Stan R. Mitchell's Blog, page 35

America gave Afghanistan the most precious gift; it's up to them to hold onto it.

Twenty years ago, on a fateful day that would come to be known as 9/11, terrorists from Al-Qaeda boarded planes and piloted them into American buildings, felling two of the greatest creations in America. They would take the lives of 2,977 innocent victims, topping even the Japanese, who had killed 2,335 in their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor sixty years earlier in 1941.

Al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, killed more innocent people with box cutters, knives, and four commercial aircraft than the Japanese had with a coordinated attack of 353 planes and five submarines.

But like the Japanese before them, al-Qaeda had gone too far.

As the smoldering heaps darkened the sky over New York, a country united in spirit and grief.

The response would initially be directed toward an under-developed, war-torn country listed on the maps as Afghanistan. The Taliban, a religious order that ruled most of Afghanistan, refused to give up the leader of Al-Qaeda. So America added the Taliban to its list of foes that would feel the harsh wrath of an angry, wounded country.

And in this fight on foreign lands, America brought its richest resource: it brought an ample abundance of optimism and can-do spirit. Something that has fed and fueled America’s expansion since settlers landed at Jamestown, Virginia, more than 400 years ago in 1607.

Despite the fact that Afghanistan’s massive size rivals that of Texas. Despite the fact that its literacy rate hovers at 20 percent. (Most countries average above 80-plus percent.) And despite the fact that the country had endured twenty years of war prior to 9/11, America believed it could destroy Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as create a democracy in one of the poorest, most uneducated countries in the world.

Sadly, America did not rally its full effort for this task, sending less than 1 percent of its population to attempt the impossible. Worse, it mostly ignored the fate of these men and women, quickly losing interest in this grand enterprise, caring more about the Sopranos, Lost, the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and a dozen other TV shows and movies that dropped the past twenty years.

To this day, most Americans would be hard-pressed to name even three Afghan cities, to say nothing of the many historic battles, hills, and valleys where we spilled the blood of our people.

The brutal truth is that we sent our professional Roman Legions to a far-flung land to defend us while we laughed and loved and dined on grapes and wine in the shade here at home.

And even in this GREAT unjustness, our U.S. service members never faltered in their duty. They never complained. They never refused orders. Instead, they threw themselves into the task with the vigor and participation that should rival all wars in history.

Of the 800,000 that served in the country known as the “Graveyard of Empires,” almost 30,000 volunteered for more than five tours there. (That number would probably be far higher, but many also served tours in Iraq.)

Twenty-three hundred would die in this harsh land of hills, snow-capped mountains, and sun-baked desert in the south (Helmand). It was actually in the scorching oven of Helmand, where temperatures often topped 120 degrees, that more than four hundred British or American soldiers would be killed; more casualties than any other province.

Even Americans who survived without physical wounds returned to America having surrendered years of their lives, thousands of marriages, and their own mental stability.

To this day, most Americans remain blind to this offering and contribution by so many. It is an act that borders upon a crime.

Sadly (incredibly even), suicides among military personnel are 4x higher than deaths from operations, with more than 30,000 service members paying the ultimate price after returning home safely from our two major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They have laid down their lives, no differently than their brethren and sistren who bled out in the retched poppy fields and maze-like mud compounds of the old world.

The footnotes are ugly; as gruesome as the IEDs favored by the enemy. Let us not dwell on these.

The headlines are prettier:

Osama bin Laden is dead.

Al-Qaeda has been dismembered.

America has been rendered safe.

And Afghanistan is now a mostly functioning democracy, in the fight of its life against a resurgent Taliban.

In a country that whipped men who shaved, forced women to remain covered, and executed offenders in a soccer stadium for amusement, America did the near impossible.

We deployed our military more than eight timezones away to a land 7,000 miles distant, and in this unknown land, we chased our foes into the hills with near-reckless courage. Sometimes, even on horseback.

We created a young democracy that Afghanistan can preserve, if it does not wilt in its fight.

In that barren, desolute country, we created a miracle. We created a democracy. It’s true that it’s one that sputters and needs fine-tuning, but it is a democracy nonetheless.

A place where women can be treated as equals and rise to the highest levers of power. (A place where they already have, in fact. More than 20 percent of parliament are women. Females have even served as ambassadors, in a region where twenty years ago they were property; not even allowed to leave their homes without a male escort.)

It’s impossible to know what the fate of Afghanistan will become. But let’s never forget what our courageous and brave American fighting men and women achieved there. (With the help of Allies, of course, but let us never forget who bore the brunt. And who bore the grievous wound that started it all.)

America did not lose Afghanistan. Never believe those words, no matter who speaks them.

America built Afghanistan. And we did it in the span of 20 years.

Let us never forget this great accomplishment, despite what might happen in the years to come.

If you are a veteran who served in Afghanistan, thank you for your service. Your experience has not helped Afghanistan, it’s also inspired young boys and girls in America who will read of what you’ve done, of your countless selfless acts, and they will decide to enlist someday. (I followed this same track, having read of veterans who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; they inspired me to enlist.)

My veterans of Afghanistan, I beg you to be proud of what you achieved and do NOT view our withdrawal as a defeat. As something that was a failure.

Seek help when the monsters in your head are raging. Take it one day at a time. One hour, even.

Do not strip our country, nor your family, of your greatness.

Be proud of your work because it is something that will forever be remarkable.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Part of the stats cited above comes from the foreword of Hill 406.

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Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can stop at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Afghanistan plunges into chaos

I am just gutted by what is happening in Afghanistan. If you haven’t been keeping up, Afghan government forces have continued to flee and surrender (and even switch sides). Three additonal major cities have fallen (Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah), which brings the total to more than a dozen that have fallen.

As one expert on the country, who has 18 years as a military operations analyst, put it:

#Afghanistan have fallen. I knew the #ANDSF weren't as strong as advertised in rural areas, but I genuinely believed they'd stand & fight to defend the cities. I was wrong.","username":"JJSchroden","name":"Dr. Jonathan Schroden","date":"Thu Aug 12 18:29:21 +0000 2021","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":142,"like_count":634,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null}">Dr. Jonathan Schroden @JJSchrodenAfter today, I'm just going to say it: I am legitimately shocked at how quickly the cities of #Afghanistan have fallen. I knew the #ANDSF weren't as strong as advertised in rural areas, but I genuinely believed they'd stand & fight to defend the cities. I was wrong.

August 12th 2021

142 Retweets634 Likes

At this point, the Afghan troops have shown little heart for resisting, and it’s been frustrating watching the videos of it happening online. (Taliban fighters running through streets with absolutely no training; Afghan government convoys driving out of cities at high speed.)

President Joe Biden has held fast in not changing his course to leave the country for good.

“Look,” Biden told reporters at the White House, “we spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped, with modern equipment, over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together.”

Because of how fast things have collapsed, we are currently sending some troops in to withdraw additional Embassy personnel in Kabul, but that is a short-term deployment merely to withdraw the Americans staffing the building. (Minus a core staff who will stay longer.)

