War Stories

Q: What's the difference between a war story and a fairy tale?
A: A fairy tale starts, "Once upon a time. . ."
A war story starts, "This is no bullshit. . ."

Q: When is a fairy tale and a war story the same?
A: When it appears on the front page of the New York Times

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What is the mission of the week in Afghanistan? What is to be accomplished by the fighting, violence and death being inflicted upon the Afghan society? Why is the mission statement as elusive as Osama bin Laden himself?

Or is what we are trying to achieve in Afghanistan a national security secret?

C. J. Chivers uplifting report, Training Afghans as Bullets Fly: A Young Marine's Dream Job, spotlights two young Marines and spins a positive future for Afghanistan, extrapolated from the efforts of this earnest dream team:

"If all goes according to the Pentagon’s plan, this tiny perimeter — home to an Afghan platoon and two Marine Corps infantrymen — contains the future of Afghanistan. The Obama administration hopes that eventually the Afghan soldiers within will become self-sufficient, allowing the fight against the Taliban to be shifted to local hands."

Always the ubiquitous "hope" when the Obama administration refers to U.S. military objectives in Afghanistan. Does the entire U.S. policy fall upon the backs of two USMC grunts?

"There are nearly 30 Afghan soldiers here. Their senior mentor, Cpl. Sean P. Conroy, of Carmel, N.Y., is 25 years old. His assistant, Lance Cpl. Brandon J. Murray, of Fort Myers, Fla., is 21.

"On the ground, far from the generals in Kabul and the policy makers in Washington, the hour-by-hour conduct of the war rests in part in the deeds of men this young, who have been given latitude to lead as their training and instincts guide them."

The problem is, Lance Corporals are not advisers, have not been trained as advisers and lack the experience level or knowledge to train a Platoon-level element. Lance Corporals are trained at the fire-team level. They are not squad leaders or platoon sergeants, but fire team leaders -- plain an simple.

In a Counterinsurgency environment, advisers must be trained before they can train up others. During the Vietnam war, advisers were trained at Ft. Bragg, attending the Military Assistance Training Adviser course (MATA). MATA was a three-month course for those going to advisory slots.

Yet even with this specialized training, the advisory aspect of that war didn't exactly pan out. And now we are placing this burden upon simple E-4 level grunts? Never happen, G.I.!

This is not a critique of the Lance Corporals, but the system that cannot come up with anything that is strategic in concept and executed at the tactical level. The U.S. is surging in Afghanistan, but lacks the civic action and advisory capabilities -- both civilian and military -- and is plagued by a dearth of long-term plans or considerations.

Sort of reminds Ranger of the VN war, and we know how that one ended. If in doubt, look at the label in your skivvies. At least we get cheap underwear out of that war.

What will be the benefit of Afghanistan?