Grim Afghanistan milestone: 1000 Americans dead. Troops dying younger, often fresh out of boot camp

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37215944/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times

He was an irreverent teenager with a pregnant girlfriend when the idea first crossed his mind: Join the Army, raise a family. She had an abortion, but the idea remained. Patrick S. Fitzgibbon, Saint Paddy to his friends, became Private Fitzgibbon. Three months out of basic training, he went to war.

From his outpost in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan, he complained to his father about shortages of cigarettes, Skittles and Mountain Dew. But he took pride in his work and volunteered for patrols. On Aug. 1, 2009, while on one of those missions, Private Fitzgibbon stepped on a metal plate wired to a bomb buried in the sun-baked earth. The blue sky turned brown with dust.

The explosion instantly killed Private Fitzgibbon, 19, of Knoxville, Tenn., and Cpl. Jonathan M. Walls, a 27-year-old father from Colorado Springs. An hour later, a third soldier who was helping secure the area, Pfc. Richard K. Jones, 21, of Roxboro, N.C., died from another hidden bomb. The two blasts wounded at least 10 other soldiers.

On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed the second 500 in fewer than two. A resurgent Taliban active in almost every province, a weak central government incapable of protecting its people and a larger number of American troops in harms way all contributed to the accelerating pace of death.

more...

Do they even pretend anymore?

I was barely 18 when I hit DaNang.

Fuck me, I was just short of 19 when I came home.

Fuck me is exactly what I thought also.

.., I think they mean.

Taliban Hold Sway in Area Taken by U.S., Farmers Say


"Farmers from the district of Marja, which since February has been the focus of the largest American-led military operation in Afghanistan, are fleeing the area, saying that the Taliban are terrorizing the population and that American troops cannot protect the civilians.

Sign of Afghan Addiction May Also Be Its Remedy (May 17, 2010) The departure of the farmers is one of the most telling indications that Taliban fighters have found a way to resume their insurgency, three months after thousands of troops invaded this Taliban stronghold in the opening foray of a campaign to take control of southern Afghanistan. Militants have been infiltrating back into the area and the prospect of months of more fighting is undermining public morale, residents and officials said.

As the coalition prepares for the next major offensive in the southern city of Kandahar, the uneasy standoff in Marja, where neither the American Marines nor the Taliban have gained the upper hand and clashes occur daily, provides a stark lesson in the challenges of eliminating a patient and deeply rooted insurgency. ...."


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world/asia/17marja.ht...


*************************************************************



Afghans’ Distrust Threatens U.S. War Strategy

".....Even as American troops clear areas of militants, they find either no government to fill the vacuum, as in Marja, or entrenched power brokers, like President Karzai’s brother in Kandahar, who monopolize NATO contracts and other development projects and are resented by large portions of the population.

In still other places, government officials rarely show up at work and do little to help local people, and in most places the Afghan police are incapable of providing security. Corruption, big and small, remains an overwhelming complaint. ''''"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/world/asia/13afghan.h...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8360375

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

nt

It appears to be a rather wide-spread mindset. "I got my girlfriend pregnant, time to join the army".

It seems to me like common sense would dictate that out of all possible situations, having just found out that your girlfriend is pregnant is specifically one of the last ones during which one would sign up for the army. I would assume that the common situation in which one volunteers for the army during wartime is one in which one is eager to sever all ties to ones civilian life.

:shrug:

the Army is a job. Not the greatest pay, but it's something. With a kid on the way, it's nice to have steady paychecks.

:hi:

.... back when I was a teen, my best friend told me he had a problem, his girlfriend was "late". He wanted me to go to the Navy recruiting office with him, he was thinking about joining. This was 1971.

I declined, but he managed to talk my younger brother into going.

Long story short, Jenny was just "late" not pregnant. My friend lost interest in the Navy. My brother joined, became a pilot and enjoyed a 30 year career :)