The Roads Ahead for Iraq and the Red Bull

For those Midwesterners still paying attention to the war in Iraq this week--you know, since the last U.S. "combat units" allegedly left that country back in August 2010--President Barack Obama's Oct. 21 announcement that all remaining U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by year's end planted the hybrid seeds of hope and rumor.

"As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end—for the sake of our national security and to strengthen American leadership around the world," Obama said. "After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011."

In other words, "mission accomplished." Again.

The 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, however, is still engaged in the fight, with approximately 2,600 soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard's 1st Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry Division (1-34th BCT) deployed to Kuwait since May.

Given Obama's words, Minnesota's Red Bull families were quick to add two and two together to get 2,600 back by Christmas. But Uncle Sam doesn't work that way.

Early Saturday morning, Minnesota National Guard public affairs officer Lt. Col. Kevin Olson had to counter the rumors via Facebook: "There is no indication that today's announcement by the President will affect the Minnesota National Guard," he wrote. "More than 2,600 Soldiers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, stationed in Kuwait, are expected to remain until May 2012 performing their important duties of providing security for bases in Kuwait and facilitating the draw down of US military forces and equipment from Iraq."

It's political snipe-hunting season in the land of the caucuses, and hacks and critics quickly claimed that Obama was deserting the Iraqi people, abandoning the strategic advantages presented by locating troops on Iraqi soil, and dishonoring the memories of more than 4,000 troops killed during the U.S. occupation.

Diplomats have been negotiating for years regarding the political and legal status of U.S. forces in a post-2011 Iraq. The sticky-tipping point proved to be whether U.S. troops would be subject to Iraqi law. What would happen if U.S. troops were required to defend themselves in court every time they defended themselves with bullets? On the other hand, why would a host government struggling to impose rule of law subject itself to indefinite occupation?

Yes, it smells. But it smells like democracy. It's a republic, if they can keep it.

Let the pols and pundits argue over campaign scraps. For Red Bull Nation, Obama's decision is neither a big win or an epic fail. It's just another day overseas, on the road and on mission. For example, as of earlier this month, Minnesota's Charlie Company, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 194th Armor Regiment (1-194th C.A.B.) has traveled more than 100,000 miles in Iraq and has escorted over 4,000 trucks safely through the desert land of Iraq.

“It was one of those things that I wouldn’t change for the world,” said Army Spc. Luke A. Peterson, an armor crewman from Duluth, Minn. “Twenty years down the line when I’m talking to my kids and grand kids I can tell them where I was on the 10th anniversary of 9/11—in Iraq, helping to finish this war.”

“We will never forget the lives lost that September morning ten years ago,” Capt. John M. Hobot, Charlie Company commander. “We are going to finish the job we started here last deployment during the troop surge and leave proud with what we have accomplished in Iraq. Today is a day to reflect on what we really have in the United States, a society that accepts political differences and diversity among it’s people which is protected by the blanket of freedom and democracy. I wish the same for the people of Iraq during this transitional time as they move closer to a democratic free society.”

Approximately 50,000 troops remain in Iraq, along with their equipment and vehicles. They need to move out in less than 90 days.

Last Red Bull in country, be sure to turn off the lights.

Film Fest: 8 Docs About War in Afghanistan

Military operations in Afghanistan continue to enjoy some long, hard looks from documentary film makers. These projects provide viewers the opportunities to virtually walk the ground, to experience second-hand some of the emotions and frustrations that soldiers face daily.

In the spirit of a past Red Bull Film Festival blog-post, here's a quick list--alphabetical and chronological by year of release--of recent and upcoming Afghan-themed documentary projects:


"ARMADILLO" (2010)

This film depicts the 2009 experiences of a Danish army platoon located at Forward Operating Base Armadillo in Southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Earlier this fall, the film premiered in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service's (P.B.S.)"P.O.V." documentary series.

The film is subtitled, and rich with post-production saturations of color and manipulations of sounds. Some critics argue that the film blurs the line between truth-telling and entertainment. That said, the soldiers' opinions and daily life are presented without obvious editorial comment, starting with good-byes to friends and family, landing in unforgiving country, and grinding through daily battles, boredom, and emotional fatigue. The troops are regularly frustrated by an enemy who seems always just out of reach, until a fateful and successful ambush of Taliban forces.

