Humpday Happenings...
Finally, our beloved President got on the stick and decided to send about 30,000 troops to Afghanistan...about damn time, too.
Now, before we let the pigeons loose and sound the hurrahs, let's back up a bit.
Don't think that those 30,000 troops will be over there TOMORROW...ain't gonna happen.
See, you have to follow a process known as LOGISTICS.
You have to assemble the troops from all over the place, as well as see where you can already draw them from elsewhere.
THEN, they're going to need a little something we call SUPPLIES...!
Yeah, the basics like BULLETS...FOOD...T.P....WATER...simple crap like that which makes staying ALIVE (and killing the bad guys) a whole lot easier.
And, you're going to need other EQUIPMENT such as VEHICLES to move the troops around.
I really wouldn't trust the public transportation systems in country...but that's just me.
Troopers need trucks...LOTS of trucks...and trailers...and tanks, APCs, fuel trucks, COMMS trucks, repair trucks, Stingers...well, you get the idea.
And toss in some ARTILLERY while you're at it. Gonna need some cool things that go BOOM really well.
Then there's the rest of the QM (quartermaster) stuff, such as guns (for all those bullets), uniforms, underwear, boots, gloves, goggles, knee & elbow pads, body armor, helmets...medicine and medical equipment...yeah, that list goes on.
Finally, you're going to need someone to hump all this stuff OVER there, aren't you?
Call in the Air Force for transport (used to be called M.A.T.S. - Military Air Transport Service)..gonna need a LOT of planes to get all this stuff over there. And get some ships, too. Some things just can't be airlifted overseas that easily.
Did I mention you might need some BARRACKS to house all these brave warriors?
And we're going to need sandbags (plenty of sand to fill em with there already, thank God), and some concertina wire...a sh*tload of that.
Yep...like I said..."just the basics".
(that's only for the "ground-pounders"...didn't say anything about AIR and SEA stuff, did we?)
And in the wonderful world of logistics, THIS is where you separate the wheat from the chaff.
We "could" have everyone and everything "in place" within say...EIGHT MONTHS, if things follow true, even if we start rolling out today.
But it IS the military, and the phrase "Hurry Up and Wait" takes on a whole new meaning here.
Think maybe within a YEAR...(or a bit more) we might have all the "goods" over there.
Damn shame FED EX or UPS can't definitely, positively have our troops and equipment over there TOMORROW...(think of the bill for that). Then again, this administration would MUCH rather blow the wad on flawed health care bills and "cap and trade" (aka crap and tax), and bailouts, instead of being concerned with achieving any sort of real VICTORY in theater.
Funny...I don't remember even HEARING that word (VICTORY) in last night's speech...did you?
It does bug me when I hear about our "possibilities" of winning this war on terror.
There should NEVER be anything concerning a "possibility"...leave that to the guy who is going to LOSE.
...Or the weatherman, as in a "possibility of showers later today".
Our military is the best damn one on earth, and we have NEVER lost ANY war.
The POLITICIANS would lose them for us, instead.
In Vietnam, there was not ONE engagement or battle that OUR forces did NOT win...and yet...WTF happened?
We "lost" the war...so say the pundits...and the historians.
Well, we all know what the truth of the matter was....it was POLITICS.
Didn't seem that way with WW2, though.
And it should not seem this way in the Middle East.
We either fight TO WIN...or we get out, and let the people fend for themselves.
I prefer the former, rather than the latter.
If we choose the latter, we should do it with a provision...that we, as America, become a bit more "isolationist", and monitor who comes and goes from our shores.
Now, that doesn't come without it's OWN set of issues, such as leaving the rest of the world to deal with problems we could solve with our intervention and assistance.
And, then there's the problem of more nations falling to radical and fascist beliefs, forming larger antagonists to bother us down the road.
So it is in OUR best interest, as a nation, to set the standard for how warfare should be waged, and how you DO achieve victory, to the betterment of those countries involved.
One has to look at Japan and Germany to see our rebuilding efforts AFTER we won WW2.
Aside from Germany being split by the USSR, the Western part of that country did okay, and we all know how WELL Japan fared after the war...can you say economic mega-power?
But those nations had something going for them that a lot of the Middle East does not...CIVILIZATION.
Neither Germany nor Japan was considered anything close to a "3rd-world country".
They were CIVILIZED, and understood how to bring themselves back from the ashes of defeat into global prominence again.
With Iraq and Afghanistan...not so much. There's not a helluva lot THERE to begin with...that we can work with, whether it's the natural resources OR the people.. We're kinda dealing with a blank slate here.
It's like we're trying to rebuild a nation stuck in the 4th century...with 20th century weapons and the balls to use them, even if they don't fully fathom the reasons for doing so. We're talking a very few cities, surrounded by a lot of sheep-herders, farmers, and markets that you'd see in some sword and sandal flick, along with people dressing like they're still searching for the Christ child in the first century.
But hey, we're still sending 30,000 troops over there...
And we simply cannot allow these radical terrorists to grow in numbers nor can we afford to succumb to another 9/11.
That applies to every free nation on the planet, as well.
American does not have a monopoly on freedom...our fight to maintain it for ourselves, as well as others is evidence enough.
Freedom isn't free...that's been said all to often.
You can't just go out back and pluck some from a tree.
You can't ask for a 1/2 pound of it at the local deli.
And you certainly cannot attain it by NEVER fighting for it.
Everything in life has a cost...even life itself.
What we are willing to "pay" will determine the amount of freedom we shall embrace.
That's just the simple truth...
And the truth will always set people free.
Stay safe out there, America.