Very enlightening letter from the front lines, written by a Marine upon turning over Camp Leatherneck to the Afghan Military
"After 13 years of operations, Marines turned over control of Camp Leatherneck to Afghan Security Forces.
You know, as nice as that may be, there is a job still left undone. Leatherneck was skate -- paradisio. I actually liked it there and the creature comforts it offered, -- Pizza Hut on Bastion, hopping on the route black bus which took you all around the base, the gym and MWR -- seemed to represent a dedication to get the job done, a tangible reminder of an alleged resolve to exterminate all who oppose us.
Well, at first glance.
The fact is, is that we tied our own hands with our foreign policy, adherence to the Geneva Convention and ROE's -- in later years -- which all but assured unnecessary death and made some of us too worried about shooting to perform effectively. contrary to popular belief, being worried about getting sent to Courts Martial for shooting someone is kind of tedious.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we should ghost people indiscriminately, but what I am saying is that our ROE's, the politicking and niceties prevented warfighters from doing their jobs in certain crucial scenarios.
One example I recall in particular involved an ANP, who was higher than giraffe pussy, shooting at the ground near kids who were on their way to school. I was tired, had just gotten off of post, was now on SOG and had received the call from the infamous Peanut who was then on post three. My first instinct was to kill this fucker; I peeked around the corner and had him sighted in with my MK12, weapon off of safe and felt my cock starting to get hard: it was the right thing to do -- to kill this fucker. Let's be honest here, he's just going to keep getting high, robbing people at checkpoints, raping young recruits while making them do the Chai Boy gig and just generally being a piece of shit -- the world would be better off without him and I was entrusted to make that judgment call.
I didn't shoot him. I screamed at him in Pashtun for him to lay down his weapon as I was sighted in on him and he complied. I walked over to him, weapon still at the ready, grabbed him by the back of his neck and put his face in the dirt while kicking away his AK. Within a minute of me putting him on the ground, the ANP detachment commander had showed up in his truck and asked me what was going on and I explained. Once I stood this guy up I slugged him in the mouth off of sheer principle.
My point in this anecdote, is that though I had the justification and was put in a position to make such a judgment call, I let him live based the fact that I would have caused an international incident. Imagine the headlines, we've all seen them, "U.S. MARINE KILLS INNOCENT AFGHAN POLICEMAN." I would have been crucified publicly -- no such thing happened when ANSF dudes killed my friend Eric Christian, he was trying to help them and had good rapport with the locals. Nary an American cried foul on that, or on all the other turncoat pussies who killed Americans that were trying to help them. Refer to traitors in obscure terms instead; obfuscate lechery.
"We're so sorry," they lament; "We'll pray for you," a wish upon a fallen star accomplishing nothing; "We'll do everything except acknowledge the truth: We Americans have defined our victories into non-existence, tied our hands, created a culture of hyper-sensitive pansies so far removed from the miseries the rest of the world, we'd rather concentrate on if people are saying insensitive things on the internet. We are now weak and relish in it."
Six months from now, LN will be the ultimate representation of our failures as culture, as a people: it will be the largest Talib base in Afghanistan. All those DFAC's, gyms, dorm-style housing -- Timmy Talib will love it. Just like they love Now Zad today; like ISIS loves Raqqa and Fallujah.
I'll remember the places we fought in, shithole villages like Dehana, Gina, Tabut, Diwinak, Dayak, Salaam Bazaar, Kurguay and I'll keep wondering what it was all for; I'll remember having to explain to the wife of my friend, Kevin Hanrahan, why he doesn't have a left leg or right hamstring, hoping against reality that I was wrong; why Timothy Elmore can't walk without a cane anymore, escorting the family of my friend Peter Clore around Lejeune for memorial services, or why Aaron Ullom died on a mission that served no purpose; why Nicolas Uzenski died in Now Zad along with his Ssgt to make sure their team got away safely. We'll remember.
We might not be The Greatest Generation, but those men are the greatest I've known.
I love you America, but your people have decided our fate: to be okay with mediocrity. America the beautiful, so full of grace, capable of everything, accomplishing nothing other than breeding generations of effeminate men and manly women while no one understands what is happening.
Give war a chance.
~Lucky"
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