I think part of what frustrates me the most is best summed up below.

Richard N. Haass @RichardHaassWhat makes the Afghanistan situation so frustrating is that the US & its allies had reached something of an equilibrium at a low sustainable cost. It wasn’t peace or military victory, but it was infinitely preferable to the strategic & human catastrophe that is unfolding.

August 13th 2021

36 Retweets81 Likes

In other matters, I thought I’d share a pretty fascinating glimpse inside the secret Russian soldiers, who operate around the world (mostly in the shadows). These soldiers operate in places like Syria, Libya, and other parts of the world, and the BBC story will really open your eyes to this tool that Russia increasingly uses.

BBC News (World) @BBCWorldFighter codenames and secret maps found on tablet abandoned on battlefieldThe lost tablet and the secret documentsClues pointing to a shadowy Russian armybbc.in

August 11th 2021

81 Retweets270 Likes

Finally, this hasn’t made the news of late, but Yemen is a country that continues to spiral downward. For a good overview of that situation, see below.

Council on Foreign Relations @CFR_orgTensions in Yemen escalated into a civil war in 2014. Now, the country is considered the world's worst humanitarian crisis with millions of people at risk of starvation.

July 14th 2021

8 Retweets11 Likes

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And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. You can cancel at any time.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews on Sundays.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through. 

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Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

The latest in Afghanistan and a story of intrigue and sacrifice

Afghanistan plunged into further chaos as the Taliban seized 5 provincial capitals in the past 72 hours. Not only did they gain headlines and ground, they increased their own combat power in the operations.

“The gains they’ve made have allowed them to capture equipment and free prisoners, which is having an effect on expanding their military power,” a U.S. official told VOA on the condition of anonymity.

Four Star US Army General Barry R McCaffrey talked about how the Afghan army is collapsing and failing to come together, allowing some cities to fall to even as few as a dozen or so Taliban fighters.

Barry R McCaffrey @mccaffreyr39 August 2021. MSNBC. The Afghan Security Forces begin to come apart.

August 9th 2021

33 Retweets126 Likes

The only upside to this growing collapse is its finally getting Afghanistan in the news again. And the U.S. has been increasing the support it is providing through air strikes.

My view remains that we miscalculated the Taliban's strength. As such, we should re-calibrate our assistance and strategy.

I think we could send a small force back, which would help strengthen the morale of the Afghanistan army and police forces. But they have to do more to resist the Taliban. The lack of fight in so many is doing little for their cause.

In other matters, I came across the remarkable story of Sterling Hayden, a Hollywood Star back in the early ’40s, who gave up his career to become a spy.

You can read the full story at the link, and it’s a really short article, but the story is inspiring and reminds us of how much the World War II generation gave up in their fight.

That’s it for this post. Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

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And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. You can cancel at any time.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through. 

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Veteran spotlight: Lt. Col. Keith Benoit

As part of my continuing efforts to honor veterans, I recently interviewed Lt. Col. Keith Benoit.

Benoit went from enlisted soldier to Army officer to pilot and commander, having served numerous deployments over nearly 30 years. Read on for plenty of wisdom and inspiration, the kind you can only get from a man who has served in both the enlisted and officer ranks.

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Where were you born? (And/or what was your hometown?)

Worcester,  Massachusetts 

When did you serve and where? Also rank attained.

Lieutenant Colonel (still serving). I was enlisted for 7 years, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant as a Mortar Infantryman (11C) at Fort Benning and Fort Drum. I received a Green to Gold scholarship and commissioned in 2003 as an Aviation officer.

I have served in Infantry, Aviation, Cavalry, and Special Operations units over the last 28 plus years. I initially flew the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and have transitioned to the AH-64 Apache for the last 6 years. I have served as an officer at Fort Rucker,  Fort Bragg. Fort Stewart, Fort Irwin,  Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the National Captial Region. I am slated to take Squadron Command next year of an Air Cavalry Squadron. 

What’s it like to fly an Apache? They have such an awesome reputation.

It's an amazing machine, drives like a sportscar. The aircraft is a dream to fly and the men and women on the ground that support us are the best in the business.

Who was your childhood hero?

My childhood heroes growing up were my father and two grandfathers. My dad never served in the military but worked outside in the rain and snow daily as a telephone repairman to give us the best life he could.  My grandfathers both served; one in the Engineers as a Higgins boat driver, participating in numerous amphibious landings to include Leyte Gulf, and the other served in Japan immediately after the war in the occupation forces 

What made you want to join up?

Honestly,  I joined for the college money. I initially enlisted in the National Guard and went to college for a year. I wasn't ready for college quite yet and left to join active duty because I enjoyed it so much. The more I served, the more I liked it and here we are today almost three decades later.

Tell us some of the big lessons you learned from serving.

The biggest lesson I have learned,  and I definitely learned it over time, is that you cannot do it alone. Treat others as you would like to be treated and you will develop networks, relationships,  and support systems that will last a lifetime.

The Army of today is not the Army I joined all those years ago, and I believe it is better now, hands down. I have also learned that the last 20 years of combat have changed us as a force; some for good, some not so good. I have been open and honest about my struggles with PTSD from five combat deployments with everyone I serve alongside. 

I encourage them to seek out help whenever they need it as I know it certainly helped me. I'm in a great place now, but am always aware that can change at any time. Everyone needs to look out for each other and for themselves. Finally, if you take care of your people and truly put them first, the mission will always take care of itself.

What was your most harrowing experience, that you’re willing to share? (This can be a training event, as I think most civilians aren’t aware of how dangerous even peacetime service can be.)

My most harrowing event occurred while serving in Iraq during my most recent combat tour. Coming back from a mission, we had an issue with the aircraft in flight that caused us to lose all indications in the cockpit in zero illumination over some not very friendly countryside.  We made the decision to keep flying and about 30 seconds before we landed, every warning bell and whistle went off in the cockpit.

It was great to feel the solid ground underneath us once we landed. We laughed because all the times we were shot at and avoided being shot down, it was going to be a mechanical malfunction that got us in the end! Anytime I have to jump out of a plane is a close second... I am afraid of heights.

a.image2.image-link.image2-327-438 { padding-bottom: 74.44444444444444%; padding-bottom: min(74.44444444444444%, 326.06666666666666px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-327-438 img { max-width: 438px; max-height: 326.06666666666666px; } Iraq 2017 with my cousin meeting up for the first time.

What do you wish those who have never served better understood?

The American public, for the most part, is extremely supportive of our men and women in uniform and that is appreciated, especially given the fact this was not always the case in recent times (Vietnam).

If I had to choose one thing, it would be that men and women in uniform come home with issues that aren't always visible on the surface. Sometimes they want to tell their story, not because they want to brag, but because it is therapeutic to do so. Listen to veterans of all eras, combat or not, and allow them to tell their stories. It will help to bridge the civil-military divide that exists today.

a.image2.image-link.image2-471-610 { padding-bottom: 77.21311475409836%; padding-bottom: min(77.21311475409836%, 471px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-471-610 img { max-width: 610px; max-height: 471px; } Al Kisik. Iraq with now COL(R) Mike Jason 2010.