As the POV website notes:

Whether they go over the line in killing wounded Taliban is in the eye of the beholder, and the soldiers immediately begin justifying their actions to themselves. The wounded men moved and who could take a chance that they weren’t reaching to detonate a bomb? There is even a suggestion that the shootings were mercy killings for men dying slowly. The most potent aspect of the men’s solidarity in the face of criticism is their own accusation: How could anyone who was not there presume to judge them?

Such questions are guaranteed to generate thought and discussion. There is a lesson-plan based on the film for use by educators.

Internet Movie Database (I.M.D.B.) listing here.

See preview trailer online here.

To be released on DVD Oct. 18, 2011.

*****

"THE BATTLE FOR MARJAH" (2010)

In February 2010, in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, U.S. Marines, Afghan, and other forces launched Operation Moshtarak, the largest military operation since the start of the Afghan war, and the first major move since the Obama administration had announced plans to send an additional 30,000 troops to that country.

Centerpiece to the effort was the town of Marjah, a town of 80,000 people in Southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province. The film explores the efficacy of U.S. forces "clear, hold, and build" strategy, as well as the effects of engagement rules intended to minimize civilian casualties.

Journalist Ben Anderson spent two months embedded with the Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. Four months after the success of Operation Moshtarak, Anderson returned to Marjah to find the troops fighting for a shrinking zone of control. "Marines fight battles," press materials quote one marine. "They don't fight wars."

IMDB listing here.

Recently released in DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack.

*****

"RESTREPO" (2010)

This is the proverbial 155-millimeter artillery round of Afghan war documentaries. In 2007 and 2008, author Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington repeatedly embedded with a company of active-duty soldiers of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Eastern Afghanistan.

Red Bull Rising blog readers will remember that "Restrepo" was previously nominated for an Academy Award in the documentary feature category, and was a 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize recipient.

Recently, the film garnered two additional awards: an Emmy for long-form news coverage and another for editing.

Click here for a June 2010 Red Bull Rising review of "Restrepo."

IMDB listing here.

View preview trailer online here.

Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

*****

"SHEPHERDS OF HELMAND" (2010)

Deployed to Southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province in 2008, an Embedded Training Team (E.T.T.) comprising 17 Oregon National Guard soldiers was tasked with mentoring an Afghan National Army battalion--a "kandak." Instead, they found themselves assigned to an Afghan counter-narcotics battalion, with whom no U.S. team had ever before worked. The team spent three months in daily firefights out of Patrol Base Attal. One charismatic captain was killed by Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) in September 2008. Two other soldiers were wounded in that attack. The next year, thousands of U.S. Marines deployed to the area. Directed by Gary Mortensen.

IMDB listing here.

See preview trailer online here.

Available on DVD here. Fifty percent of proceeds go to support Honored American Veterans Afield (H.A.V.A.), a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting disabled veterans with the healing process by facilitating their participation in outdoor sports.

*****

"THE TILLMAN STORY" (2010)

In 2004, National Football League player Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire while serving as an active-duty U.S. Army Ranger in Eastern Afghanistan. Along with his brother Kevin, Tillman had enlisted following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2011. Military leaders and politicians subsequently sought to subvert the truth, as well as Tillman's wishes against being used for propaganda purposes, whether living or dead.

While lacking the richer explorations of Tillman's personality, drive, and beliefs that can be found in two previously published books—Jon Krakauer's "Where Men Win Glory" and Mary Tillman's "Boots on the Ground by Dusk"—the documentary is no less damning of military and governmental sins of omission and commission following Tillman's death.

IMDB listing here.

Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

*****

"BOMB PATROL: AFGHANISTAN" (2011)

Not a feature documentary, but rather a 10-hour cable television reality series. The high-definition production follows an 8-member U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (E.O.D.) from stateside training to deployment in Northern Afghanistan.

Previews and press-talk for the show promise plenty of explosions, robots, and helmet-cam video. Could this equal "Hurt Locker" (2008) meets "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare"?

Premieres Oct. 25 on the video game and technology-heavy G4 channel.

Click here for website.

*****

"PATROL BASE JAKER" (2011)

This film tells the story of the U.S. 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during the unit's 2009 tour in Southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Originally built in 2008 by the British Army's Task Force Helmand, Patrol Base Jaker is now an expeditionary base maintained by U.S. Marines.

