Military Hotrod Club - Troop drawdown

Supposed to have 33,000 less troops in Afghanistan by late 2012.
What do you guys feel about that?
Wondering if I am alone in hoping my unit still deploys on time next year.

After deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan many....many times since the end of 2002, I'm ready for a break. I miss the days before Sept. 11th. The last 9 yrs have worn me out! And with the troop drawdown....it's time! That place is a pit, and it will go back to being run by thugs when the troops leave. It's a fact of life. The Russians couldn't change them, and neither will we. The locals need to stand up on their own and battle the Taliban in mass. Until that happens, we are spinning our wheels over there.:bang:

The hardest part about drawdown....is not leaving small units vulnerable.

I agree, I am here now, and the Russians couldnt so why think we can? I have a friend in Ballad and they get mortered daily since the drawdown in Iraq and it will be the same here.

What do you say about it, why wait until now? Does it feel like a big gimmick, yes, but at the same time, wehn I was there a few years back, there wasn't shit except trying to thelp the locals and find bin laden...well we found him...so whats left to do over there. Just feel like staying there is going to make it worse in teh long run, gives more complacency and more chance of doing something dumb

That sucks. I'm trying to deploy here soon.

It is time to focus our efforts elsewhere. After multiple deployments to both areas it is time to move on and let them deal with their own country.

I agree, I am here now, and the Russians couldnt so why think we can? I have a friend in Ballad and they get mortered daily since the drawdown in Iraq and it will be the same here.

The Russians had a totally different goal, and if people can't realize the difference they need to take a step back and realize what it is that we are trying to accomplish. Educate yourself, because with comments like yours, you look like an idiot.

troop drawdown is just going to make it harder for us. headed out in Jan/Feb

i think us leaving would make the country worse off, but staying would throw our country into a depression that we might not be able to recover from
its gotta be a lose-lose situation

The Russians had a totally different goal, and if people can't realize the difference they need to take a step back and realize what it is that we are trying to accomplish. Educate yourself, because with comments like yours, you look like an idiot.

I'm pretty sure he knows the difference between the Russians wanting to own Afghanistan and the US supporting Afghanistan. Your generalization of "people" makes it sound like most military members are uneducated.

Hell, we gave millions of dollars and tons of weapons to the rebels (Taliban) during the attempted Russian take over in the 80's. Yet, now the Taliban is still using some of the weapons we supplied them to fight against us in Afghanistan.

The Russians could not conquer that country because the rebels were too hard to find and very adept at hiding and ambushes, which help to drive out the Russians over time (yes, there is a lot more to it, but that is a good generalization). And we as a supporting country to their government, will not be able to help them recover when they don't actually want us there in the first place. As soon as the Russians left, the rebels (Taliban) moved back in, and you see where the country went to from there. What do you think will happen when we leave? In 2 yrs, or in 20 yrs, it doesn't matter. That is a desolate land of hidden riches, run by thugs. Whether it be by the Taliban or the government. There are massive amounts of precious metals in that country, but they have neither the economy, government, or military to utilize it. And the amount of opium that can be produced there is mind boggling.

Sorry for the rant, but the overall outcome of both the Russian invasion and the US support to Afghanistan could very well end up the same. I can only hope that the people of Afghanistan take a stand and fight for their country with gusto.

I'm pretty sure he knows the difference between the Russians wanting to own Afghanistan and the US supporting Afghanistan. Your generalization of "people" makes it sound like most military members are uneducated.

Hell, we gave millions of dollars and tons of weapons to the rebels (Taliban) during the attempted Russian take over in the 80's. Yet, now the Taliban is still using some of the weapons we supplied them to fight against us in Afghanistan.

The Russians could not conquer that country because the rebels were too hard to find and very adept at hiding and ambushes, which help to drive out the Russians over time (yes, there is a lot more to it, but that is a good generalization). And we as a supporting country to their government, will not be able to help them recover when they don't actually want us there in the first place. As soon as the Russians left, the rebels (Taliban) moved back in, and you see where the country went to from there. What do you think will happen when we leave? In 2 yrs, or in 20 yrs, it doesn't matter. That is a desolate land of hidden riches, run by thugs. Whether it be by the Taliban or the government. There are massive amounts of precious metals in that country, but they have neither the economy, government, or military to utilize it. And the amount of opium that can be produced there is mind boggling.

Sorry for the rant, but the overall outcome of both the Russian invasion and the US support to Afghanistan could very well end up the same. I can only hope that the people of Afghanistan take a stand and fight for their country with gusto.

We didn't fund the Taliban, we funded the Mujahideen. MOST of which assisted us when we invaded Afghanistan. There was a good portion that did turn into the Taliban under Mullah Omar, but most were loyal to Massoud and the Norther Alliance.

All that being said, I wasn't debating the outcomes, I was debating the comparison of the Russians invading and us invading. The comparison is ignorant. The sad part is, the reason the outcome would be generally the same from both wars is because the large population in Afghanistan is ignorant and lazy. Which really sucks for us.