Are there any service members that you know, or served with, that you’d like to honor their sacrifice by naming?

I had the honor or serving alongside some amazing men and women, some of whom didn't make it home. Among these, SFC Keith Callahan, CPT Erick Foster, CPT Matt Mattingly, and SFC Seth Fancher stand out in my mind. Each of them left an indelible mark on my life and I wouldn't be where I am without them.

a.image2.image-link.image2-367-426 { padding-bottom: 86.15023474178403%; padding-bottom: min(86.15023474178403%, 367px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-367-426 img { max-width: 426px; max-height: 367px; } Somewhere over Iraq in an OH-58D 2007.

Tell me the most heroic thing you ever saw, if you can.

Serving in Iraq in 2007, we were in close quarters with the enemy and they lobbed a grenade in our direction. One of the soldiers with us picked it up and lobbed it back seconds before it exploded. It happened so fast nobody realized what happened. It was probably the craziest thing I've ever witnessed. 

Share with us a story of a leader who inspired you while you served.

It is difficult to pick out just one leader who has inspired me during my career. If I had to pick one, it would be SFC Keith Callahan. We served together in the 82 Airborne Division and he was killed in Iraq in 2007. When he died, he died leading from the front.

We had just had a long talk the night before the mission as we were both from Massachusetts and the Patriots had just blown the AFC Championship game in 2007. I was in the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) when the call came in and was devastated to hear his name. He inspired everyone around him, officers and enlisted alike, to be better and challenged us every single day. I am glad I still have the privilege of serving in his memory and do everything I can each day to try and live up to the standards he left behind.

a.image2.image-link.image2-294-235 { padding-bottom: 124.87562189054728%; padding-bottom: min(124.87562189054728%, 293.4577114427861px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-294-235 img { max-width: 235px; max-height: 293.4577114427861px; } SFC Keith Callahan, who died while leading men in action in 2007. He would earn a Bronze Star for valor as a part of his heroic actions that night.

What do you wish for the country?

Honestly I hope we can come together. Being a military officer I do not publicly subscribe to any political party and have served under five Presidents during my time. There are always bad actors throughout the world that would seek to do us harm. The only way we combat that is to stick by one another.

a.image2.image-link.image2-1439-1079 { padding-bottom: 133.36422613531047%; padding-bottom: min(133.36422613531047%, 1439px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-1439-1079 img { max-width: 1079px; max-height: 1439px; } Somewhere in Iraq following an aircraft malfunction 2017.

Any closing thoughts or anything you’d like to add?

I have had a very unique Army experience thus far. I have served as a ground commander, a planner in special operations, and as an aviator in combat. There is no one path to success. Do the best you can in whatever you are doing and the results will take care of themselves.  Take care of your people, be honest, do your best, and know it is a privilege to serve each and every day.

One other thing I’d like to do before ending the interview is highlight our support folks.

They actually own the aircraft and we just borrow it for a little bit. They do everything from washing it up to fixing it when we break it....which is often. They are amazing people.

And in an Apache, it's thankless because unlike in a Blackhawk, they don't fly in the back. But they are always anxiously awaiting our return to hear what we shot because without them we wouldn't even get them off the ground.

I wanted to thank Lt. Col. Keith Benoit for sharing his story.

I really enjoy the veteran interview posts for several reasons. First, I feel the public remains mostly unaware about the sacrifices military members have made (and are continuing to make).

Secondly, veterans aren’t good at sharing their experiences, and I’ve had vets tell me afterward that they had direct family members express surprise after reading the interviews at some of the places the veterans had been and some of the things they had done.

Finally, I appreciate the opportunity to put a fallen vet’s name into the internet world so that their names are always searchable and less likely to be forgotten. (This is something I try to do .)

Enough about the interviews. If you know a veteran that I could interview, please reach out to me at stan@stanrmitchell.com. I would love to feature them on my site. As a general rule, one that HASN’T been broken yet, they will NEVER ask for themselves. So, please, consider nominating someone to me. I’ll be happy to reach out to them and twist any arms.

Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

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And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you don’t want it to be and would like to support what I’m doing.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country.

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can stop at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Afghanistan, China, and autonomous weapons

I’ve been clearly focused on Afghanistan of late, but not a lot has happened there since my post on Tuesday (Afghan capital in Herat holds, after major Taliban push).

I will make only one point about Afghanistan. Pakistan came out and said the following on Wednesday: Pakistan won't accept a ‘forceful takeover’ of Kabul by the Taliban.

Pakistan’s National Security Adviser stated: “We have made it absolutely clear that we are with the international community on where this goes. But the world also needs to be clear that the US invest in a political settlement.”

This is potentially good news for Afghanistan. Or, perhaps it’s just more double-speak, since Pakistan is by far one of the biggest ‘secret’ supporters of the Taliban. (No link provided for this point because you can literally find dozens of articles on this topic with a simple Google search.)

Moving on from Afghanistan, here are a few different topics worth highlighting.

David Ignatius, a long-time, foreign affairs expert for the Washington Post, summarized the situation in America’s other war (Iraq) as thus:

President Biden seems to be finding the sweet spot in Iraq: a small, continuing U.S. force that can train the Iraqi military, provide it with intelligence, and buffer it against powerful neighbors — with buy-in from most Iraqi political factions. It’s a low-cost, sustainable way to maintain, at least for a time, U.S. power along a strategic fault line.

He had fewer nice things to say about Biden’s Afghanistan strategy, and I can’t really disagree with his summary.

The Iraq story makes clear that there’s a better way to resolve “endless” wars than the pell-mell evacuation in Afghanistan. The essential ingredients are a strong partner, an army that’s willing and able to fight, a regional strategy in which neighbors help build stability rather than undermine it, and a residual U.S. military presence. None of these factors seem to be present in Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani. All are evident in Kadhimi’s Iraq.

Moving away from Iraq to Israel, the small country of Israel is issuing even more dire threats to Iran. As stated in Politico:

Israel is ready to take military action against Iran, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told the Israeli news outlet Ynet on Thursday. That threat comes after days of escalating tensions in the Gulf of Oman — where Tehran launched a deadly drone strike against an Israeli-managed commercial ship last week and suspected Iranian-backed forces mounted a possible hijacking of an asphalt tanker Tuesday.

“Iran is a global and regional problem and an Israeli challenge,” Gantz said, accusing Tehran of “building up its forces in Lebanon and Gaza, deploying militias in Syria and Iraq, and maintaining its supporters in Yemen.” He added: “We need to continue to develop our abilities to cope with multiple fronts, for this is the future.”

All of this follows, of course, Iran trying to kidnap an American journalist. In America. Insane, I know.

I feel like the Iranians keep trying to test President Joe Biden. And I might be wrong, but I don’t think they’re going to like the response, when it comes. (America has already bombed Iranian-backed militia targets in Iraq and Syria under Joe Biden.)

