Afghanistan

July 14, 2009

I read that 15 British soldiers were blown up and killed by road-side bombs during two recent weeks in the Helmand Province offensive in Afghanistan.
The UK press is criticizing 10 Downing Street for trying to fight this was on the cheap. Insufficient numbers of helicopters have forced British soldiers to slog it out over IED-strewn roads.
Our own military has faced the same type of issue not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq. Officially, we spend about $400 billion year on defense yet most of this seems to go to hi-tech weapons systems procurement, acquisition and maintenance.
We have invested relatively little in the common foot soldier to radically reshape his combat experience. Only when blown up, shot or burned do our fighting men have access to an amazing new paradigm: 21st century battlefield medical care. But until they’re hurt, the infantryman’s experience is little changed from previous wars.
Part of the problem is that while many people have been in the military, very few have been in combat. Donald Rumsfeld is such a person. While he loves to advertise his military credentials he was never in combat; had he been, he would know that war has an Alice-in-Wonderland effect on the world. A lean and striped-down military would have been wonderful peace-time reform. But anyone who has been in combat knows that everything always goes wrong and never as planned or sometimes even imagined. The only protection for this is redundancy.
In addition to being a poor planner, Mr. Rumsfeld has no honor. On his repeated visits to Iraq he never once ventured out in an “up-armored” “Humvee”, let-alone the standard U.S. issue. He was always safely ensconced in a Rhino Runner. Combat leaders know one of the biggest morale boosters at their disposal is enduring the same suffering, hardship and fear as their troops.
We’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan longer than we fought WWII while our automotive industry was decaying. It seems quite amazing that we have yet to protect every single one of our soldiers as well as those of our allies if necessary in adequately armored vehicles.