GIs in Afghanistan wage `forgotten' war
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    Cool GIs in Afghanistan wage `forgotten' war

    GIs in Afghanistan wage `forgotten' war
    Troops battle tedium, but peril still lurks

    By Kim Barker
    Tribune foreign correspondent
    Published June 5, 2005


    NEAR ORGUN, Afghanistan -- Sgt. Ben Crowley looks through the scope of his rifle at the suspicious white bag lying in the middle of the dusty road. He sees no wires poking out, nothing that screams bomb. He moves closer, his gun pointed at the bag. Four vehicles, filled with U.S. and Afghan soldiers, wait behind him.

    But no one is nervous. The bag is what it seems--full of dirt and gravel and nothing else. It is a typical moment in a typical day near a typical base in the middle of nowhere, Afghanistan. Little happens throughout this day. No bombs, no rockets, no gunfire. Just hordes of children demanding chocolate and pens.

    Crowley walks back to his Humvee, which will break down within the hour, the third time in a week. As usual, his rifle has no bullet in the chamber. He is not locked and loaded. Crowley does not see the point, because most attacks here involve roadside bombs, not guerrilla ambushes.

    "Iraq is like a war," said Crowley, 28, of Greensboro, N.C. "This is like a summer camp."

    Sometimes war is not hell. It is simply waiting. But the war in Afghanistan is not really a summer camp, unless summer camp involves swallowing pounds of dust every day, hiking with guns and searching for an alleged Taliban sympathizer named Mohammad Wali. And in this war, soldiers die. On Friday, two were killed by a roadside bomb east of where Crowley and his platoon had patrolled the day before.

    But the war in Afghanistan is different from the war in Iraq.

    The soldiers here sometimes joke that Afghanistan is the forgotten war, but that is not considered funny. Some letters addressed to the base chaplain, generic ones sent to support U.S. troops, even thank the soldiers here for what they have done for the Iraqi people.

    "When I told some of my friends back home I was going to Afghanistan, one was like, `We're still over there? We have troops over there?'" said Sgt. Michael Kennicker, 25, of Greenwood, Neb. "To me, it is forgotten, it really is."

    When Sgt. Herman Sarantes was deployed to Iraq, his family, friends and acquaintances mailed him three or four packages a week. In Afghanistan, he said, he receives mail only from his wife and parents. And a letter can take six weeks to arrive.

    These soldiers all serve in the engineers platoon in the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade. Most in the battalion also have served in Iraq. A few have pulled triple duty--first Afghanistan, then Iraq, now Afghanistan again. They are among about 16,700 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan, helping rebuild the country and fighting insurgents, who sometimes go for months without attacking.

    Danger always lurking

    Combat here is sporadic but fierce, mostly along the Pakistan border. Roadside bombs are the most common weapon; the two U.S. soldiers killed by one Friday belonged to a unit getting ready to go home. Life might seem calmer in Afghanistan than Iraq, but this is a war.

    "The soldiers are still in danger every day of their lives," said Sgt. 1st Class Rick Scavetta, a coalition spokesman.

    Civilians are also at risk. In the past two weeks, three bombs have exploded, targeting Afghan demining groups in the southwest. A suicide bomber killed 19 people Wednesday at a Kandahar mosque.

    Life for the engineers platoon has been more peaceful. Their battalion is stationed in Orgun-E, one of the larger of a dozen or so U.S.-led coalition bases along the border with Pakistan and in southern Afghanistan.

    Everything is slower here in Paktika province. The Humvees tool along at 10 m.p.h. on Highway 141--really a narrow, bumpy dirt trail. There are no paved roads; some are just dried-out creek beds. The mail takes so long to arrive because it has to be sent by helicopter or "jingle truck," a local truck with dangling, clanging chains. Short patrols take a long time.

    "Oh, it's going to be a long, boring day," said Sgt. 1st Class William Porter, 36, the platoon leader, at the beginning of a recent patrol. Fifteen U.S. soldiers and 12 Afghan troops planned to visit people in five villages. Porter brought along two books: "The Complete Guide to Investing in Rental Properties" and "Own Your Own Corporation."

    The most exciting moment on this patrol is a tossup--maybe the bag in the middle of the road, or a generator that sounds like an automatic rifle, or an unexploded mortar shell found decorating an Afghan's home.

    The Afghan soldiers find out more information than the U.S. soldiers; they grab the mortar and they learn that a nearby gang of thieves is still active.

    But "exciting" is not the point. And boredom is good, the soldiers say.