The film premiered May 2011 at the G.I. Film Festival in Washington D.C., where it won best documentary.

In an August post on the film's Facebook page, director David Scantling is preparing final cut for a Nov. 10, 2011 theatrical release. The movie will also be released on DVD/Blu-ray and Internet/iTunes venues around that same time.

IMDB listing here.

See preview trailer online here.

*****

"HELL AND BACK AGAIN" (2011)

Theatrically released earlier this month, this Danfung Dennis film flips between 2009 events in Southern Afghanistan with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, and the subsequent homecoming of 25-year-old Marine Sgt. Nathan Harris. According to press materials: "When Sergeant Harris returns home to North Carolina after a life-threatening injury in battle, the film evolves from a war exposé to the story of one man’s personal apocalypse. With the love and support of his wife, Ashley, Harris struggles to overcome the difficulties of transitioning back to civilian life."

Notably, Dennis chose to avoid a traditional soundtrack in the film. "There isn't an orchestra playing when you're running through a battlefield," he said in a recent interview with National Public Radio. "There isn't, you know, huge drums. It's just pure terror." In place of music, Dennis and sound designer J. Ralph manipulated sounds found on the battlefield. "The sound of gunfire, the sound of crying, it's often that you'll hear these sounds and you'll see these images in your mind as if they were a memory," Dennis told NPR. "But they become so intense that you actually stop seeing what's around you and you stop hearing it."

The film received the World Cinema Jury and Cinematography prizes at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

IMDB listing here.

See preview trailer online here.

TBI/PTSD Study Involving Red Bull Soldiers Published

The American Forces Press Service reports that the January 2011 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry--a journal of the American Medical Association (A.M.A.)--presents a study of Traumatic Brain Injury (T.B.I.) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.). Participants included more than 900 soldiers of 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (1-34th BCT), which deployed to Iraq in 2005-2007.

That deployment included Iowa National Guard's 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (1/133rd Inf.) and Nebraska's 1st Squadron, 134th Cavalry Regiment (1/134th Cav.). Both units are currently deployed to Afghanistan along with the 34th Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (2-34th BCT).

The study was sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Soldiers were questioned approximately one month prior to leaving Iraq (part of the Iraq "surge" strategy, the 1-34th BCT deployment was extended to an Army-record-breaking 16-months in-country), and again via written questionnaire one year after returning to the United States.

To the surprise of those conducting the study, the research indicated little long-term effect from "mild" TBI--injuries that cause a person to be momentarily dazed or unconscious for less than 20 minutes, and that cause no physical injury to brain or skull. Such injuries can result from roadside bombs and other attacks.

"There's been a lot of attention paid to PTSD and mild TBI and even suicide risk, but the prevalence of problem drinking appears to be much higher among returning service members than any of these other problems," said Melissa A. Polusny, a clinical psychologist at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System and a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. The brigade surgeon Col. (Dr.) Michael Rath also collaborated in the research.

For Polusny, the study points to a need to carefully screen for PTSD, so that that soldiers and healthcare providers correctly match treatment and injury. "If a veteran is having irritability and memory problems, and assumes he had a concussion when maybe he is suffering from PTSD symptoms ... " she said, "we need to make sure we are treating veterans for the right problems."

The study did not address long-term effects from repeated head trauma, which other studies may have linked to PTSD. The study did not investigate the causes of PTSD, or whether TBI is the trigger for PTSD.

Other findings:

• More soldiers reported PTSD symptoms at home (14 percent) than in Iraq (9 percent).

• More soldiers reported concussions or TBI at home (22 percent) than in Iraq (9 percent).

• Many citizen-soldiers who answered they did not have mild TBI or PTSD symptoms actually did, with 64 percent reporting distractibility and irritability; 60 percent reporting memory problems; 57 percent reporting ringing in the ears; and 23 percent reporting balance problems.

'Screaming Eagles 101,' Part 2

Excerpt of Afghan political map (above) from www.understandingwar.org.

Continuing the format of yesterday's Red Bull Rising blog post, the following presents annotated and excerpted comments from Maj. Gen. John Campbell ("Eagle-6"), commander of the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" Division. The division is currently deployed to Regional Command-East (RC-East), Afghanistan. Dated earlier this month, these comments were part of a regular series of publicly disseminated messages from the commander.

