A PORTION OF MY INTERVIEW WITH AN ARMY SOLDIER ON THE FRONT LINE IN AFGHANISTAN -- RECENT TALIBAN ATTACK WAS ON HIS POST & KILLED 8 OF HIS BUDDIES

Gun inside of Afghanistan postBelow is a brief portion of my interview with my childhood friend's husband, who is on the front-line in Afghanistan. He just lost 8 troops this weekend. He answered these questions last week, before the big attack this past weekend.

According to Fox News online: (Entire article here.)

Hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. troops and capturing more than 20 Afghan security troops in the deadliest assault against U.S. forces in more than a year, military officials said Sunday.

The fierce gunbattle, which erupted at dawn Saturday in the Kamdesh district of mountainous Nuristan province and raged throughout the day, is likely to fuel the debate in Washington over the direction of the troubled eight-year war.

It was the heaviest U.S. loss of life in a single battle since July 2008, when nine American troops were killed in a raid on an outpost in Wanat in the same province.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, plans to shift U.S. troops away from remote outposts that are difficult to defend and move them into more heavily populated areas as part of his new strategy to focus on protecting Afghan civilians.

My friends, this ain't no joke. Reading about the deaths is one thing, watching the war is another. Imagine being my childhood friend, the wife of an Army soldier, who constantly prays, worries and hopes for the safety of her husband and the father of her kids.

Just this past weekend, I spent some time with my friend and their two absolutely precious children. As I took turns spinning them around until I got too dizzy to stand, I thought about my friend's life and the path it has taken. She's such an incredible mom -- a "single" mom of sorts -- and yet she holds herself together so well. She smiles. She giggles. Her kids are happy and fun. Crazy to think at the very moment I was lifting her son into the tree I used to play on as a kid, the Taliban was plotting an attack on her husband's post. 

Maybe Gen. McChrystal and Obama should talk to the troops on the front line. Is that such a novel idea?

I was going to write a blog about my interview with my friend's husband but I'd rather just post some of his quotes, given the fact that he just lost 8 of his buddies. For the safety of the Army, I have chosen to leave out certain portions of the interview for now.

Something must be done. Time is of the essence.

Another image taken in Afghanistan

Direct from a soldier on the front-line in Afghanistan

More troops: "Troops is tricky because it depends how you use them and what troops are being sent, I feel the answer is yes. But let me explain my answer. What most people fail to realize is that two types of Soldiers exist here Combat and Support. Combat Soldiers (Cavalry Scouts like myself and Infantry) are the ones that go out find the enemy and kill him -- well, we do when it is convenient for the Afghan Army/Government . Support Soldiers are cooks, supply clerks, admin and so forth they make sure the Combat Soldiers get water, food , bullets or whatever they need. Support Soldiers are just as important as Combat Soldiers, but what is needed here is more Combat Soldiers. When some politician says and this is just an example not actual numbers "we are sending 20,000 troops to Afghanistan" only a small percentage are actually combat troops. It does no good to send Troops if all they do is stay in the FOB and do nothing."

Afghan attitude: "Personally I would prefer and so would other Soldiers to have ten well trained, disciplined and motivated ANA Soldiers willing to fight for their country next to me during a fight. Instead of fifty ANA that might shoot me in the back because they don't want to be there or their leaders are taking half their pay and they might get a better deal from the enemy."

Winning: "First of all "winning" is a word we do not use around here to much. Our president (which a large majority of Soldiers I know did not vote for) said that we are not here to win, that is very confusing to a Soldier that is trained to fight and win wars. At times it seems that he places Afghan politics in front of U.S. Soldiers lives. Another confusing issue is the U.S. strategy here if there is one, a U.S. general said, "So we don't get to shoot at those that are shooting at us, that is not always bad." Now, would he have said that if he had seen his friends torn to pieces by those bullets? I have seen it. I want to shoot back and so do my Soldiers. Since we are at the receiving end and not him."

Thank you, my friend, for answering these questions.

Now, please watch this video - my friend's husband is a soldier filmed in the video.

In the first, one Army troop says, "We're in a bowl." Another is asked, "Why are you here?" The response, after a nervous chuckle is, "My boss told me to come here." The video shows the troops getting shot at and the journalist saying, "We don't know where the shots are coming from," as they seek cover in the mountainous area.

 www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com