In China news, the United States has agreed to sell Taiwan 40 massive, self-propelled howitzers. The deal involves the M109A6 "Paladin,” which can fire and move before return fire arrives. The announced package includes precision munitions, which means the giant 155 mm cannons will be hitting targets at thirteen miles away.

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Most people aren’t aware of the size of Taiwan. The island is 13,826 sq miles, which is larger than Vermont (at 9,249 square miles). But unlike Vermont’s population of 624,000 people, Taiwan has almost 24 million inhabitants. It also has mountain ranges and large plains, making it quite a formidable place to invade.

China has been working to improve its navy. And this week, news broke that China has been working to convert civilian ferries to use, should an invasion ever be executed. Up to 63 civilian vessels could be converted.

China’s greater threat to Taiwan is its missile threat. More than 3,000 ballistic and cruise missiles could devastate the island, which lies 110 miles from China.

I still don’t believe an attack will ever happen. Our economies are all too inter-related. But China has certainly been building up its power, and while the West has been creating more and more allies to counter the massive country of one billion people (China encounters a new reality), it seems an armed form of deterrence will probably hold long term. Especially with how China’s neighbors have already felt the country’s intimidation tactics and heavy hands.

Moving on to other matters, it was a little startling to hear the Secretary of Defense mention autonomous weapons in the speech below. I’ve heard of camera-mounted machine guns on robots and turrets, controlled by humans. But to think about autonomous weapons,” with presumably some integrated artificial intelligence helping them make decisions…. I’ve got to say. That was a little mind-blowing.

#NSCAI ","username":"SecDef","name":"Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III","date":"Tue Jul 13 20:36:14 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III @SecDefIn the Artificial Intelligence realm, as in many others, we understand that China is our pacing challenge. We’re going to compete to win, but we’re going to do it the right way. We’re not going to cut corners on safety, security, or ethics. #NSCAI

July 13th 2021

130 Retweets432 Likes

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And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. You can cancel at any time.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through. 

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Afghan capital in Herat holds, after major Taliban push

Today’s post will mostly be dominated by news from Afghanistan, but for those who are tiring of that, I’ll have a few other important stories further down. So, just be patient and keep scrolling.

In Afghanistan, not only is a lot happening, but it’s also a country that I’m — frankly — obsessed with. In fact, I re-entered the Marine Corps voluntarily after 9/11, simply for the chance to deploy there, thinking my limited time in harm’s way (having previously earned a Combat Action Ribbon in Albania in ’97) would prove beneficial for a military that hadn’t seen major action in ten years (since Desert Shield/Desert Storm).

But all I did was play hurry up and wait for two years in the Marine Corps Reserve, while other members of the military overthrew the Taliban and searched for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.

Besides watching helplessly (and constantly) from the States the past 20 years, I’ve also written two books about Afghanistan (Hill 406 and Afghan Storm), so it’s safe to say my interest in the country is fairly high.

Most of the fighting the past few days since my last post on Friday has been centered around Herat, the provincial capital of Herat Province, where roughly half a million people live.

a.image2.image-link.image2-545-506 { padding-bottom: 107.62195121951221%; padding-bottom: min(107.62195121951221%, 544.5670731707318px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-545-506 img { max-width: 506px; max-height: 544.5670731707318px; } The World Factbook 2021. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2021.https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/

Herat is in the western part of Afghanistan, and it’s a huge city, as this image shows.

#DefendAfghanistan ","username":"HabibKhanT","name":"Habib Khan","date":"Mon Aug 02 08:29:45 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/E7xbpJ...Habib Khan @HabibKhanTThis is the ancient city of Herat in the west of Afghanistan and is under attack by the Taliban.#DefendAfghanistan

August 2nd 2021

107 Retweets460 Likes

And while the Taliban made serious thrusts into the city, the Afghanistan government deployed a large assembly of Special Forces, who joined by local militia, managed to push the Taliban back.

#Taliban today on the outskirts of #Herat #Afghanistan. ","username":"Massoud151","name":"Massoud Hossaini","date":"Fri Jul 30 19:28:15 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...Massoud Hossaini @Massoud151Former Mujaheddin leader, Ismail Khan, 78 y, started his offensive attack on #Taliban today on the outskirts of #Herat #Afghanistan.

July 30th 2021

55 Retweets186 Likes

And you can hear just how defiant the people are in Herat in this clip, which followed the heaviest day of fighting.

#Herat youths march toward the Ab Borda security belt in west of Herat and shout “Allahu Akbar”. ","username":"OmidSobhni","name":"Omid Sobhani","date":"Mon Aug 02 17:58:44 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...Omid Sobhani @OmidSobhni#Herat youths march toward the Ab Borda security belt in west of Herat and shout “Allahu Akbar”.

August 2nd 2021

87 Retweets353 Likes

It appears as though Herat will hold. And I’m reminded of what President Abraham Lincoln once said, more than 100 years ago: “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed.”

There is other Afghanistan news, such as U.S. planes now bombing the Taliban again, Taliban attempts to free thousands of Taliban prisoners, Lashkar Gah (another provincial capital) in the fight of its life, etc, but I worry I have pushed my luck with how much we’ve already talked about the country in this post. More to come in the future, for sure, but for now, I just hope the good people of Afghanistan can hold out against the terrible Taliban, who have already been executing some males and doing public hangings. (I’m not linking the latter item because it’s too horrific, but you can find photos on Twitter, and they’re real, unfortunately.)

I still say we should arm Afghan women.

Before I get to the other news, thanks so much for all the new subscribers of late!! Your support means the world to me. And for those who have signed up to pay, thank you for that, too. These newsletters take time, and with more support, I’ll continue to improve them!

There were three small bits of news that related to our ability to counter China that I wanted to point out today.

First, I wondered if this is an early glimpse of the future of warfare? A rapid deployment of drones?

@147thAttackWing transported MQ-9 aircraft/equipment over 450 miles from Houston to Ebbing Field ANGB, Arkansas, demonstrating their ability to stand-up an MQ-9 immediate reaction force within 72 hours. 🔗ow.ly/jVb350FFCii ","username":"AirNatlGuard","name":"Air National Guard","date":"Thu Jul 29 17:30:12 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/E7exAZ...Air National Guard @AirNatlGuardUsing Agile Combat Employment concepts, the @147thAttackWing transported MQ-9 aircraft/equipment over 450 miles from Houston to Ebbing Field ANGB, Arkansas, demonstrating their ability to stand-up an MQ-9 immediate reaction force within 72 hours. 🔗ow.ly/jVb350FFCii

July 29th 2021

47 Retweets142 Likes

Similarly, U.S. Army airborne soldiers packed up, rode for 20 hours in planes, and dropped in on an airfield, just to prove they could do it. (I’ll pass on the 20-hour flight; or the parachuting in.)

