Battle for Marjah

While most people today are enjoying the holiday, even if they cant tell you who its for ( Its for Washington, established in 1880 by an act of Congress honoring Washington, and later in Uniform Holidays Bill of 1968 to establish on the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday celebration- Presidents Day was the name widely used from 1980's on at the urging of advertisers), I find myself wonder where a family member is that I have not heard from since New Years. He was assigned to Fort Bragg, and unlike his last assignment where his family went with him, this time he travelled alone. Based on his specialty in the Army, my honey (a Nam era vet) suspects he either went to Haiti on an assistance mission, or more likely given his last two assignments, he is in Afghanistan doing something there...we spoke during the holidays and he mentioned he had recently been to the Presidio of Monterey, where he "brushed up his arabic and another language"...all seems kind of cloak and dagger to me, but honey says its operational security(?)...

So today I wonder where he is and hope he and all with him are OK...then I read this pop up on the news feed..

"The main attack began before dawn Saturday when dozens of helicopters dropped hundreds of Marines and Afghan soldiers into the heart of the city. Ground troops began moving just before sunrise, using makeshift bridges to cross the irrigation canals ringing the town because the main bridge was so heavily mined.

Although there was only scattered resistance on the first day, Taliban fighters seem to have regrouped, using hit-and-run tactics to try to prevent the Americans and their Afghan allies from gaining full control of the area.

The Taliban snipers appeared highly skilled at concealing themselves.

"I haven't seen anything, not one person, not a muzzle flash," said Richard Knie, of Hudson, Iowa, a former Marine and retired police officer embedded with the Marines as a law enforcement professional. "And I've been looking a lot."

Troops complained that strict rules to protect civilians made it difficult to use enough firepower to stop the attacks.

"I understand the reason behind it, but it's so hard to fight a war like this," said Lance Corp. Travis Anderson, 20, from Altoona, Iowa. "They're using our rules of engagement against us," he said, adding that his platoon had repeatedly seen men dropping their guns into ditches before walking away to melt among civilians. "

Typical, our foe using our rules against us... today's latest video (Graphic language)

 

 

And more video (from CNN)