[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Christopher Caldwell: How Immigration Is Erasing Whites, Christians, and the Middle Class

SSRI Connection? Another Trans Shooter, Another Massacre – And They Erased His Video

Something 1/2 THE SIZE of the SUN has Entered our Solar System, and We Have NO CLUE What it is...

Massive Property Tax Fraud Exposed - $5.1 Trillion Bond Scam Will Crash System

Israel Sold American Weapons to Azerbaijan to Kill Armenian Christians

Daily MEMES YouTube Hates | YouTube is Fighting ME all the Way | Making ME Remove Memes | Part 188

New fear unlocked while stuck in highway traffic - Indian truck driver on his phone smashes into

RFK Jr. says the largest tech companies will permit Americans to access their personal health data

I just researched this, and it’s true—MUST SEE!!

Savage invader is disturbed that English people exist in an area he thought had been conquered

Jackson Hole's Parting Advice: Accept Even More Migrants To Offset Demographic Collapse, Or Else

Ecuador Angered! China-built Massive Dam is Tofu-Dreg, Ecuador Demands $400 Million Compensation

UK economy on brink of collapse (Needs IMF Bailout)

How Red Light Unlocks Your Body’s Hidden Fat-Burning Switch

The Mar-a-Lago Accord Confirmed: Miran Brings Trump's Reset To The Fed ($8,000 Gold)

This taboo sex act could save your relationship, expert insists: ‘Catalyst for conversations’

LA Police Bust Burglary Crew Suspected In 92 Residential Heists

Top 10 Jobs AI is Going to Wipe Out

It’s REALLY Happening! The Australian Continent Is Drifting Towards Asia

Broken Germany Discovers BRUTAL Reality

Nuclear War, Trump's New $500 dollar note: Armstrong says gold is going much higher

Scientists unlock 30-year mystery: Rare micronutrient holds key to brain health and cancer defense

City of Fort Wayne proposing changes to food, alcohol requirements for Riverfront Liquor Licenses

Cash Jordan: Migrant MOB BLOCKS Whitehouse… Demands ‘11 Million Illegals’ Stay

Not much going on that I can find today

In Britain, they are secretly preparing for mass deaths

These Are The Best And Worst Countries For Work (US Last Place)-Life Balance

These Are The World's Most Powerful Cars

Doctor: Trump has 6 to 8 Months TO LIVE?!

Whatever Happened to Robert E. Lee's 7 Children


Resistance
See other Resistance Articles

Title: American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne ... Afghanistan/article6865359.ece
Published: Oct 8, 2009
Author: Martin Fletcher
Post Date: 2009-10-08 09:57:15 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 7425
Comments: 240

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.

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***”.

The battalion’s 1,500 soldiers are nine months in to a year-long deployment that has proved extraordinarily tough. Their goal was to secure the mountainous Wardak province and then to win the people’s allegiance through development and good governance. They have, instead, found themselves locked in an increasingly vicious battle with the Taleban.

They have been targeted by at least 300 roadside bombs, about 180 of which have exploded. Nineteen men have been killed in action, with another committing suicide. About a hundred have been flown home with amputations, severe burns and other injuries likely to cause permanent disability, and many of those have not been replaced. More than two dozen mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) have been knocked out of action.

Living conditions are good — abundant food, air-conditioned tents, hot water, free internet — but most of the men are on their second, third or fourth tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, with barely a year between each. Staff Sergeant Erika Cheney, Airborne’s mental health specialist, expressed concern about their mental state — especially those in scattered outposts — and believes that many have mild post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “They’re tired, frustrated, scared. A lot of them are afraid to go out but will still go,” she said.

Lieutenant Peter Hjelmstad, 2-87’s Medical Platoon Leader, said sleeplessness and anger attacks were common.

A dozen men have been confined to desk jobs because they can no longer handle missions outside the base. One long-serving officer who has lost three friends this tour said he sometimes returned to his room at night and cried, or played war games on his laptop. “It’s a release. It’s a method of coping.” He has nightmares and sleeps little, and it does not help that the base is frequently shaken by outgoing artillery fire. He was briefly overcome as he recalled how, when a lorry backfired during his most recent home leave, he grabbed his young son and dived between two parked cars.

The chaplains said soldiers were seeking their help in unprecedented numbers. “Everyone you meet is just down, and you meet them everywhere — in the weight room, dining facility, getting mail,” said Captain Rico. Even “hard men” were coming to their tent chapel and breaking down.

The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress. “The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see,” said Specialist Mercer.

“It’s a very frustrating mission,” said Lieutenant Hjelmstad. “The average soldier sees a friend blown up and his instinct is to retaliate or believe it’s for something [worthwhile], but it’s not like other wars where your buddy died but they took the hill. There’s no tangible reward for the sacrifice. It’s hard to say Wardak is better than when we got here.”