    "Suits me just fine," Crowley said. "If I never have to fire my weapon again, I'll be happy."

    Paktika province has long been considered a Taliban haven, but that is changing. When set up shortly after the fall of the Taliban in December 2001, the Orgun-E base faced weekly rocket attacks. By last year, the attacks were monthly.

    Since this unit arrived in late February, no rockets have been fired at the base. A few roadside bombs have been found nearby, but villagers reported all of them and none exploded. The bomb that killed the two soldiers from another unit was a rarity. The three soldiers killed from this unit died in a helicopter crash, not combat.

    Progress against militants

    In recent weeks, the Paktika governor finally planted an Afghan flag in the lawless land of Bermel, the only district that had not yet pledged support to the government. The new Bermel police chief replaced a man whose head was cut off by insurgents last year.

    Many people seem to be moving on. The police chief of another nearby district is a former Taliban member who recently rejoined the government.

    "Paktika early on was a Taliban stronghold, and now it is not," said Lt. Col. Tim McGuire, the battalion commander. "There are isolated bands, but the vast majority of the people support the government."

    But the minority is not just going away. Insurgents are still planting bombs to kill U.S. soldiers. Fighting also broke out last week in Bermel, between soldiers and insurgents trying to cross the Pakistani border. Some people simply shoot bad looks at the soldiers. In a nearby district, someone posted "night letters," warnings that Afghans who support the U.S. will be killed. When the governor travels to different districts, not everyone claps.

    "Some of the guys around here weren't too happy about having the governor," said Sarantes, 28, of Miami. "We ask them, `Who's the president?' They say they don't know. We ask, `Who's Hamid Karzai?' They say, `He's your president, not ours.'"

    Sometimes unwelcome

    Some Afghans allege abuse, they worry about American soldiers searching their homes.

    In Iraq, the engineers' platoon, which specializes in demolition, blew up bombs and weapons caches and sometimes doors. Here it works like an infantry platoon, checking roads, visiting villages and providing security.

    "Here, it's more hearts and minds," Sarantes said. "Pretty much we have to put our weapons away and see how people are doing."

    That means drinking a lot of tea and listening to people complain about a lack of roads and schools. It means Crowley showing kids that he can wiggle his ears and later play "Dixie" on his harmonica. It means pens, chocolates and peppermints.

    Most Afghans encountered on the patrol say they are happy to see the Americans. Only one girl sobs and says she is scared. The U.S. soldiers let the Afghan troops take the lead; the Afghans walk first, they talk first, they search first, if necessary. U.S. soldiers follow. The goal is to train the Afghan soldiers to handle their country's security.

    At one point, Sarantes walks up the main road of Orgun, the village closest to the base. He asks a shopkeeper whether he has heard anything about the three jingle-truck robberies on Highway 141. Daoud, the shopkeeper, who like many Afghans has only one name, says he knows nothing.

    Sarantes asks Daoud what he knows about a roadside bomb found before it exploded. Again, Daoud says he knows nothing.

    "If we see mines or something, we'll let you know," Daoud promises him. "But if you want tea, we'll give you tea now."

    Later, Sarantes and Kennicker will ask men in other villages whether they know. They will ask about Mohammad Wali, who is on the so-called black list of Taliban sympathizers and insurgents.

    The U.S. soldiers will learn little. But they will drink many cups of tea, and they will be told repeatedly that Afghans only want peace, and that nobody here wants to fight anymore.

    roops shift mission to winning hearts

    For many U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, including those in

    once-violent Paktika province, the military goal has shifted from

    beating the enemy to winning hearts and minds

    Ellie


  2. #2

    Angry

    You have got to be ****ting me - in a combat zone and no ammo in the chamber. THAT IS BULL**** pure and simple.

    That has been my problem with the U. S. and war and/or conflicts. We always have to be SO POLITICALLY CORRECT and fight a FAIR AND GENTLER WAR. BULL**** - WAR IS WAR - be ready and if someone shoots at you or your men KILL HIS ASS!!!

    SOME OF OUR POLITICIANS (AND I USE THAT WORD LOOSELY) AND GENERALS NEED TO USE THEIR F#%KING HEADS FOR SOMETHING OTHER THAN TO SIT THEIR HAT ON.

    The ragheads threaten us we kill them - that's the way IT SHOULD WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I'll get off my soapbox now................

    **** I keep two weapons racked and ready in my house here in KC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    SEMPER FI,
    OLE SARG


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