Declaring defeat

I can't just let this go by so I'm reverting to politics for a post. Hey, it's my blog.

I watched Obama's speech at West Point last night. What I saw was the president declaring defeat. We are going to send 30k more troops starting in 2010, and then we are starting to pull out in 2011. WTF?

So the message is: you've got a year to win it, then we're going home. He said we would take into account conditions on the ground, well if so, why put a date on it? What I think this really does is give Obama cover for quitting. I think he would have us leave now if he could. What he can do now is say "I gave the military everything they wanted, but they failed. So we're pulling our troops out." He saves face, the military gets the blame.

Everyone will take that date into account. When an Afghan considers joining the Afghan army, he has to consider that the Americans have already said they are leaving in less than two years. And how realistic is it that the Afghans will be ready to fight the Taliban on their own? Pakistan will take that date into account when they are deciding how to deal with Al Qaeda in their country.

The absolute best we can hope for at this point is that the bad guys will just lie low for a year and wait for us to leave before they rush back in to take over. Why fight when you just have to wait less than two years and your enemy will leave?
But we know they will fight. Soldiers and Marines will die and it will be for nothing because we've already decided when the war ends.

They can put any spin on the decision that they want, and I'm sure they will over the next few days. What I'd like to know is what I'm supposed to say to one of my Soldiers when they stand if front of me and ask: "What's the point?" (Actually that's the question I'd like to get an answer to myself.) This makes my job a lot harder.

Quitting is quitting, it doesn't matter how long you hang on for if you are just going to quit. If you're going to quit, quit early.

I've got to stop talking to people

I'm an impatient bastard. I know this about myself. And it's getting worse. This is pretty common for me around deployments. It's happened pretty much every time I've gone on a hardship tour or on a war deployment.

I get irritated easily, especially by people who are not deploying. That mostly means civilians. Sorry. It's not the civilians fault, I know that and I try very hard not to let people know that I'm irritated. But I know sometimes it comes across.

I've talked to my wife and she says she sometimes feels the same way. (She's also a Soldier for those tuning in late.) My son has also said the same thing. So I guess it's not that uncommon.

I suppose I'm posting this as a way of saying, if you know someone who is deploying soon, cut them some slack. You may think they are mad at you, and they may just be on edge.