The war in Afghanistan seems to be the focus of our military right now. Historically, this is a war that generally seems to calm down a bit during the winter and start up again in the spring. This is due at least in part to the unforgiving climate of that country.
My best source of information on Afghanistan is Michael Yon. As I have explained before, Michael is a former Green Beret, native of Winter Haven, Fl. who has been reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2004. No other reporter has spent as much time with combat troops in these two wars. Michael's dispatches from the frontlines have earned him the reputation as the premier independent combat journalist of his generation. His work has been featured on "Good Morning America," The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, ABC, FOX, as well as hundreds of other major media outlets all around the world.
The current entry at Michael's blog is entitled Special Delivery. It is the story of the role of the United States Air Force in supplying the American troops spread across Afghanistan. Please follow the link to the article--the pictures of the airplanes and the Americans involved in the mission are fantastic.
Michael embeds with the troops and travels with them whenever possible. This is an example of his adventures:
"The small pieces of glass in front of each pilot are called "HUDs", or Heads Up Displays. Pilots say the HUDs are great because they can keep their eyes out the windows while still seeing critical information without looking down at the instrument panel. Notice through the left HUD, a fighter jet is roaring down the runway. (Just after the dogs left.) My quarters on KAF are straight ahead past the far side of the runway, so it's pretty loud here day and night. Helicopters, C-130s, jets of all sorts. The enemy has been firing more rockets onto the base, causing some casualties, but to my knowledge have destroyed no aircraft. Years ago, the Mujahidin more or less ran the Soviet Air Force out of Kandahar with their rocket attacks. The "Muj" once shot down a Soviet general, captured him, but killed him before they realized they had a general. Today, the enemy shoots at lot with SAFIRE (Surface to Air Fire) at aircraft and sometimes sparkle the pilots with lasers. If there is a surface to air missile threat, it's not presented itself."
Thank you, Mr. Yon, for your insight into what is going on in that part of the world.
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