Of COURSE morale sucks, the troops sense no initiative or decisiveness at the TOP..this was warned about HERE, already
American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains
A soldier finds solace during a Sunday service at the Airborne chapel - but morale is falling fast, say the chaplains ..TIMES UK
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.
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.
It should be crystal clear... Obama needs to GO TO AFGHANISTAN, and speak to the troops in SEVERAL TO MANY LOCATIONS, WITH PUBLIC BRAVADO, and lay out the mission. The men are there to ensure their friends, family, wives, parents and children are not slaughtered and burned alive at their desks having coffee one morning, and end up jumping from a thousand feet in the air, holding hands in fear with some acquaintance.
The troops MAY have to build a nation amidst warring medieval tribes to do it .. a nation we won't love, but a nation which will not permit itself to be used as a haven for people who WILL come to America to kill their countrymen.
That is the first step among many COMPULSORY STEPS if we WISH VICTORY.
And now, WHAT ARE WE PREPARED TO DO?
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