West Point cadets cheered President Obama’s way forward in Afghanistan with polite applause. Soldiers from Fort Campbell wanted to hear a little bit more about how to fight the Taliban, not just how many troops it would take.
A gathering of soldiers from the 101st Airborne’s 3rd Brigade watched the President’s speech at the home of Staff Sgt. Jason Mitchell. They already have orders for Afghanistan and leave early next year. When the President said U.S. forces will have to be “nimble and precise,” Mitchell shook his head. He says it doesn’t make much difference how many more troops are sent to fight if they’re hamstrung by airtight rules of engagement.
“It’s like being a boxer and your trainer is tying one hand behind your back and you’re going in their fighting two guys. Or your hands aren’t tied behind your back, but you’ve got rules and he doesn’t.”
Mitchell, who has deployed twice to Iraq, says there’s too much focus on winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. On creating a timeline for pulling out troops, Mitchell says he’s conflicted, but he agrees with the President that war can’t go on indefinitely.
Fort Campbell will start its fourth wave of deployments since 9/11 around the same time President Obama’s 30,000 additional troops begin to ship out. Thirty-four Fort Campbell soldiers have died in Afghanistan; 267 have died in Iraq.
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