These remarks are of potential interest to Red Bull Rising readers, given the likelihood that all or part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division will, upon arrival to Afghanistan, work under Campbell's command. In short, it provides a "Screaming Eagles 101" primer on the Red Bull's future operational environment.

Red Bull Rising notes on acronyms used in this message:

• "C.A.B." (pronounced "kab") stands for "Combat Aviation Brigade." Because of its historical role in fulfilling helicopter-borne missions, The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) is the only U.S. Army division to include two aviation brigades.
• "FOB" (pronounced "faub") stands for "Forward Operating Base."
• "GiROA" stands for "Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."
• "ANSF" (sometimes pronounced "an-sif") stands for "Afghan National Security Forces," and includes both army and police units.

Eagle-6 sends:

The Currahees are now in charge of their battlespace, the Paktika Province. They assumed their battlespace on 8 September. They are the final piece of the "surge", I have mentioned continuity in previous updates, and how we are trying to maintain as much continuity with units as we can, and the Currahees are a prime example. 1-506 is back in Sharana ... where they were on their last deployment, and 2-506 is back at FOB Orgun-E ... also where they were before. About 60% of the battalions were on the last deployment, and have rekindled relationships with Afghans they met on the last deployment. The Currahees complete the deployment of Force Package 3, the last of President Obama’s surge announced earlier this year.

We now have the 101st Division Headquarters, Bastogne (1BCT, 101st), Strike (2BCT, 101st), Rakkasan (3BCT, 101st), Currahee (4BCT, 101st), and Destiny (101st CAB) in Afghanistan. The Sustainment Brigade Headquarters will join us here later this fall, and 159th CAB will replace the 101st CAB in the JAN/FEB timeframe. This makes the first time that an entire US Division is deployed to Afghanistan.

Bastogne (1BCT, 101st) has received 1-61 Cavalry Squadron from the Currahees, and has conducted operations in Laghman Province and Nangarhar Province to set conditions for TF Panther. They continue to face a determined insurgent force in their area with increased IEDs on southern routes and attacks on COPs and FOBs in Kunar Province.

Strike (2BCT, 101st) continues to improve security in the Maiwand, Zharey, and Arghandab Districts of RC-South. They recently bid farewell to 2-508th Infantry who redeployed to Fort Bragg, and recently welcomed the 1-66 Armor from the 1st “Raider” Brigade of 4th ID.

Rakkasans (3BCT, 101st) continue to face a determined enemy who, as mentioned above, is suffering from a failed attack. Rakkasans have relinquished Paktika to the Currahees, and now focus on Paktiya and Khowst Provinces. 3-187 has moved to East Ghazni, and will work for Task Force White Eagle, the Polish Brigade. 1-187 will go down to RC-South to assist in operations there.

Bayonet (173rd Airborne) focuses on Logar and Wardak provinces. They have helped GIRoA respond to the flooding in their area of operations. Recently, 60 farmers in Wardak attended agriculture training designed to improve their farming methods. Like the rest of CJTF-101, they are preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Lafayette (the French Brigade) remains focused on conducting operations to disrupt the insurgents’ ability to impact Highway 7. In the Kapisa Province, they have conducted operations in Alasay, Bedraou, and Tag Ab valleys. Tracing the roots of the French working with the 101st back to World War II, they are very proud to be working with us again, and can frequently be heard saying, “Air Assault!”

White Eagle (the Polish Brigade) has received 3-187 Infantry from Rakkasans, and is conducting operations along Highway 1 to disrupt insurgent IED cells. They are also preparing to transition in the next contingent of Polish forces who begin arriving later this month.

Wolverine (86th IBCT- Vermont NG) continues to conduct operations in Parwan, Panjshir, and Bamyan. Partnered with governors and ANSF leaders, their civilian led Provincial Reconstruction Teams continue to make positive progress in the most stable provinces of RC-East.

