AFG is what I would like to think of as a petri dish. It has all the various elements (i.e.; corrupt government, HQN, Taliban, HIG, ISI, tribal in-fighting, difficult terrain, sorted history of invaders, etc.) to make it a vile and volatile nightmare. You really have to have your head screwed on tight with concise and current S2 just to know which way is up in this place.
Also, having a unified upper echelon C2 element with balls would not hurt either. I had a E-9 tell me the other the day, "The days of deliberately killing bad guys are over". I laughed hysterically to keep from vomiting. Not to mention my team had just been in a 55 min TIC. We have stopped with the "kill bad-guys" mentality and assumed a HUM-AID stance. “HEARTS AND MINDS”, that is what we are suppose to be winning. These people understand whoever has the biggest stick and who is not afraid to use it wins.
We are creating programs and infrastructures that are westernized to the core and will crumble like a qalat that just got hit with a 500 lb. JDAM if we ever leave. And now we are implementing a program that will not be able to withstand constant oversight in the villages. I won't go into detail about the program, but lets just say it is a lot like community policing.
The longer we stay the more red tape is thrown out. Commanders don't want to hear that their master plan is a bunch of crap. No, they want to hear how you are doing everything in your power short of rape and murder to implement the plan in a timely manner. This campaign now is smoke and mirrors. We spend more time on VTC’s, filling out request to follow up on a request, and OP’s paper work than you do actually on the operation. The same people we train today we will be back in 5-10 years killing. It has happened before.
Maybe I have said to much and will get my ass in a sling on here for it. But I am resonating what the guys on the ground feel and think.