XVIII Airborne Corps @18airbornecorpsSeen early this morning: XVIII Airborne Corps Paratroopers conduct a Joint Forcible Entry into Guam from Fort Bragg at night after a 20-hour flight from Fort Bragg. In-flight rigging, aerial refueling, and on the Drop Zone in support of our partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

July 30th 2021

74 Retweets372 Likes

Finally, Japan showed off a re-designed ship that can work as a sort of mini-carrier with F-35s. (Reminder for those who missed it: Japan has already agreed to help defend Taiwan.)

#Japanese Navy JS Izumo with the redesigned flight deck to operate F-35B fighters.\n\n#FreeandopenIndoPacific\n👍💪⚓️🇯🇵⚓️💪👍 ","username":"IndoPac_Info","name":"Indo-Pacific News - Watching the CCP-China Threat","date":"Thu Jul 29 11:31:50 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/E7deim...Indo-Pacific News - Watching the CCP-China Threat @IndoPac_Info#Japanese Navy JS Izumo with the redesigned flight deck to operate F-35B fighters.#FreeandopenIndoPacific👍💪⚓️🇯🇵⚓️💪👍

July 29th 2021

111 Retweets477 Likes

All of this is just a reminder that China is encountering a new reality.

Moving on, I came across this incredible story about a soldier receiving the Medal of Honor for the last bayonet charge of the Korean War. If you have a moment, it’s worth the read for sure.

Military.com @MilitarydotcomThis Soldier Received the Medal of Honor for the Last Bayonet Charge of the Korean War This Soldier Received the Medal of Honor for the Last Bayonet Charge of the Korean WarLewis Millet’s bayonet charge didn’t just change a battle, it changed the geography of the war.military.com

July 28th 2021

3 Retweets18 Likes

Last but not least, in case you haven’t been keeping up, a lot has been happening in South Africa of late. Here’s a great video put out by the Economist that talks about what’s behind the riots there, which have left more than 300 people dead.

That’s it for this post. Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

Share

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. You can cancel at any time.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through. 

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Veteran spotlight: Marine Sgt Nicholas Tucker

As part of my continuing efforts to honor veterans, I recently interviewed Marine Sgt Nicholas Tucker.

Tucker served in several deployments with the Marine Corps, deploying to various parts of the world.

Where were you born? (And/or what was your hometown?)

Born in Aurora, CO.

Grew up in TX and Northern Colorado. I consider Greeley, CO (I entered service here) my hometown.

When did you serve and where? Also rank attained.

2002-2006 (Active- Obtained E-5) Involuntarily Recalled in 2007.

Operation Iraqi Freedom II and III.

Indonesia Tsunami Relief Effort.

I was a MEU Marine - 15th MEU BLT 1/1.

3rd Amphibious Assault BN, 1st MAR DIV.

a.image2.image-link.image2-207-206 { padding-bottom: 100.14245014245013%; padding-bottom: min(100.14245014245013%, 206.2934472934473px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-207-206 img { max-width: 206px; max-height: 206.2934472934473px; }

Who was your childhood hero?

My Dad - Vietnam Marine.

Passed away while I was in Schools BN - Got that Red Cross letter no one wanted to get from home.

What made you want to join up?

An innate sense of serving something bigger than myself, the challenge, and my Dad telling me "not to" join.

Tell us some of the big lessons you learned from serving.

If you do it right, you learn more about yourself than anything. Your physical/mental limits, tolerance for evil ignorance, faith in humanity, and a bigger driving force than all of us.

Regardless of how much divisive propaganda the media can pump out, I learn that skin color is only an illusion and that Humanity is best served united. (No wonder all of the divisive programming we see from every angle.)

What was your most harrowing experience, that you’re willing to share?

Driving over a culvert with a dozen or more 155 rounds daisy-chained together and watching the det cord fail before detonation.

"Jesus take the wheel."

I was lucky... We suffered very few casualties during our operations in and around Baghdad International Airport, even after averaging around 500 miles of road time/week on average.

We primarily were QRF and participated in several HVT Raids.

What do you wish those who have never served better understood?

I wish they understood that 99% of the 100% Volunteer service members are PATRIOTS, driven by something bigger than themselves. They don't crave violence, the thrill, no... They crave an end to the business as normal that our old tired, corrupted structures of government have provided.

They are selfless, fighters of freedom and they don't ask for anything in return. Society has diluted this message because they want to demonize the Veteran, make them out as war-hungry alcoholics with PTSD and Semper Fi bumper stickers. I've been in the civilian business sector at a high level for over 10 years now and can tell you the smartest people I ever met were farm kids from Kansas, poor 17-year-olds that grew up in the Bronx half-starving. And I'd still take a fireteam of warrior-spirited humans with me over an overly educated/indoctrinated individual.

Are there any service members that you know, or served with, that you’d like to honor their sacrifice by naming?

I'd like to honor every veteran that was targeted with opiates by our VA, and other "Medical practitioners," who knowingly maimed, injured, or provided an easy road of long-term dependence on a nasty drug.

What piece of foreign or domestic policy frustrates you to no end?

The Global Military Industrial Complex (Dying thank god) and its long-standing addiction to war, ground occupation which turns to human slavery/trafficking (UN/NATO) and making the same people rich for the last 120 years all while gutting our middle class and targeting our warriors with poison.

What do you wish for the country?

Humanity has a common enemy. An ancient enemy, bonded by bloodlines and blackmail. They own our Media, Central Banks (1871 US Constitution subverted), Fed Reserve, Vatican and can be found in the highest towers of our current society that has been inverted to match their satanic agenda.

We have one shot at this. They FEAR a UNITED HUMANITY so they keep us distracted with Politics (R v D), Race, Religion, Vaccination Status (a new one they are proud of).

We outnumber them 10000/1 and they know that.

Let's Finish this. God wins.

I wanted to thank Nicholas Tucker for sharing his story. Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

Share

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you don’t want it to be and would like to support what I’m doing.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country.

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can stop at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Afghanistan needs its George Washington

I mentioned on Tuesday that I was feeling better about the situation in Afghanistan. I still feel that way, but several pieces of bad news dropped this week.

First, there was news of the Taliban assassinating Afghan pilots. At least seven have been killed off base in recent months. The same article states an additional problem in which Afghan aircraft are being over-used “due to increased requests for close air support, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions, and aerial resupply.”

Finally, the article states that Afghan special forces are being used incorrectly because local Afghan forces won’t carry their share of the load.

“When Afghan commandos arrive, they are misused to perform tasks intended for conventional forces, including route clearance and checkpoint security,” the article states.

These are all worrisome concerns, but I stand by everything I’ve said to date. First, we gave Afghanistan the greatest gift ever.

We created a democracy that Afghanistan can preserve, if it does not wilt in its fight.

We created something to behold. Something to cherish. Something we struggle to hold onto here at home, nearly two hundred and forty years after our founding.

In that barren, desolute country, we have created a miracle. We have created a democracy. One that sputters and needs fine-tuning, but a democracy nonetheless.

A place where women can be treated as equals and rise to the highest levers of power. (A place where they already have, in fact. More than 20 percent of parliament are women. Females have even served as ambassadors, in a region where twenty years ago they were property; not even allowed to leave their homes without male escort.)