Falcon (3rd CAB) and Destiny (101st CAB) both continue outstanding support to conventional and special operations forces [S.O.F.] in both RC-East and RC-South respectively. They routinely coordinate for nightly contingency operations while maintaining the flexibility for time-sensitive targets as required. SOF missions account for 52% of 479 missions flown over the past nine months by 3rd CAB in RC-East and 69% of 216 missions flown in five months by 101st CAB in RC-South. They manage to do this while providing lift and attack helicopters to support the rest of the Coalition Forces in RC-East, RC-Capital, and RC-South.

Back at Fort Campbell, the Lifeliners (101st Sustainment Brigade) and Eagle Thunder (159th CAB) continue their preparations for their upcoming deployments. Lifeliners just completed their Command Post Exercise, and are in their final preparations for deployment as they prepare their colors casing and block leave in October. Thunder is conducting off-post training events in preparation for an air training exercise in December. They have a little more time to train, and will deploy after the New Year. [...]

Building Capacity, One Citizen at a Time

It is last Friday afternoon, and all the top-ranking people have left just left the classroom. Those that remain are all dirty and smelly, either covered in the fine grey "charcoal" dust of our earlier chemical-decontamination training, or the burning-lemon scent of the industrial-strength wipes we mistakenly used to attempt cleansing ourselves of the charcoal. It is a beautiful Iowa spring day just outside the armory door, and even the brigade S2 (Intelligence) officer giving us the briefing says he can practically smell the beer he has stashed back in his hooch.

We are getting the once-over-the-world counterinsurgency (COIN) brief. The uppity-ups and muckity-mucks got to leave early this training day, but they'll get theirs later, when they attend the full-bore three-days-or-more "COIN Academy."

We few, we happy, non-chai-tea-drinking few, will drink it all in, in less than 60 minutes.

The PowerPoint slides tell of varying levels of insurgency, offering relevant historical examples of each, and relating them to recent (anything in the last 50 years) political situation in Afghanistan. The briefing also heavily quotes U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recent counterinsurgency guidance.

I've got something of a reputation for asking questions. Sometimes, I'm trying to be smart. Other times, I'm trying to get smart.

And then, there are the times that I'm trying to make a point.

A Friday afternoon of an over-long week of training, stuck in a dark room on a beautiful sunny spring day, while swimming in our own lemony-fresh filth is probably not the best time to ask, "Where are the civilians in all this talk?"

I do anyway.

The Junior JAG ("Judge Advocate General"--an Army lawyer) says that the military is there because we're the ones who can secure the environment and set-up civil-structures quickly. "The hippies in the civilian agencies and NGOs [Non-governmental Organizations] take too long to get there," she says. "And after they get there, they want to take 50 years to get things done."

A crusty and wise warrant officer reminds the class that the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (P.R.T.) are now under a more-unified command. The 160-person PRT are multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, civil-military units that focus on helping Afghans extend the reach and influence of the central government.

Despite the room's grumpy vibe, I'm able to help steer the conversation back to some brief and pithy points. Granted, what little I know about civil affairs and capacity-building I've learned as a grassroots neighborhood activist. I've also been a homeowners association board member (a suburban jirga!). I also have a little book-learning about consensus-building and community planning from some studies in architecture school.

So, here's a World of COIN According to Sherpa:

1) The "hippies" are right, counselor. Counterinsurgency fights are decades-long.
2) In order for the military to focus on what we do best, we need more civilian experts downrange.
3) We also need to engage more civilians at home, to help bring changes we all desire to Afghanistan and surrounds.

My blogger-buddy Jeff Courter recently attended a Chicago-area fund- and awareness-raiser with "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson. Mortenson, a former mountaineer, started the privately funded Central Asia Institute (CAI) to help build non-religious schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We need more Greg Mortensons.

Through Courter, I've been introduced via e-mail to Dallas-area businessman John Stettler. Stettler's actively supporting a number privately funded efforts aimed at building awareness, capacity building, and helping people. (Check out War Kids Relief site for one example.) Not only that, he's thoughtfully attempted to gather interested parties following this coming Saturday's (17 April 2010) Dallas-Fort-Worth-area World Affairs Conference.

The theme of the 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. symposium is "Afghanistan: The Next Phase." The list of speakers is impressive--and even includes U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Jr. I just wish any "next phase" discussion would also include the potential and necessity of private, civilian solutions within the COIN fight.

