Originally Posted by
Grumble
Bullseye.
One of the things that will always haunt me are the guys that died on TICs I serviced, while waiting for clearance to drop (which was denied 100% of the time). Two tours of that, followed up by an IA which just gave even more clarity on how f'd the whole situation is.
The only solace I got was on our RTB from my IA, and the "group therapy" we were forced to endure. Some poor clinical psychologist who'd been in the military for about 3 weeks sat down with about 10 of us in a room, and then proceeded to just watch in shock for several hours as every single person went around the room sharing their stories of just how f'd up everything was on their end and how the only satisfaction they carried away from that tour was not getting hurt, and (hopefully) bringing back all your troops. Beyond that, everyone agreed that when the history books are written everything will have been for not.
2nd all that. From what I saw in OEF, any time a TIC started to get elevated up the chain no senior leadership would put their career on the line for the guys on the ground for fear of CIVCAS repercussions.
The fix was to try and get the Army organic (Apaches etc...) involved and solve these "issues" at the lowest level possible. Put this wasn't always an option.
Yes we should try and protect the Afghani populace, but it seems we're often doing so at the expense of our fellow Americans on the ground.