Been a tough stretch

Indeed it is.

Our thoughts are with them and their families.

There are far too many brass name plates on the wall in the Soldier Services Building at Ft. Rucker, God's speed to all of them.
 
May their families find peace and solace in their lives knowing that Americans thank them for their children putting their lives on the line to protect this great nation. There are no words to express to them today, tomorrow or yrs from now regarding this tragic loss.
 
Too many people seem to forget that we have an Army at war in Afghanistan. It makes me truly angry to see the proportion of posts about "Military news" that are about some trivial "what-if" drivel, compared to the number of posts about the 100,000 + Soldiers and Marines, Sailors and Airmen who are putting themselves on the line in a 10 year old shooting war.

RIP to these soldiers and sailors. All of you in theater have the thoughts, prayers and thanks of us here at home.
 
Too many people seem to forget that we have an Army at war in Afghanistan. It makes me truly angry to see the proportion of posts about "Military news" that are about some trivial "what-if" drivel, compared to the number of posts about the 100,000 + Soldiers and Marines, Sailors and Airmen who are putting themselves on the line in a 10 year old shooting war.

RIP to these soldiers and sailors. All of you in theater have the thoughts, prayers and thanks of us here at home.

You forgot an entire service.... as usual. :rolleyes:
 
Very true. I apologize.

Prayers to the fallen and their families, and their comrades.
 
The aircraft went down in Shah Wali Kot district, which is part of Kandahar province.
 
Are there Coasties in Afghanistan? If there are any USCG members in that category I apologize to them for leaving them out- they sure are well camouflaged though and even looking thru the Coast Guard's own web sites- they don't make any reference to them. The Coast Guard produces a very interesting annual document (http://www.uscg.mil/posturestatement/docs/USCG_2012_Posture_Statement.pdf) that summarizes the last year and their budget priorities for the coming year- you look in vain for any reference to Afghanistan though. (Not surprising as it is a totally landlocked country with no navigable waterways or ports.) But if there are Coast Guardsmen in Afghanistan and the USCG doesn't publicize them on their own sites that's a pretty gross failure of their PR shop. So if there are any USCG members currently serving in Afghnistan, then I apologize for not mentioning you as a member serving in the combat area.

In a way LITS you made my point. We are in a shooting war and there are personnel- primarily Soldiers, Marines, Navy Special Warfare personnel and USAF Aircrew and USAFSOF personnel, taking casualties every single day in the 10 year old war in Afghanistan and yet even here on a forum focusing on the military they don't get much play.
For the record- in my opinion there is a huge difference between Service members doing their jobs in training or in peacetime missions- whatever those are and however well and professionally they do them, and Service members in a war zone. There is a similar difference IMHO between being in theater in a support role in Bagram (or even further away in Manas or Kuwait or somewhere similar) and those who are actually fighting the war and facing the daily possibility of danger from enemy action. There is a real WAR going on- not some metaphorical war on poverty, or drugs, or immigration, education etc... and we should be thinking about people who are knowingly putting their lives on the line in the real war every day- many of whom are on their 2d, 3rd, 4th tours. My comments and thoughts and prayers are about those personnel.
 
To answer your question; yes there are Coasties in Afghanistan. Old co-workers and professors. I also know this has already come up on SAF.

Lest We ALWAYS Forget.
 
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Are there Coasties in Afghanistan? If there are any USCG members in that category I apologize to them for leaving them out- they sure are well camouflaged though and even looking thru the Coast Guard's own web sites- they don't make any reference to them. The Coast Guard produces a very interesting annual document (http://www.uscg.mil/posturestatement/docs/USCG_2012_Posture_Statement.pdf) that summarizes the last year and their budget priorities for the coming year- you look in vain for any reference to Afghanistan though. (Not surprising as it is a totally landlocked country with no navigable waterways or ports.) But if there are Coast Guardsmen in Afghanistan and the USCG doesn't publicize them on their own sites that's a pretty gross failure of their PR shop. So if there are any USCG members currently serving in Afghnistan, then I apologize for not mentioning you as a member serving in the combat area.

In a way LITS you made my point. We are in a shooting war and there are personnel- primarily Soldiers, Marines, Navy Special Warfare personnel and USAF Aircrew and USAFSOF personnel, taking casualties every single day in the 10 year old war in Afghanistan and yet even here on a forum focusing on the military they don't get much play.
For the record- in my opinion there is a huge difference between Service members doing their jobs in training or in peacetime missions- whatever those are and however well and professionally they do them, and Service members in a war zone. There is a similar difference IMHO between being in theater in a support role in Bagram (or even further away in Manas or Kuwait or somewhere similar) and those who are actually fighting the war and facing the daily possibility of danger from enemy action. There is a real WAR going on- not some metaphorical war on poverty, or drugs, or immigration, education etc... and we should be thinking about people who are knowingly putting their lives on the line in the real war every day- many of whom are on their 2d, 3rd, 4th tours. My comments and thoughts and prayers are about those personnel.

Could a more condescending post be made?

Newsflash from brunio to all Coasties - you are not REAL military.

Un effing believable.

But not unexpected
 
I do have to add that including USAF aircrew in the ranks of those involved in the nasty casualty-producing business of the war is quite incorrect.

The important part to remember is that we still have brave people in harm's way.
 
In a way LITS you made my point.

Unfortunately Bruno, you made your own point; people don't know **** about what's going on.


Of course, the focus shouldn't always be on losses, for a few reasons.... one, you're still trying to recruit, and two, the vast majority of service members don't die and have real constribution and stories that need to be told.

I think America has lost interest in hearing about the military. Certainly some of its power has been lost in DC.
 
I do have to add that including USAF aircrew in the ranks of those involved in the nasty casualty-producing business of the war is quite incorrect.

I do have to add that our Pave Hawk aircrews would take slight exception to this categorization. Going where Army rescue helicopters aren't allowed to go, and bringing a couple of mini-guns to the fight, puts them in the thick of that "nasty" business you think is exclusively the domain of the ground-pounder. Is the AF's level of effort the same on the ground or in close combat? No, but your point is as off base, and unappreciated, as Bruno's.

Our ALOs (mostly aircrew, mostly involved in Afghanistan from the front lines on the ground) may have a few choice words for you as well....
 
I do have to add that our Pave Hawk aircrews would take slight exception to this categorization. Going where Army rescue helicopters aren't allowed to go, and bringing a couple of mini-guns to the fight, puts them in the thick of that "nasty" business you think is exclusively the domain of the ground-pounder. Is the AF's level of effort the same on the ground or in close combat? No, but your point is as off base, and unappreciated, as Bruno's.

Our ALOs (mostly aircrew, mostly involved in Afghanistan from the front lines on the ground) may have a few choice words for you as well....

It's truly amazing how little you know about this country and this fight.

(Of note, the point Bruno made differentiated the efforts of USAF vanilla aircrews and AFSOC).

Sadly, in related news, an Afghan local policeman used his weapon, moments after it had been handed to him at the police force inauguration ceremony, to kill two soldiers.
 
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