We need to find ways that we can address the political, strategic, humanitarian, and infra-structural problems in and surrounding Afghanistan. We can continue to address them through our military, but this is only a partial and short-term solution. We can address them through our governmental agencies. We can address them as private citizens, through donations, through awareness campaigns, through non-governmental or non-profit organizations.

We build capacity by building relationships. If you'd like to connect with John Stettler regarding this weekend--or taking part in a larger conversation about building positive change in the world--please do so at:

jmplastinc (AT) aol.com
972-636-9555

Tell him Sherpa sent you.

A Remote Sensing of Optimism

God works in strange and mysterious ways. And, sometimes, he works through my television remote. The kids have been getting more difficult to put to bed recently. Maybe they're like dogs and earthquakes, picking up on strange pre-deployment vibes. Maybe they're going though some stage. Maybe they're just kids.

So the standard parenting procedure has at Fire Base Sherpa has been: put assigned kid to bed, read some books, say some prayers, and return to hootch and wait. Wait half-awake and bleary-eyed in front of FOX or PBS for the inevitable sounds of 3-to-5-second rushes, and for drinks and monsters and other night missions.

My kids move tactically, by the way, like little ninjas: "I'm up, Dad sees me, I'm down." They teach that at Happy Infantry Summer Camp.

So I'm waiting for my elder child to start her nightly insurgency--while, in a separate police action of her own, Household-6 is laying down covering fire and tucking in the little guy--and Bill Moyers Journal is on PBS. I normally watch Family Guy or American Dad on Sunday nights, but tonight, it's Bill Moyers. God is in the details, as they say. And my remote.

The Jan. 15, 2010 program--there's a full and free transcript here--is a three-cherries jackpot of Red Bull goodness: First, a "1984" and "memory hole" reference leading into an interview with the Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "The Wrecking Crew." Remember the name, folks: George Orwell. Don't call it a comeback.

Second, and more importantly for Sherpa's usual purposes, there was a low-key interview with low-key do-gooder (and former U.S. Army medic) named Greg Mortenson, who I'll get to in a minute. But I need to quote some of the Frank interview first:

THOMAS FRANK: [...] Those things have all sort of been dwarfed by the economic disaster and the wreckage on Wall Street. But I would say to you that all of these things that we're describing here are of a piece. And that they all flow from the same ideas. And those ideas are the sort of conservative attitude towards government. And conservative attitudes towards governance. Okay?

BILL MOYERS: That government is a perversion.

THOMAS FRANK: Government is-- yeah, government is a perversion. And to believe that the federal government can be operated, you know, with all of its programs, can be operated well and do things that are good for the people, is, as you say, is a perversion.

Take a knee for a minute. I'm a pretty conservative guy myself--maybe even tend toward the libertarian side of the spectrum. I don't see anything too scary in a premise that government is inherently flawed, as are all human endeavors. That said, I also like my system of government--I'm pledged to support the Constitution, after all--particularly when I look around the world for alternatives. But what caused me to nearly short-circuit Sunday evening was the pairing of the Frank interview (which was generally about the mess that We the People are in), and the Greg Mortenson interview (which was generally about the mess that the Afghan people are in, and how we can help them out).

Some long-dormant high-social-studies part of my brain suddenly clicked on, and I had this thought: While U.S. conservative domestic policy purports to be about decreasing national-level governance, much of conservative foreign policy purports to be about increasing the national-level governance internal to foreign countries. How can it be that so many American citizens say dislike their government, but think so little of attempting to nation-build other countries into our own image?

Heavy, man.

Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools," has been working in Afghanistan and Parkistan for the nearly two decades. His non-profit organization works with local leaders to fund and construct schools for girls. While he does not work with or advise the military, he has had occasion to meet some of the Top Brass on both the U.S. and Taliban sides of the conflict. Read the whole transcript, but there's some nicely understated words of optimism and purpose here, which might help citizen-soldiers talk with their families about What We're Doing Over There, and How We're Doing It. The italics are mine:

GREG MORTENSON: [...] We can't run democracy in secrecy. And it doesn't matter whether it's George Bush or Obama. That was one of my main concerns is-it's a big decision. The other thing is that there was no consultation with the elders or the shura in Afghanistan. Every province has three to five dozen shura. And these are elders. They're poets. They're warriors. They're businessmen, a few women. And they're not elected, but they've kind of risen up through the ranks. And these to me are the real people with integrity and power in Afghanistan. So when this decision was made to deploy troops, none, there was no consultation with the troo-- with the elders. And they felt very marginalized by it because, you know, want to go into another country, we want to be able to at least have a part and a say in it. And it's not that difficult. You can do it at a district level, or local level, or at a national level. It's, you know, I think half of diplomacy is just showing up. You know, we've got to actually just show up and start to talk and then maybe we could get somewhere.