Captain Masengale, a soldier for 12 years before he became a chaplain, said: “We want to believe in a cause but we don’t know what that cause is.”

The soldiers are angry that colleagues are losing their lives while trying to help a population that will not help them. “You give them all the humanitarian assistance that they want and they’re still going to lie to you. They’ll tell you there’s no Taleban anywhere in the area and as soon as you roll away, ten feet from their house, you get shot at again,” said Specialist Eric Petty, from Georgia.

Captain Rico told of the disgust of a medic who was asked to treat an insurgent shortly after pulling a colleague’s charred corpse from a bombed vehicle.

The soldiers complain that rules of engagement designed to minimise civilian casualties mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs. “They’re a joke,” said one. “You get shot at but can do nothing about it. You have to see the person with the weapon. It’s not enough to know which house the shooting’s coming from.”

The soldiers joke that their Isaf arm badges stand not for International Security Assistance Force but “I Suck At Fighting” or “I Support Afghan Farmers”.

To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy. “That’s very demoralising,” said Captain Masengale.

The constant deployments are, meanwhile, playing havoc with the soldiers’ private lives. “They’re killing families,” he said. “Divorces are skyrocketing. PTSD is off the scale. There have been hundreds of injuries that send soldiers home and affect families for the rest of their lives.”

The chaplains said that many soldiers had lost their desire to help Afghanistan. “All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,” said Captain Masengale.

“If we make it back with ten toes and ten fingers the mission is successful,” Sergeant Hughes said.

“You carry on for the guys to your left or right,” added Specialist Mercer.

The chaplains have themselves struggled to cope with so much distress. “We have to encourage them, strengthen them and send them out again. No one comes in and says, ‘I’ve had a great day on a mission’. It’s all pain,” said Captain Masengale. “The only way we’ve been able to make it is having each other.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Kimo Gallahue, 2-87’s commanding officer, denied that his men were demoralised, and insisted they had achieved a great deal over the past nine months. A triathlete and former rugby player, he admitted pushing his men hard, but argued that taking the fight to the enemy was the best form of defence.

He said the security situation had worsened because the insurgents had chosen to fight in Wardak province, not abandon it. He said, however, that the situation would have been catastrophic without his men. They had managed to keep open the key Kabul-to-Kandahar highway which dissects Wardak, and prevent the province becoming a launch pad for attacks on the capital, which is barely 20 miles from its border. Above all, Colonel Gallahue argued that counter-insurgency — winning the allegiance of the indigenous population through security, development and good governance — was a long and laborious process that could not be completed in a year. “These 12 months have been, for me, laying the groundwork for future success,” he said.

At morning service on Sunday, the two chaplains sought to boost the spirits of their flock with uplifting hymns, accompanied by video footage of beautiful lakes, oceans and rivers.

Captain Rico offered a particularly apposite reading from Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”


Poster Comment:

“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,” ...“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,”... “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.”...“We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” ...“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.”...sleeplessness and anger attacks were common....The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress....“We want to believe in a cause but we don’t know what that cause is.”...To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy....“Divorces are skyrocketing. PTSD is off the scale. There have been hundreds of injuries that send soldiers home and affect families for the rest of their lives.”...“All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,”...He said the security situation had worsened because the insurgents had chosen to fight in Wardak province, not abandon it...two chaplains sought to boost the spirits of their flock with uplifting hymns, accompanied by video footage of beautiful lakes, oceans and rivers.

[Thread Locked]   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 90.

#3. To: Horse, All (#0)

Wish I were a fly on the wall and could see and hear the activity in the Oval Office today. They gotta be scrambling. Too bad you didn't attach photos to this. They are telling.

Phant2000  posted on  2009-10-08   10:02:14 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Phant2000 (#3)

Wish I were a fly on the wall and could see and hear the activity in the Oval Office today. They gotta be scrambling.

There will be much turmoil in this corrupt government today. The congress authorized the money for more war yesterday and today the troops are telling them to go to hell. I love this.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   10:04:04 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Cynicom (#4)

The congress authorized the money for more war yesterday and today the troops are telling them to go to hell.

And to think that there are retired officers giving interviews on TV that said McCrystal was not cut out for such responsibility. I hope that "officer" is choking on his words as we post.

Phant2000  posted on  2009-10-08   10:07:15 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Phant2000 (#6) (Edited)

And to think that there are retired officers giving interviews on TV that said McCrystal was not cut out for such responsibility.

At least McChrystal has stood up and told it like it is. Obumski fired McKiernan, and if he fires McChrystal the roof will fall in.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   10:10:46 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Cynicom (#7)

Obama has His own Corregidor. This after a 30k Bush-like surge. The blood is dripping from the hands of the Obama phone bank queens.

Jethro Tull  posted on  2009-10-08   10:29:35 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Jethro Tull (#8)

Can you add the photo the original post, it needs to be seen???

