I'm going to be talking today at 1400 EST to Andrew Lubin, a freelance journalist, blogger and Military.com contributor about his recent trip to Afghanistan.
Andrew has some rather controversial impressions from his visit -- is the Army losing its fighting spirit, can McChrystal win the counterinsurgency fight, what makes the Marines' strategy so successful?
We'll answer all those questions and more live today on our Boots on the Ground podcast. Please join us for a listen.
UPDATE: Below you'll see the final version of the podcast. You can also feel free to subscribe to Boots on the Ground with iTunes.Andrew paints a pretty bleak picture of Army operations in the East...a contingent of troops who lack the aggression and are unwilling to assume the risks inherent in a true counterinsurgency campaign. Lubin also says that while the overall commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is a solid Soldier, it's unclear that he lacks the "Big Army" mentality to streamline the decision making, shift the emphasis from force protection to "clear, hold and build" in a simultaneous way and to win over the Afghans who respect aggression and decisiveness.
Lubin also tells of some pretty harsh restrictions on fire support missions and feeds in some reporing he's uncovered about what went wrong at Wanat and Camp Keating which were both nearly overrun by Taliban assaults. This is a must listen.
-- Christian