It’s impossible to know what the fate of Afghanistan will become. But let’s never forget what our courageous and brave American fighting men and women achieved there. (With the help of Allies, of course, but let us never forget who bore the brunt. And who bore the grievous wound that started it all.)

America did not lose Afghanistan. Never believe those words, no matter who speaks them.

America built Afghanistan. And we did it in the span of 20 years.

We showed them courage. We showed them equality. We showed them mercy (far too many times, when calls for fire were canceled for fear we might wound the innocent, while men screamed in terror and died.)

We taught the Afghans how to fight. We taught them how to work hard. We taught them how to believe in something better. Something greater than themselves. Something worth sacrificing for.

Let us never forget this great accomplishment, despite what might happen in the years to come.

We have given Afghanistan this gift, but it is up to them to hold onto (and eventually improve) it.

Honestly, I feel like Afghanistan needs its George Washington. I’m not sure who that man or woman is, but America faced its own dark days in our early history. And people forget that for years, many Americans thought we were losing our own fight.

There will be some dark days and nights to come (possibly even for years), but I continue to hope the Afghans can hold onto their freedom and their democracy. And I hope our country continues to support them in this fight.

That’s it for this post. Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

Share

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you choose to subscribe and support what I’m doing. You can cancel at any time.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through. 

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. Part of the post above comes from Hill 406, a book I wrote that is partly about Helmand Province, but helps encapsulate everything that veterans of Afghanistan have gone through.

a.image2.image-link.image2-110-77 { padding-bottom: 141.643059490085%; padding-bottom: min(141.643059490085%, 109.06515580736544px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-110-77 img { max-width: 77px; max-height: 109.06515580736544px; }

P.P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

My feel-good post for the week

I feel like this is my good news post for the month.

In all seriousness, I find myself feeling much more optimistic on two of America’s larger foreign policy issues this week.

On the China side of the equation, America continues to make serious inroads with allies in the region. And local allies continue to strengthen up their own armies. (Such as tiny Singapore, which has less than 5 million people, proceeding with its purchase of F-35s. Great story on that at this link: How the F-35 could be a game-changer for Singapore. This would be as if America stationed additional top-tier aircraft permanently in the region.)

trib.al/nXMz7gM ","username":"defense_news","name":"Defense News","date":"Tue Jul 27 15:28:04 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/E7UB3y...Defense News @defense_newsPentagon chief calls for new regional order in Indo-Pacific trib.al/nXMz7gM

July 27th 2021

1 Retweet2 Likes

You can read those links above if you choose, and follow them into even deeper rabbit holes if you choose, but I think your conclusion will end up where mine is: China is increasingly finding itself in a less dominant position.

On the Afghanistan front, I’ve seen a number of things that make me feel better about the situation.

America is increasing its aid, providing airstrikes against the Taliban again. And Iran and Pakistan, neither of whom want a de-stabilized Afghanistan, seem to be coming to grips that an Afghan government that succeeds is the best, long-term result.

For Iran, such a thing will limit the number of refugees crossing its borders. (Iran already has approximately 3 million Afghan refugees living mostly undocumented inside its borders.) And as we speak, Iran is already fighting the Taliban with its proxies, sending armed fighters into Afghanistan.

From the PBS article:

The Iranian-backed Fatemiyoun Brigade is drawn from Shia Afghan refugees in Iran and also from members of the Hazara Shia minority inside Afghanistan. Hazaras currently make up 9 to 10% of Afghanistan’s total population of 38 million. Considered infidels by the Sunni Taliban and the target of deadly attacks since the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Hazaras have fled to Iran, where the government has recruited them to the militia.

Fatemiyoun members are “mostly in their 20s and 30s … motivated mainly by economic deprivation and vulnerabilities due to their migrant status,” per the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). According to media and human rights reports, Iran offered these refugees and their families payment, citizenship and other legal protections in return for serving in the brigade, although some refugees “report[ed] being coerced into joining with threats of arrest and deportation,” according to a report from the Middle East Institute. Iran is also known to have armed Fatemiyoun fighters in Yemen and Syria.

Estimates put the number of Fatemiyoun troops Iran deployed to Syria, to fight ISIS on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, as high as 20,000 or even 50,000. In Leaving Afghanistan, sources told FRONTLINE that Iran is now sending Fatemiyoun back to Afghanistan, with thousands already in the country.

This is occurring from the northwest. Quite similarly, the Taliban will see a weakening of their situation on its eastern flank.

For Pakistan, though it has helped arm, equip, and support the Taliban covertly for decades now, suddenly the country is worried the Taliban might become a serious problem if they gain control of all of Afghanistan.

As the Wall Street Journal put it: Pakistan, After Rooting for Afghanistan’s Taliban, Faces a Blowback.

India Today details the problem in its article:

Interestingly, Pakistan — that is believed to be deeply involved in the affairs of the Taliban in Afghanistan through Pakistan Army’s Inter-State Intelligence (ISI) — has its own share of problems with the Taliban’s rise.

Pakistan shares a long boundary with Afghanistan, and the rise of the Taliban aggravates fear and a sense of insecurity among non-Pashtun ethnic communities particularly in the border areas. It can lead to inter-tribal militia conflicts on the Pakistani side of the border.

Last time when the Taliban had seized Afghanistan, it had even targeted border areas in Pakistan’s Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Reports from Pakistan suggest that people, particularly in Baluchistan, are worried that they might again be deprived of their agricultural fields and be forced to move out.

The article ends by saying that the Taliban operating inside Pakistan is different from the Taliban that is fighting in Afghanistan.

The Taliban members inside Pakistan want to bring Pakistan under a harsher Sharia rule and have already fought the government of Pakistan in the past.

Pakistan already has Federally Administered Tribal Areas that it basically can’t control or govern. That’s more than 5 million religious extremists that Pakistan fears. The last thing Pakistan needs is Afghanistan to become something similar.

Finally, there is one other thing I recently read, which helps give me great hope.

I just don’t believe people will give up their freedom in Afghanistan. Maybe they would have twenty years ago, but the people of Afghanistan have changed.

As written in the post below…

@RobertCrews22 and @Wazhmah write in @madebyhistory ","username":"PostOpinions","name":"Washington Post Opinions","date":"Sun Jul 25 22:36:04 +0000 2021","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":0,"like_count":2,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://wapo.st/36O8d30","i... | The Taliban wants to rule Afghanistan again. But the country has changed.","description":"Afghanistan has a new, more pluralistic politics and a burgeoning civil society.","domain":"wapo.st"}}">Washington Post Opinions @PostOpinionsAfghanistan has a new, more pluralistic politics and a burgeoning civil society, @RobertCrews22 and @Wazhmah write in @madebyhistory Perspective | The Taliban wants to rule Afghanistan again. But the country has changed.Afghanistan has a new, more pluralistic politics and a burgeoning civil society.wapo.st

July 25th 2021

2 Likes

Afghanistan has become:

a pluralistic civil society that values democracy, human rights and peace. Take for example the mediascape. Through new television, radio, Internet and social media platforms — as well as a burgeoning book industry — Afghans have found unprecedented avenues for political engagement and exchange. Depending on where they are in the country, Afghans can access anywhere from 30 to 100 free radio and television stations, a major change from life under the Taliban, which banned all independent media and tried to establish a monopoly for their Radio Shariah.