Personally I'm hoping to deploy after this special duty to Afghanistan. I'd really like to go there.

I'd really like to go there.

You aren't missing anything

We didn't fund the Taliban, we funded the Mujahideen. MOST of which assisted us when we invaded Afghanistan. There was a good portion that did turn into the Taliban under Mullah Omar, but most were loyal to Massoud and the Norther Alliance.

All that being said, I wasn't debating the outcomes, I was debating the comparison of the Russians invading and us invading. The comparison is ignorant. The sad part is, the reason the outcome would be generally the same from both wars is because the large population in Afghanistan is ignorant and lazy. Which really sucks for us.

You are correct, I just didn't feel like going that in-depth.:nod:

Back in the day, they were Muj. Now, the majority of the Muj have combined with the Taliban.

You are also correct in, the outcome is going to suck.:bang:

You aren't missing anything

I'll second that!

im also over here now, country is a shithole there is no doubt about that, im in the part of that first 10,000....we are leaving 3 months early

I think the motive behind the presidents movement for the drawdown is a poor premise for the decision.

The fact of the matter from how I see it is this; this nation is in some serious debt. After almost a decade of being over there, people are ready to give up, and just bring the troops home for their benefit, and to save the sheer scale of cost OEF has brought upon us.

If you take a look of why we are there; that we are fighting terrorists on their homeland, and not ours, and trying to make the country self governing, and self containing, and you realize the exact situation of OEF currently, you would know that we are not ready to leave.

Just because Bin Laden is dead, does not mean the terrorists are done. They still want nothing more than to attack the US and the freedom it stands for. If we pull out before we finish the job we are doing, mark my words, we will see another September 11th. The terrorists want nothing more than for us to leave. This will give them breathing room. They will not forget that we have been hunting them and killing them for the past 10 years.

I 100% garuntee that even though we have been there nearly a decade, and we as the troops, airmen, and seamen are tired of being there, and the country would save money, none of that will be worth another large scale act of terrorism on our own land.

Maybe its just the opinion of this military officer, but I believe there are somethings that still are worth the cost. OEF, and its expense to the United States is needed, and will be needed after the drawdown.

I am here right now and the reason this country fails is the TRIBES, each tribe is only concerned with the welfare of that tribe, especially in the southern part of the country where there is no centralized government. They simply do not care about outsiders, which is why a stand up army has never worked in afghanistan, to many people concerned for there own well being and not the country as a whole. they wont go help another tribe if the taliban are in that town they dont care as long as there not in there town. The country is devided and thats why it will always be this way.

They screw each other all the time, just cause someone is working for someone does not mean they will get paid, it happens all the time here, there all a bunch of thieves and crooks.

You should see the little basterds that they hired to work on my little cop, they try to steal anything that isnt nailed down and constantly try to go threw the trash even if that shit is on fire. They rather try to find or steal something than to try to work for something to have on there own.

The north is not as bad however they are more centralized and come together as a whole there, but the problem is the southern tribes are not going to fall in suite

When we leave this place we will have changed nothing, right now there all playing nice while we are still here.

and as soon as the Afghani army stops getting paid when we leave they will dissipate to cause I can garentee you its our country financing there paychecks for now.

and for all you newbies to the army that JUST CANT WAIT to deploy, sorry but your just having blind ignorance cause you havent ever been deployed. theres some real shitty parts of afghanistan that the us army hasnt even been in before, im in one of those places now and it sux trust me. but i guess if your the kind of guy that likes to have death around you all the time and expect to be rocketed all the time then its for you. There is no fight here, these guys hit and run and thats about it once in a while they may try to mass to attempt to overtake a small cop but thats about it the war has been over for years where just here and there just biding there time till we leave

I think the motive behind the presidents movement for the drawdown is a poor premise for the decision.

The fact of the matter from how I see it is this; this nation is in some serious debt. After almost a decade of being over there, people are ready to give up, and just bring the troops home for their benefit, and to save the sheer scale of cost OEF has brought upon us.

If you take a look of why we are there; that we are fighting terrorists on their homeland, and not ours, and trying to make the country self governing, and self containing, and you realize the exact situation of OEF currently, you would know that we are not ready to leave.

Just because Bin Laden is dead, does not mean the terrorists are done. They still want nothing more than to attack the US and the freedom it stands for. If we pull out before we finish the job we are doing, mark my words, we will see another September 11th. The terrorists want nothing more than for us to leave. This will give them breathing room. They will not forget that we have been hunting them and killing them for the past 10 years.

I 100% garuntee that even though we have been there nearly a decade, and we as the troops, airmen, and seamen are tired of being there, and the country would save money, none of that will be worth another large scale act of terrorism on our own land.

Maybe its just the opinion of this military officer, but I believe there are somethings that still are worth the cost. OEF, and its expense to the United States is needed, and will be needed after the drawdown.

+Infinite