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Subscribe to RSSThis image by Rodrigo Abd stopped me in my tracks today. Stunning. He is currently embedded with the 101st Airborne near Kandahar, where he and multimedia journalist Evan Vucci are PhotoBlogging about the experience. See their first dispatch about the difficult and dangerous conditions the soldiers are encountering and check back early next week for more posts.
Rodrigo Abd / AP
A U.S. Army soldier crosses an irrigated field during a patrol by the 1-320th Alpha Battery, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division near COP Nolen, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, July 23.
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These brave boys and girls put it all on the line, while here we try terrorist like they were citizens. America better wake up!!!!
First comment of this remarkable tribute to our servicemen is a political cheapshot from a rightwing ideologue. How typical. Now all we need is some left winger to make some dickish remark about our troops being mercenaries, or perhaps some 9/11 conspiracy nonsense, and the thread will be complete.
Best wishes to all still serving overseas. Too bad so many of their countrymen are so childish and undeserving of their sacrifice.
The thing that these brave men and women are fighting for is hands-down the greatest, best governmental system ever created. It's not perfect, by any means, but part of that system is that we try people before we shoot them. Up until recently, all of the terrorists were young men of arab decent. Recently, many more have been 'white' people that nobody would have picked out of a crowd. Our system is designed so that our government can't just scoop up anyone suspected of being a terrorist and ship them off to prison somewhere. Until 2001, we hadn't done that kind of thing since 1945. I don't want to live in a Soviet police state any more than I want to be blown up, so I'll trade a little security for assurance that my rights are protected. If you are ever thought to be a terrorist, you will certainly want the rights these brave men and women are dying to protect. Hopefully, you will never need them.
I see its hard to wake up from your dream. Because its eazy to go along with the lies. Turn off the TV, full of lies and propaganda. CNN fills your heart with hate and racism and men go along with it. Dont even talk about 911 you got a be small minded person to think a bunch of towel heads were capable of masterminded this and then our so called government was POWERLESS to stop it. hmmmm the truth always comes out. God bless the real people and not the evil who threat against this country and this planet. Wake up for your children and your grand kids if you have a soul anymore or did you sell it to the devil aready? infowars.com
To the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday I simply say thank you......thank you for your service, dedication,courage and honor. May God Bless and keep our troops from harm!!
While following this, I can only hope for the best for my Nephew, who is in B Battery at FOB Jelawur in the same area. We hear the same from him. We pray for the best.
First thought: There's green in Afghanistan? :)
Beautiful picture.
I agree with your Karlee. This is a beautiful photo. I like the surreal quality of the leafy overhead branches framing the determined footsteps of this soldier and how the sun-dappled water plays against the darker, shadowy areas.
Finding poetry in motion ... leaves, soldier, grasses water ... in a war setting is not something I look for or think about, but it's here, in this photo. Makes me think about how we all choose to walk through life.
I'm so thankful for our troops and the sacrifices they, and their families, make for our freedoms.
(bikerladyfromOR)
To those who serve and those who have served....it does not matter where....Thank you!
It always sucks. The infantry and our best young people live through the most disgusting conditions protecting us and getting less. As a Viet Nam Infantry Veteran, nothing has changed and unfortunately more will suffer. God Bless them all and hopefully we will learn from this experience.
As a Marine Vietnam Vet -Chu lai-Da nang- we never learn. Ever since Vietnam- our goverment has adopted even more absurd ROEs that put the troops in harms way. The infantry has always paid the price but since Korea our civilian leaders are too concerned with international approval and political correctness, rather than the total annihaltion of the enemy and his support structure. Guerilla wars can never be won given our present mindset. After learning of General mcCrystals insane ROEs, I am glad he was fired. He cared more about the Afghans then the troops safety under his command.
Cute pics, show the ones where there killing babies and growing opium. USA is @!$%#ing up. The president is the devil himself, shame on usa shame on its people who go along with the lies and the hate. Wake up and stop being a puppet to govenment. Government always turn on its people @!$%# USA
Benny, your and idiot. Why don't you just shut the $%^* up and have respect for our soilders
this is not about support for our troops A HOLE. Why do so many simple minded dopes make this about supporting our troops. So we cant say to get the troops out of there? No matter how idiotic of a reason we are there for, if they are there we should "support our troops"? Could you have any fewer neurons firing in that mouse brain of yours?
I agree shame on us americans for not being MORE OUTSPOKEN to our senators to get us out of there! THis is a wasste of money and human lives!!
BennyBeer, you better hope I never find out where you live.
Benny, you're pretty upset with your government and country....16 years in the military have taught me many things. 1st and foremost, if you're not part of the solution...then you are most certainly part of the problem...so when are you moving? May I make a few suggestions, China, North Korea...maybe Cuba or several South American countries, if you're into the warmer weather. Let me know i'll come help you pack!
After given $trillions to WallSt FatCats, our troops in Afghan says they don't have enough fire power. Where is our priority? After Congress allocated billions for defense each year, why our fighting troops are not adequately provided with enough fire-power?
Earlier, we heard from several US ground troops in Iraq that the Army had been using "hillbilly armor" on patrol vehicles. Now, our troops in Afghanistan complain of not having enough fire-power while the Pentagon boast about being a super military power. Do we another Truman to investigate government waste in military procurement? Despite paying extra billions for military "pork," our troops are still left with inadequate resources to do the job asked of them.
The military contractors who short changed or rip-off the Pentagon/ American taxpayer should be embeded with a combat unit in Kandahar to experience first hand the feeling of inadequate fire power.