These outlets are a counterbalance to the government, warlords and foreign interests. They provide a vibrant public sphere hosting and nurturing important national debates about human rights, democracy, modernity and Islam. While Afghanistan remains dangerous for journalists and other media makers, this risk reflects the political importance of this new journalism. Reporters, activists and reformers have exerted considerable pressure on Afghan politicians, insisting on a kind of scrutiny to which Taliban leaders are unaccustomed. These outlets offer an opportunity to hold leaders accountable and make it much harder to stifle opposition than in the 1990s.

Further, Afghanistan has undergone a generational shift. Young Afghans born in the 1990s and early 2000s have grown up with different expectations. Thanks to exposure to this media, broader education and the promise of participatory politics, Afghan youths seek a voice in politics, even if they are not unanimous in their views on the future.

All of this has led me to go from worrying about the worst-case scenario in Afghanistan to feeling much more optimistic about it.

Afghans have seen their troops gunned down after they have surrendered. They remember how barbaric the Taliban used to be, when they forced men to keep beards, treated women like property, and executed (and dismembered) people in a soccer stadium.

It’s true that the Taliban are cutting off some of the cities, but I just don’t believe that long term, the Taliban will be as victorious as they imagine.

America doesn’t want that. Iran doesn’t want that. Pakistan doesn’t want that.

And in the end, the Afghan people don’t want that.

Okay, that’s it for this week’s good news post.

Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

Share

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe for email notifications. (It’s FREE. Unless you don’t want it to be and would like to support what I’m doing.) Every Tuesday and Friday, I write about conflicts and military matters that are happening throughout the world. Such as what’s happening in Afghanistan or Iraq. How we’re aligning ourselves to counter China’s growing influence. Updates on new military technology that we’re fielding.

I also post veteran interviews every Sunday.

And I do all of this from a moderate perspective that focuses on unity in our country. I also don’t believe in clickbait, over-the-top headlines, or other tactics to drive web traffic. You will always get the sober, mature view, with a slight bit of my optimism peering through.

Subscribe now

Feel free to leave a comment below. I love having conversations on here! (Please be kind in the comments. I’m a proud moderate, who wants to unite the country. So if you attack someone or say something out of line, I will delete your comment.)

Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s only $5 per month and you can cancel at any time. Another way to help support the channel is to share or tell a friend about it. Finally, don’t forget to check out my books. I write really fast-paced military and mystery thrillers. I’ve had thousands of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and all of my books average 4+ stars on Amazon. You can find all ten books here: amazon.com.

Veteran spotlight: Navy SEAL Matt Nasveschuk

As part of my continuing efforts to honor veterans, I recently interviewed Navy SEAL Matt Nasveschuk, who served with SEAL Team 2.

Nasveschuk served in Afghanistan, and I found his story of service (and especially his wisdom and reflections on it), so inspiring.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Where were you born? (And/or what was your hometown?)

I was born in Rutland, Vermont.

a.image2.image-link.image2-484-363 { padding-bottom: 133.31043956043956%; padding-bottom: min(133.31043956043956%, 483.9168956043956px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-484-363 img { max-width: 363px; max-height: 483.9168956043956px; } Matt Nasveschuk, with other members (faces blacked out to prevent identification).

When did you serve and where? Also rank attained. 

I joined the Navy in February 2007, where I served as a Navy SEAL and Combat medic with Team 2 in Panama and Afghanistan before separating in April 2013. 

Who was your childhood hero?

In real life, I was big into playing and watching hockey (I was a goalie), so my idols and heroes were goalies like Patrick Roy and Dominic Hasek, or players like Steve Yzerman. For movies, Jim Carrey and Mel Brooks. Marvel, Spider-man, and Wolverine. Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and Yoda, but always a fascination with Darth Vader.

What made you want to join up?

9/11 happened when I was a senior in high school. I have family from New York City and it felt like they were attacked. I wanted to do something about it, but my parents convinced me that college is a great way to get from 18 to 22 years old.

I was raised with the attitude that if we didn’t know something or wanted to learn more, then read a book. Eventually, I had read so many books about the Navy SEALs that I started thinking, “Why couldn’t I do it?” My idea was to be well trained enough and increase my team’s chances of surviving by sneaking around and whatever clandestine activities were needed.

I knew if I never tried that I would always regret it. I had to, and I was compelled to serve, and I would take it as far as I could. I’d learn about myself along the way, and see where my limitations were.

After expressing my goals to my parents toward the end of college, they encouraged me, again, to expand my knowledge base by taking a scuba diving course. Little did they know that I took it one step further to my first skydiving free fall jump (not tandem).

I was going to do it.

a.image2.image-link.image2-510-680 { padding-bottom: 75%; padding-bottom: min(75%, 510px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-510-680 img { max-width: 680px; max-height: 510px; } Matt Nasveschuk in Afghanistan, resting after a patrol.

Tell us some of the big lessons you learned from serving. 

Resourcefulness: There are so many aspects of what makes a team that even though I wouldn’t want to do any of the support’s jobs, (for the most part) they didn’t want to do our job either! And operating on a mutual respect for each other’s professional decisions made operating all the more smooth. Simply put, there were times when we needed help, and being willing to engage or be engaged in those moments forged tremendous relationships that shined while overseas.

You are not as cool as you think you are. Ego is terrible. I saw some of the best and worst kinds of people. It takes all kinds to get a job like this done, and that means a bell curve of people. I would rather not discuss the fact that humanity has a capacity for terrible things, but rather focus on the positive. I served with some of the best; some who have passed and some who continue to serve in new respects now like Mike Hayes (my Command Officer at SEAL Team 2, White House Fellow, and currently Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMWare). Or, Britt Slabinski, who I only met overseas but who would go on to be awarded the Medal of Honor). Or, one of the few surviving quadruple amputees, Travis Mills (I met him when I visited Bo Reichenbach at Walter Reed Medical Hospital, https://travismillsfoundation.org/). And there are so many others who continue to inspire, and are a little more available recently on social media like Jason Redman (who was shot in the face), or Marcus Luttrell (Lone Survivor book and movie featuring Mark Wahlburg).

Celebrate victories, but there is more work to be done.

Your career is on you. I failed myself in preparation for transition. Most everyone wants to believe they are done, and that we could coast on the thing we already did. Rude awakening after transition. 

It was a complete reinvention of what it means to be me. My first goal was to put my wife through her Physical Therapy Doctorate, where I worked anywhere from a hedge fund to a hair salon to make it happen. The mission was to be her support net so she could focus on her studies at the University of Saint Augustine, which was shoe-horning four years into two and a quarter years. 

Finally, it was my turn, and it was a long road. I went back to basics. I relearned sentence structure and grammar while writing my essays that gained me a conditional acceptance at Saint Leo University’s Master of Business Administration program. Later, I graduated with two master’s degrees, the other being in Accounting.