BILL MOYERS: Clearly the militarily knows you know something they don't know. And why can't they know it?

GREG MORTENSON: Well ... good question, Bill. In "Three Cups of Tea" I was fairly critical of the military. And I mentioned that they're laptop warriors and there's no boots on the ground. But I can say now that they've gone through a tremendous learning curve. And I think in many ways the military really gets it. They, Admiral Mike Mullen, who's become a friend of mine, I've met him several times and we've spent time together. He says that the three most important things that our troops have to do is, number one, listen more. Number two, they have to have respect, meaning they're there to serve the good people. And, number three, that they have to build relationships. [...]

I tend to be an optimist. So here's the good news, Bill. The first thing is the number of kids in school has gone up ten times in the last decade to 8.5 million children. There's a central banking system in Afghanistan since 2006, which has been huge. There's a road building program, about 80 percent of the roads have been built now from north to south and east to west. It's like building a road from Minneapolis to Dallas and D.C. to-- or New York to LA. Now, that's maybe 70 percent of the way done. There are 80,000 troops trained now, the Afghan Army. The goal is 180,000. And some more interesting things are if you go into the district courts, you'll see the number of women filing titles and deeds for land ownership is skyrocketing. And I think that's a real important thing to note. I think the U.S., we're-- we've been far too busy in the last two decades trying to plug in democracy in the world. And you cannot plug in democracy. We have to build democracy.

A final fun factoid from the Moyers show regards the financial cost of the Afghan push. I've often seen bean-counter estimates of what it takes to train and equip a U.S. soldier, but I think this was the first time I'd seen a cost-estimate such as this: "It costs us a million dollars a year to keep one soldier there," Moyers said. "That's $30 billion for the new 30,000 troops."

How much democracy could you build for that kind of money? How many schools? Heavy stuff.

Hail and Farewell

According to a couple of National Guard Bureau press releases today, there were eight Brigade Combat Teams either shipping out or coming home this past week. Only one of these, the 86th Infantry BCT, seems to be headed for Afghanistan. At least one brother Red Bull is headed off with the "Green Mountain Boys," and I wish them all Godspeed.

Here's what NGB had to say about the 86th IBCT:

About 1,500 Guardsmen from the 86th BCT are currently at Camp Atterbury, Ind., preparing for their deployment to Afghanistan, where they will replace the 48th BCT of the Georgia National Guard.

Army Brig. Gen. Jonathan Farnham, the Vermont Guard’s joint staff director, will head-up the newly created Afghan National Security Forces Development Assistance Bureau, which will oversee the training of Afghanistan’s security forces.

“It appears that my group will be doing some data collection, some analysis, receiving reports and doing some war-gaming of things to make suggestions on how to improve on how things are going given the resources that are available,” said Farnham in an interview with Vermont Public Radio in December.

He added that he will lead about 100 Soldiers, including some military members from Macedonia, which is one of Vermont’s State Partnership Program countries.

Farnham’s mission in Afghanistan is an offshoot of the Vermont Guard’s original mission of heading up Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, which was responsible for training the Afghan National Army.

“I know that Task Force Phoenix, which we originally believed tbe manning and managing, is in the process of going away and being reorganized,” he said. “It appears to me to be a little leaner and a smaller footprint than it originally was.”

One of the 86th IBCT send-offs was headlined by Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (That's him talking with one of the troops in the photo above.) Here's an excerpt of another NGB press release offers a few toothsome quotes:

“Afghanistan has become a more dangerous place,” he said. “One of the reasons the president made the decision to add 30,000 troops is because the insurgency is much tougher and more violent.”

But while the mission is tougher, he added, it is not impossible. “We know how to do counterinsurgency,” Mullen said. “I’ve been doing this for over four decades, and I have great confidence in them. We know what to do, [and] we know how to do it.”