New fight: Unit preps for Afghanistan sans tanks

New fight: Unit preps for Afghanistan sans tanks
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
Sep 24, 5:51 PM EDT

DAHLONEGA, Ga. (AP) -- Drenched in sweat, Army Capt. Aaron Hall peeled off his soggy socks and applied a liberal dose of foot powder before slipping on a dry pair and rallying his troops back to their throbbing feet. For an outfit used to being ferried from fight to fight in armored vehicles, a 50-mile march through the Appalachians was a little much.

Perhaps no unit better exemplifies the challenges presented by the Army's transition from desert warfare in Iraq to rugged mountain campaigns in Afghanistan than the 3rd Infantry Division's 4th Brigade, whose tanks and Bradley assault vehicles were among the first to rumble into Baghdad in the 2003 invasion.

Under a 2007 plan to grow the Army and diversify its forces, 4th Brigade is the only mechanized unit being ordered to ditch its tanks and Bradleys and relearn how to move through a war zone on foot.

Which is how Hall and his soldiers found themselves zigzagging through the mountains of north Georgia, trying to cover 50 miles in three days. Even after serving last year as a platoon leader in Iraq, Hall wasn't used to that kind of exertion.

"Whenever they said `road march,' it was pretty much get in your Bradleys and ride 20 miles," said Hall, 28, of Canton, N.C. "Now, it's put on your boots and your rucksack and start walking. We're our own transportation."


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ARMORLESS_TO_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-24-15-05-47



uhc comment: This reminds me of the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne Divisions in Vietnam. Lose the airplanes; we need boots on the ground.

The main seaport in Pakistan is Karachi. It is over 500 miles, about the distance from Baltimore to Indianapolis, from the port of Karachi to Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan.

The distance from Karachi to Kabul, the capital, is like the distance from Baltimore to Saint Louis. But with vastly poorer transportation infrastructure.

This will be Obama's downfall.