The degrees landed me an entry-level job at a global firm, where I have done well. I found my niche in the digital space, which is not what I was trained for in school and had little experience. But, this is where the battle was going and where I could provide real value. And now with two boys, life is amazing and filled with purpose.

If I could do it over again, I would have been trying to build for that job I wanted because we only leave service in a few ways; on our own terms, NOT on our own terms, or we are dead.

a.image2.image-link.image2-1600-992 { padding-bottom: 161.29032258064515%; padding-bottom: min(161.29032258064515%, 1600px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-1600-992 img { max-width: 992px; max-height: 1600px; } Matt Nasveschuk with Bo Reichenbach.

What was your most harrowing experience, that you’re willing to share? (This can be a training event, as I think most civilians aren’t aware of how dangerous even peacetime service can be.)

We were a fighting force, and I’m happy to say we were the first team in 10 years to bring home everyone alive. Commander Mike Hayes received a Bronze Star for this feat shortly after we returned home. But, our time was not without hardship.

I was rear security and about 25 feet behind two friends in my five-man element, when the man in the three spot around the corner stepped on an improvised explosive device (approximated at 20 pounds).

Though I couldn’t see the man at the moment the explosion went off, the fourth was hit as the debris lifted, hitting him in the chest and face.

Suddenly, I had two patients.

We rolled out differently that one time as we headed to our hold-up for the night. The three-man was in my spot.

Both men survived. Bo Reichenbach lost both of his legs above the knee and later went on to play in the Paralympics in Seoul, Korea as an Ice Hockey Goalie and took Silver. His son, Landon, and wife, Lacy, helped rebuild him. Landon was enamored with his “Ironman Legs.” Bo Reichenbach is now the Vice President of a non-profit called Warriors Choice Foundation, which provides holistic medicine to combat veterans. This includes service dogs, among other physiological and psychological support avenues.

Chris S. survived with a detached retina in his left eye and in his right eye, he can see about 20/30. While he didn’t have a wife at the time, he eventually met and married his wife, and now they have two kids. Chris went back to school and found his way into medical school and will soon be on clinical rotations before being placed in residency as he pursues being an Emergency Room Doctor.

This story, and many others, is lightly discussed in Mike Hayes's book called “Never Enough,” where all profits go towards paying mortgages for “Gold Star Families,” which is to say the surviving families who lost someone in the war.

What do you wish those who have never served better understood?

Approach a veteran with an authentic and vulnerable thanks. And if they are willing to tell their story, let them. Personally, I struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the only thing that has worked has been telling my story. Not pills. Not counseling. And when that story is told, it is not for sympathy. It is for perspective.

What does that even mean?! It means suddenly my nephew is an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Tech. It means I’ve coached two friends into the Navy SEALs after they heard the story and steeled themselves about their potential future. It means a friend of mine recommitted and went back to school, finished his masters, and is now working on his Doctorate of Organizational Management.

The choice of how you want to be has always been yours. Then, acting on your decisions means the power is yours to move the world forward. More often than not, it is for other people that gives sharing our stories purpose.

a.image2.image-link.image2-673-1456 { padding-bottom: 46.222527472527474%; padding-bottom: min(46.222527472527474%, 673px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-673-1456 img { max-width: 1456px; max-height: 673px; } It’s important to tell our stories. People change after hearing them. My nephew joined the Air Force and later invited me to pin him as he graduated Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal School.

Are there any service members that you know, or served with, that you’d like to honor their sacrifice by naming?

Kevin Ebbert was part of the incoming team when we were leaving. He was the medic that took my room, and just before Thanksgiving in 2012 he was shot and killed. There were another handful of people that passed after we left, and it culminated in the Commanding Officer of that relieving team committing suicide. 

There is a tremendous capacity for compassion and empathy to be learned from war fighters, because the purpose is not about war, it’s about the guy next to us, it’s about the families back home, and the lengths one will go to protect our loved ones.

What piece of foreign or domestic policy frustrates you to no end? 

I’m not going to engage here. 

Tell me the most heroic thing you ever saw, if you can.

There are so many stories. As a medic, while I had my opportunities to get involved, my role had me placed strategically that I could move flexibly between different segments. 

Rockets. Mortars. Small arms gun fire. Sniper fire. I walked among giants. Everyone would downplay their experience because we all know that it was part of the job. It was what we signed up for. 

One of the first times getting shot at was by a sniper. Confused for the briefest moment, we tucked behind micro-terrain until we had to make a mad dash to the next area. My teammate turns to me and yells, “DANGER ZONE” as if from the TV show “Archer,” then runs across the opening. 

You can freeze and fail, or act and have a chance. 

We were clearing a small house. And our partner force says, “There is a hole right here.” And jumps up and down. I jumped out of the way, best I could, and nothing happened. The partner force laughing at me for what may have looked comical. I stood up and started yelling for them to get out of there. I brought in our EOD Tech, Mike Charlie, and we ended up pulling out about seventy-five pounds of explosives between mortars, an explosive radio, and an anti-tank shape charge that our partner force was fortunate enough to not have set off. 

Some days, I sit and wonder just how in the heck we survived. 

This is why Memorial Day and Veterans Day are so heavy. They remind us of our existential crisis as we question our continued purpose and why we are here and other good people are not. 

At the end of it all. We want our friends and family to live their most fulfilling lives. Celebrate how you will and how you see fit. America is great because we have the choice to do better, to give more, and live our dreams.

Share with us a story of a leader who inspired you while you served. 

Mike Hayes. He’s still my hero. I read his book and had an emotional response to it all because it was a clearer picture of the leadership battles on our behalf, which I would never have heard otherwise. And specifically, the locals celebrated the transition between Mike leaving and the incoming Commander. The celebration was lost among the internal turmoil of my injured brothers and the process of leaving. 

However, Mike Hayes is one of many inspirational leaders, and sharing their stories is a chance for their teammates’ legacy to live on and to have a voice.

What do you wish for the country?

We all want the same thing; to live happy and free. Calm breeds calm. Hate breeds hate. Going overseas and seeing it for myself that the locals (i.e., not bad guys) all want the same thing as us, and we’re only just ahead of where they are. We all have more in common than we think.

Choose wisely. We have two ears and one mouth. We should listen more than we speak.

Any closing thoughts or anything you’d like to add?

Nothing good comes from hate. You are capable of amazing feats. And the past does not define who you are, but the choices and actions you take can make all the difference in the world. And sometimes, all it takes is making the choice to be there for someone. In my case, my brothers are alive and their kids have their dads. My wife has her Physical Therapy Doctorate. My nephew has a career. Life is what you make it. So, to quote Mike Hayes, “Make it great.” 

Thank you for reading, taking the time, and thanks to Stan Mitchell for the opportunity.

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I wanted to thank Matt Nasveschuk for sharing his story. Please share this post if you enjoyed it.

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Semper Fidelis,

Stan R. Mitchell

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