You're more than welcome.
USN/USAF {medically retired}.
Us veterans understand, as no one else can. We in the American Legion Huntington Beach Post 133 do support our troops!
I must say that the ignorance of todays people in America astounds me.What folks do not understand is the weak support system and low to nil pay for our outstanding youth who fight for a future of an america that the tree hugging liberal nancies use as a way to cheapen their efforts .Lest we forget that the only reason they have the right to speak their minds was from American blood shed on their behalf. Move to one of the countries you so desperately want to defend and then try to say just one stern word about their government,and see what happens.
will you guys please stop @!$%#ing about whether the american people support the troops. when i was over in vietnam for 2 tours the american people except our own parents wished we all would have died - we were despised by our own damn country and basically still are especially by the veterans administration because we had the balls to fight them for our rights that we were promised. you guys should thank us vietnam veterans because if it was not for us you guys would have to fight for many years to get your disability ratings and be ignored for many years by them
as for me supporting the troops - damn right i do but am getting less and less supporting our own damn government who could care less about us. as for me i say it is way past time to get out of afghanistan, pakistan and especially that country that did nothing to us but still got invaded because of a grudge by that pimple headed fool george the jerk off bush.
vietnam vet
To the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday I simply say thank you......thank you for your service, dedication,courage and honor. May God Bless and keep our troops from harm!!
Support the troops, dont support the troops, its unamerican not to support them right? They are fighting for us, our freedom right?
WRONG!
This is George Bushes war! Get out boys OUT of there! This has proven to be a waste of time and a political quagmire to get out of. Wasting BILLIONS of our money here and in Iraq for some idealistic BS!
This is your money that these A holes are squandering away while our debt soars to incomprehensible dollar amount all beacause as the author of this article portends, you all dont write your congress and senators and tell them to get us the FFFF out of there!
Dont just sit there and read this article, WRITE YOUR SENATOR!! BRING OUR BOYS HOME AND STOP WASTING OUR MONEY to fight some rag tag team they call Al-Quaeda??
Dont you think if they could have struck us by now they would have? We are not holding them at bay, they are too disorganized to do any better!! US fighting this "war" is all about politics. Wake up people!
"Dont you think if they could have struck us by now they would have? We are not holding them at bay, they are too disorganized to do any better!!"
FYI - there was this little incident that happened in NYC on 9/11/2001. Google it.
ANd since 911? Since we poured trillions into this so called "war"? Where have they struck since then? Im sorry, i didnt hear you??
Oh oh yes thats right, all this money we have been spending has "kept us safe" and out of harms way. Being in Iraq and Afghanistan has kept our people safe here in america, how foolish of me, I should read the papers more!
911 could have never have happend with if we were in Iraq and Afghanistan occupying it.
Thank got we got to those WMDs in time, whew! That was a close one, another month and they would have bombed us all! Thank god we stabilized the region by getting that bd man Saddam Hussein out of there........Umm Ya
Wow... chill.
I in no way said that we should still be over there. I don't think we should just pull the troops out, either. Honestly, I've seen good arguments on both sides of the aisle. I am in no way an expert, nor do I claim to be. In a society of mass over-information, it's hard to decifer what is "true" or not about the situation.
You say that they are too disorganized to attack us, yet you don't know whether or not that disorganization is caused by our troops actually being over there. I wish we could just pull our men out and bring them back home - happy ending and all.
I don't think we went over there with the most pure of intentions (WMDs included), but that shouldn't have any relevance as to what happens NOW, because we cannot go back and change what happened in the past. What happens NOW needs to be based on where each decision would lead in THIS situation, and what the corresponding consequences would do to our society - AND theirs.
That's my OPINION. You are free to yours as well. Just don't assume you know where I stand when you don't.
PS - to everyone else - This was a completely baited comment, and I took a bite. I apologize.
There is no more room for a war in Afghanistan. From day one the cause has been in question and after all this time is is true that the whole exercise was to channel billions of dollars to a corrupt government in Afghanistan and since the Brits and Russians have already experienced, it will remain a lost cause. Its time to get out, get the soldiers back, find them a job in defending America, on the borders and not thousands of miles away. Nobody wants America to be in the Middle East or Europe. Its time to revive America, spend some money on education of our people and on bringing it to a competitive stage instead of broken infrastructure. Those right wing cheap shots should also get some more education because they have still not learned when to stop.
i was a combat medic during vietnam an know first hand how much support we did not get every quarter i but two phone cards for the troops. its not much but i try.
try and forget for the moment and think about the men and women on the ground and what you can do for them
I'm sorry but, no number of towel heads is worth what our troops are fighting and dying for. If this part of the world is that much of a threat to America...then take it out!!!!!! You know damn well that if a taliban towel head had the chance he'd nuke an American city in a New York minute! So, who's lives are more important...remember this is war....American or Afgany lives???? In war the general public can get hurt. Just ask all the families of those killed and wounded on September 11, 2001 in New Yprk, Washington D.C. Again, I ask you whoes lives are the most important in this war. Yes, American lives. So, if the general public is cought in the middle of this Afghanistan war...then....it is what it is...war. It's kill or be killed in any war. Did the bombs on Japan end WWII. Yes, and why... because we showed we ment business. Time we showed we mean business in Afghanistan as well!!!!! Again, take them out before one more American soldier is killed! Oh, yes I've seen war first hand so, don't tell me I know what I'm taking about. I've had my buddies blood and brains all over my face. Semper Fi.