Current Events: AFPak Marine Report

From Major Pain:

Making a Difference in Afghanistan

1) Are we making a difference? We have been in country for some time now. We have seen the area go from bad to good in weeks. Local nationals defending what is theirs against an intimidating enemy, which is a huge step for the evolution in the area. To have a local populace stand against an armed enemy and defend what is theirs is a key step in victory as it was in Iraq. The enemy is getting desperate and now with a visible surge in effect, many enemy are wondering what to do next.

Your Marines are relentlessly hunting down the enemy and defeating them where they thought they owned the area. Continuous actions by your Marines pressure the enemy to the point to where they get scared and make mistakes. When they make one mistake, they don’t get a second chance. The enemy is savvy, but not real skillful. They resort to guerrilla tactics and desperate measures that use civilians as their protection. Real brave.

Know that your Marines are courageous and wicked smart. Brave and disciplined to the point they take abuse in order to save the innocent. Many will never know how your young Marines have sacrificed to save the innocent and with a flip of a switch, unleashed holy he$% onto the enemy when required. A force unmatched, a force to be reckoned with. I am very proud of every one of them, as they make a difference.

2)Gang-

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks around our neck of the woods. Bad guys getting froggy, temperatures dropping, and ill tempered mice massing in large groups! …It’s all good, no worries.

Your Marines are doing great things around the area. With continued operations that pin the enemy back into unmaneuverable positions we continue our progress forward. Many people ask me, “Are we really making a difference here?” Being the second go around for me here, I can tell you it’s 100% better than the first time I was here. In a more closer look to the area, I can tell you that local leaders have and continue to make great gains in their local economic and life support structures throughout their region.

When you have local civilians begin to inform you of IED emplacements and continue to stand up against the enemy threat, when you have people that want to make their area better without intimidation and, although scared, continue to work with Coalition Forces, those are signs of progress in the area. Not how many Marines are in a square foot but more so of what those Marines do and how they carry out their actions that defines progress. Yes, there is progress in Afghanistan and your Marines are leading the way.

Mail is arriving, however, I did just now get a letter sent before Thanksgiving. Its hit & miss at times. All of you out there please know, because of the austere conditions, limited computer networks, our fighting position, email and even slow snail mail isn’t available much of the time. We have received your care packages and I want to send out a HUGE thank you for all of you that have sent packages and letters of support. You don’t know how much that helps. We don’t have a PX, our chow hall is a burnt out building so we don’t have the “luxuries” of many large bases. Mail gets to us when it “gets to us” .

We are maximizing and validating the techniques, tactics and procedures of the concept of “light infantry fighting”….and it’s working very well!