Fighting Season

Following is excerpted from today's posting by 1LT Alex Pruden in FOB Blessing:

" As we move into the summer fighting season, the AO has been pretty busy. Lots of activity on the part of the enemy...capped off today by yet another rocket / mortar attack on the FOB....That's what got me up and my body armor on. First priority is always accountability, and SFC K and I scrambled to all of our positions to see if anyone was hit (fortunately, everyone from my platoon was okay).

There were two KIA and two WIA among the Afghan civilians however. As usual, we rendered medical aid as best we could in our own Army aid station. It is so aggravating to all of us that most of the time the insurgent attacks do more damage to the civilian population than they do to us. And yet, we are often somehow blamed for these deaths by the population, who is by and large sympathetic to the cause of these same insurgents who kill them. We were having a shura (meeting) the other day to discuss the death of an Afghan civilian killed in a recent Taliban ambush. Although there were no local witnesses, the people automatically assumed that we were at fault (we were not, the man was killed in the first volley of fire in an ambush meant for us). One man even had the gall to claim that we were worse than the Russians (quick note on history here: when the Russians came to this valley, they made no attempt to talk to anyone or even to differentiate between the mujahideen and the civilian populace. In fact, they basically just carpet bombed everything and rolled tanks through, killing every living thing that was left). I'm not gonna lie, hearing these people insult me and my men like that really got my blood boiling.

However, as I calmed down I had to take a moment and remind myself that there are still many people in this valley who want to work with the government, and want a more prosperous future for this country. The district sub-governor made an outstanding speech extolling the people to cooperate with the government for the future of their children. Many elders also emphasized the importance of our presence here. They fully understand, as we do, that Americans certainly don't want to be here any longer than we have to be: which is why we place so much priority on trying to develop and empower our Afghan partners. They are the reason that we are fighting, to make this country stable in order to make our own country safer. Nonetheless, this particular area of Afghanistan is extremely insular: both culturally and socially; and it creates many challenges for us every day. The phrase "2 steps forward, 1 step back", may well me an understatement. Sometimes, I feel like we are moving more like 12 inches forward, 11 inches back. Through the dedication and hard work of all the soldiers here who are part of TF Bulldog, I'm confident that we can affect positive change in the valley regardless, even if it may be an inch at a time."