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   10:31:56 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Cynicom (#9)

Two pics are at the linked site.

As was the case in Vietnam, the mission is to return home safely. End of story.

Lod  posted on  2009-10-08   10:50:39 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: Lod (#15)

LOd...

There is MUCH to be gleaned here other than the intended message to Obama and this corrupt government.

This was arranged for the BRITISH media, not American, THAT TELLS US AND OBAMA MUCH.

Photo was posed for maximum effect, hidden face, black minority, bibles in prominance for PARENTS AND WIVES TO SEE.

This is the very bottom of the Army speaking the only way they know how.

This has to shake Obama and the top of the military to the core.

Note the AF and Navy are saying nothing, because they are not dying and bleeding.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   10:56:07 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#50. To: Cynicom (#17)

Photo was posed for maximum effect, hidden face, black minority, bibles in prominance for PARENTS AND WIVES TO SEE.

I just saw a soldier praying until you pointed out his race.

Obviously I need to sharpen my racial profiling skills.

TooConservative  posted on  2009-10-08   13:39:55 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#58. To: TooConservative (#50)

I just saw a soldier praying until you pointed out his race.

If you look closely you will see the black soldier has his arms wrapped around his face to ensure there is NO identification.

That is NOT a normal posture for praying.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   14:37:13 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#68. To: Cynicom (#58)

That is NOT a normal posture for praying.

I'm not in the business of judging prayer postures.

I would say my impression is that of a childlike prayer posture. But there is no kneeler or back of a pew or a table either. Of course, I didn't even notice his hands were black or his hair African-curly so you can't go far by my observations. :)

TooConservative  posted on  2009-10-08   16:22:25 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#71. To: TooConservative (#68)

I'm not in the business of judging prayer postures.

When the photo is "staged" you should be.

Do you recall the Pueblo years ago in North Korea????

Many people overlooked that in the first photo, two enlisted men had their hands on their knees and were giving the upside down finger to the Koreans???????

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   16:26:20 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#78. To: Cynicom, TooConservative (#71)

Many people overlooked that in the first photo, two enlisted men had their hands on their knees and were giving the upside down finger to the Koreans???????

Liberator  posted on  2009-10-08   16:51:08 ET  (3 images) [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#79. To: Liberator (#78) (Edited)

Excellent.

I recall the Hillary one.

By the way, the men of the Pueblo were beaten when it came out in our media about the fingers and what they meant.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   16:55:40 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#81. To: Cynicom (#79)

By the way, the men of the Pueblo were beaten when it came out in our media about the fingers and what they meant.

Our good ol' media - ALWAYS on our side. /s

Ernie Pyle would have kicked Geraldo's azz all over Iraq.

Liberator  posted on  2009-10-08   17:28:37 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#84. To: Liberator (#81)

Re the Pueblo...

"And the number one thing you may not have known about the Pueblo is what happened to the men when they returned. Despite receiving a hero's welcome on December 24, the euphoria did not last. That same day, the Navy created a board of inquiry. Hearings started in January, involving the testimony of the crew. Commander Bucher and Lieutenant Harris were recommended to be court-martialed.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   17:48:05 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#86. To: Cynicom (#84)

Do you recall the Pueblo's Sister Ship that was in the vicinity at the time ?

Rotara  posted on  2009-10-08   17:56:36 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#87. To: Rotara (#86)

Do you recall the Pueblo's Sister Ship that was in the vicinity at the time ?

No... Have no recall on that, memory is full of holes.

Cynicom  posted on  2009-10-08   17:59:18 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#90. To: Cynicom (#87)

Since January 20 the court had met for more than two hundred hours to hear one hundred and four witnesses (eighty-one in open session) provide 3,392 single-spaced, legal-sized pages of testimony. The admirals had flown to Norfolk, Virginia, to inspect Pueblo's sister ship, Palm Beach. To be sure, they had not dug into "all the facts and circumstances" surrounding the incident, They had not summoned shipyard officials from Bremerton or the Commander, Service Force, Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Edwin B. Hooper, from Hawaii, or even the former Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp, who was living in retirement in San Diego. Nor had they solicited testimony from anyone at the Naval Ships Systems Command, or the National Security Agency, or the Defense Intelligence Agency, or the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "These agencies were simply beyond my cognizance," Admiral Bowen remembers. "I didn't have the horsepower to take on the entire U.S. Government." He and his colleagues had assumed from the beginning-correctly, as it turned out Congress would probe into the "why" of the Pueblo affair, that their job was simply to determine what happened. (Armbrister)

My Uncle was a Senior Intelligence Officer on the Palm Beach at the time...

more linked above

Rotara  posted on  2009-10-08   18:02:10 ET  [Locked]   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 90.

        There are no replies to Comment # 90.


End Trace Mode for Comment # 90.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]