One Battalion’s Wrenching Deployment to Afghanistan

FLYING MILITARY CLASS From late March until mid-April, the First Battalion, 87th Infantry moved in waves through Germany, Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait to a small airstrip about 150 miles north of Kabul.


One Battalion’s Wrenching Deployment to Afghanistan
By JAMES DAO
Published: June 26, 2010

Pvt. Johnnie Stevenson spent his final hours at Fort Drum alone, trying to put his game face on. He played some Ludacris on his iPod, then turned it off. He unpacked his 72-hour bag, then repacked it. Did he have enough toothpaste and spare socks? Had he paid his bills? Was he ready for war? For a year?

Capt. Adrian Bonenberger took a drive through the farmland of northern New York to absorb one last view of the St. Lawrence River. To drink one last cup of coffee at the Lyric Bistro in Clayton. To savor one last moment of real peace and quiet before heading to Afghanistan. For a year.

Sgt. Tamara Sullivan pulled out her cellphone charger and braced for a night of tears. She called her children in North Carolina, ages 3 and 1, and told them she would soon be going to work in a place called Afghanistan. For a year. She reminded her husband to send her their artwork. She cried, hung up, called him back and cried some more.

“I asked for him to mail me those pictures, those little sloppy ones,” she said. “I want to see what my children’s hands touched, because I won’t be able to touch them.”

These are the faces of the new American surge in Afghanistan. For the next year, the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., will be living, working and fighting in the fertile northern plains of Afghanistan, part of the additional 30,000 troops who will make up the backbone of President Obama’s plan for ending the nine-year war.

Some have the knack for reporting the news like storytelling, in a way that grabs our attention. And yet another story about what is one more routine deployment comes alive, and is no longer just "routine".

Great post!:thumbsup:.

Rec.

...How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives" (required reading, IMHO)

I won't bore you with numbers, but the DOD spends jillions on First and Business Class tickets for their suckasses. The military and the CIA have fleets of exec jets and can borrow fleets more.

The grunts travel "sardine class". I know, I've flown on air transport and on troopships that you wouldn't put farm animals on.

The troops always suck hind tit, while the CEOs - generals and under-under Secretaries live like kings.

Read the book. If you aren't enraged... about several things... check your pulse. You may be dead.

My outrage meter overloads very quickly.