Loss of a close friend and a brother-in-arms
Jul 20, 2008

Last week I was online working as I always am, and a familiar name popped up on my instant messaging client. It was my old terp, and good buddy Jawed. If you ever read the blog entries that I wrote on here back in 2006-2007 that name should sound familiar. Jawed was one of the terps that spent a lot of time downrange with me. He and I got to know each other through hours of talking in the Humvee.

It had been a while since I had heard from him so I was pleased to see his “hey Top, are you there” comment pop up. Of course I quickly responded and asked how he and all the terps were doing. Once he told me he was fine, me told me that he was just coming back from a 3 week mission so that is why I had not heard from him in a while.

He then proceeded to tell me one of my terps, who I also spent many hours with talking both in the FOB and downrange had been killed. He told me that Fayez was killed about two weeks earlier in an ambush. Ironically Fayez was the terp in a truck with 3 National Guard soldiers that was ambushed a couple of weeks ago. Two of the soldiers were from my brigade in New York. I was very sad to hear that my youngest terp, Fayez, who was only about 20-21 years old, was killed in that attack.

However I was pissed off and angry to hear how he died. Jawed told me that Fayez had survived the initial IED blast and even the subsequent small arms ambush. At some point I assume that all 3 soldiers had been killed and this (for some reason I don’t know) allowed the enemy fighters to make it all the way to the Humvee. I had seen news reports of the enemy fighters holding up an U.S. issued M4 rifle the day after the attack but was not sure it was legitimate from that attack. Well I guess it was true because Jawed told me that the enemy fighters got to the truck, pulled Fayez from the truck and executed him right there in the road. That is what really pisses me off, to think that the last thing he saw was these a**holes standing over him. He was just a boy to me, but he was a patriot, he helped support many Americans (not just me), and he was truly trying to do something good for his country, and there are not many of those over there.

Jawed and I chatted a little bit more. He was very sorry that he had to tell me that, but I thanked him for being the bearer of bad news. I told him to let all the terps know my whole team is constantly thinking of them and praying for their safety too. I miss chatting, BSing and joking around with all of my terps. I would sit for hours in a humvee or in meetings with the ANA and constantly joke with these guys. We ate together, we joked and we shared a lot of information about our cultures.

I had emailed with Fayez regularly since I had come back from Afghanistan and I was glad to see I saved many of those emails. I won’t ever get any more from him, but I will cherish the ones I got, in addition to the photos I have of him also.

I am so sorry Fayez that you died the way that you did. You will be truly missed, not only by your Afghan family and friends, but also by your American brothers-in-arms. May Allah bring you in as a true martyr for your faith. You more than deserve it.

Rest in Peace Paratroopers
Jul 20, 2008

  The Department of Defense announced today the death of nine soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died of wounds suffered when their outpost was attacked by small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades from enemy forces in Wanat, Afghanistan, on July 13. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Vicenza, Italy.

Killed were:

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Hawaii.

Sgt. Israel Garcia, 24, of Long Beach, Calif.

Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Ga.

Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle, Wash.

Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tenn.

Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Ga.

Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, N.C.

Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling, 20, of Florissant, Mo.

Pfc. Sergio S. Abad, 21, of Morganfield, Ky.

I knew this was coming and was very sad to see it today. I was surprised by the number of Corporals that were killed in the battle of Wanat. Even though this was sad to see today, it was sickening for me to see that ISAF pulled out of the combat outpost that these guys died on just days after they were killed and before their bodies are even home.  ISAF had our paratroopers pull out and let the enemy take over the outpost. The enemy will no doubt use this as a propaganda opportunity to show how they scared the big and bad United States Army.

This makes me think that maybe Bill Clinton is in charge of ISAF, as this is déjà-vu from 1993 and Somalia.

Have I failed?
Jul 20, 2008

Where are the colonels, generals and other people that that were spouting things like ” there is no war…you are just going to hand out candy and pat kids on the head”? Where are they now?

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/193294.php

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=1273829

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080714/ts_afp/afghanistanunrest_080714122335

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/411775.html

The four things that need to happen to turn the tide in Afghanistan

1. Replace the supposed peace-dreaming optimist leadership at Eggers and Baghram with real war-fighters.
2. Put 10,000 more troops in there now (2 full spectrum brigades and 1 more brigade for Task Force Phoenix to train police).
3. Quit acting like Afghanistan is an easy tour and get everyone to the lowest private and all military branches to realize they are in a asymmetrical battlefield where you can die every time you are outside the wire, much less in the FOB itself.
4. Put the Americans back in charge of 207th and 205th Corp AOs. (NATO had their chance, but this is not a fight for the weak at heart).

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record as all I have talked about since January was how bad this year was going to be. I am not Nostradamus or a fortune teller. I am also not a chicken little. What I am is a professional soldier that spent a year in the suck seeing the ground truth. I am also a friend of many soldiers currently in Afghanistan. Last but not least, I am a father of a soldier who is risking his life there right now. I spent a year there away from my family and felt at the time and still feel now like I wasted a year of my life. I did not waste it because I was away, I wasted it because our progress was hampered by the factors mentioned above. I went there wanting to do my part and my best. I went there wanting to help the people out. Helping the country of Afghanistan is not measured by handing out some school supplies a few times or arresting a few bad guys here and there. It is measured by completely eliminating the enemy, showing the local people how to sustain themselves, making them accountable for their own country and leaving the country safer than it was. None of those things are happening on a large enough scale, which is why I feel it was a waste of a year. I don't fail, I never have, and I don't intend to start now.

Why is it i feel I have failed my country, my soldiers, my Army and the truly peaceful people of Afghanistan?