.com/index.php/ct/10/id/6e1d5c8e1f98f17c/ .
Afghanistansun.com compiles news reports from all over the world and from media outlets anywhere into one location. Many of the stories are duplicates since they are represented by multiple media outlets but at least you will find them. These articles don’t just cover body counts and grim things like that but also current issues, drug eradication, and other geo-political issues.
Afghanistan is where it all started as far as the GWOT, and has the largest support from countries all over the world. Remember, this is where the plot to carry out 9/11 (almost six years ago) came from. This is where most of those guys trained, this is where some of those responsible are still hiding. It is a real war there and there are people really dying. US service members, coalition service members, Afghan soldiers, Afghan police, Afghan civilians and most importantly bad guys (i.e. ACM, AGM, Taliban, or simply Tangos) are dying there all the time. The US military alone has essentially one and a half divisions worth of fighting strength on the ground that is actively engaged every day with the enemy. This is made up of two Brigade Combat Teams from the active duty Army, one National Guard Brigade Combat Team Task Force, Marine units, special operation forces, and other government agencies. Then you thrown in the fact that the British, Canadians, Polish, Romanians, Germans, Belgians, Italians, Spanish, Greeks, Dutch, and countless other counties are there (some of them are truly fighting and some are far away from it), and there is no doubt that this is a concentrated war effort.
A good friend of mine, Scott Kesterson, was an embedded reporter over there during my entire tour and is currently putting together a documentary that, as he calls it, “will be like no other documentary ever made”. You can keep up on his progress of this documentary at http://www.forgottenwarfilm.com/ . Appropriately enough he calls it the Forgotten War Film, even though that may change since the term was coined for the Korean War. But just like the Korean War, the war in Afghanistan has been largely forgotten by the people of the United States. In one of the interviews with me I referred to the war in Afghanistan as the “Forgotten War”, but I am not sure he coined it as that because of what I said. There are many people that fight over there whom feel this way.
The point is to not forget where we have Americans fighting abroad, always remember then in your prayers, thoughts, and conversations. They may be in Afghanistan, Iraq, Horn of Africa, Republic of Georgia, Philippines, S. Korea, Germany, Italy, Uzbekistan, or wherever. Regardless of where they are, there are American men and women deterring aggression and assisting our global friends in their own security. And in a little country called Afghanistan, perched between Iran and Pakistan there are tens of thousands of Americans putting their lives on the line every day, looking forward to the day that they can come home to the arms of loved ones.
**NOTE, Troy is a First Sergeant in the New York Army National Guard and writes several blogs on his website at http://www.bouhammer.com**
