Uncle Walt showed up

Posted by Autie September 10, 2009 at 8:16 p.m.

My Daddy celebrated his 85th birthday this last weekend. We were all there for the most part. I gots a couple of siblings that couldn't be there because of distance and life. But the coolest thing was that my cousin Mark brought our Uncle Walt down. Walt has been in a nursing home up in McPherson for a long time now. He is 83. After Daddy had his scotch and Walt had his Old Crow in sufficient amounts, the conversation went off to the surreal. Probably ought to give a little background.

Daddy was in the medical corp in WWII. He didn't have no real war stories other than being able to speak French to get the boys more wine and some of them oh la la French girls. He even has some of those battle ribbons he didn't even know what he did. The one I found out later was for the battle of the Rhine. Heck, Daddy was in Paris having the time of his life. But Walt was different. He didn't go to WWII. He was just getting out of high school and had his mom to take care of. But then a few years later we got in that Korea thing and Uncle Walt had to go sign up. He weren't in no medical corp. He was in a front line combat command. He got shot twice and says he killed too many of them Chinese boys and them Koreans too. He showed us a couple of medals once when we was kids. Had him two silver stars. He said he didn't never reckon how he got no medal cause all he did was his job to keep himself from getting killed off by them other boys. So that is the background for this here story.

So now we all sit around at my Daddy's house celebrating his birthday. There was some drinking going on. We all had a nice supper and such. So there we are. And the conversation turns to politics and that Obama health care plan. Daddy (a retired doctor) starts in bitching about how insurance companies are ripping us all off and such. That is standard fair at his house. And somehow my sister gets them off to talking about the war in Iraq and Bush and stuff and sometimes that ain't good in my family. These two old men start in with their one ups-man-ship. Daddy said he voted for Bush the first time. Then he screwed it all up with that 9/11 response. But he knew that Iraq was all about the oil and world economy so that might be alright except he wouldn't vote for him again. Uncle Walt agreed and told us we just had to kill them people that was out to make things bad. This nonsense went on for a half hour or so with all kinds of comments..but then, out of the blue, my Uncle Walt leaned forward in his chair (almost spilling out, there was Old Crow involved) and made a most profound announcement. He says, and I quote best I can, "But why in the blue hell are we in Afganistan? Them Brits couldn't figure it out. Them Pakis or Indias couln't figure it out. And them goll dang Russkies got their butts kicked. Plus, (and he said plus about four times) them boys ain't got no oil! All they do is grow them poppies."

Now you got to understand that my Daddy is a pretty smart man. And Uncle Walt, although he didn't go to college was pretty sharp himself. We all leaned back in our chairs and scratched our heads. Then I ask myself, if two old men in their 80's, who are pretty goll dang sharp, make this question.....And he did go on to say that we ain't never, never, ever gonna stomp out them taliban terrorist types, why do we waste the money? Then Uncle Walt, bless his old heart, leaned towards me and said, "You know boy, if they would take the money they spent of one...ONE ...of them cruising missles, and give it you, you could send that kid on through that college and law school and my bet is that would be much better money spent. And the world would be better for it. She won't be up for killin no kids someplace else." Some of my cousins may be crazy but old Uncle Walt and Daddy have a huge wealth of wisdom.

So now I"m thinking. Why are we in Afganistan killing people? To what end? History shows us we are fighting a losing battle. Even if we do "win" it is back to square one a month later. Daddy and Uncle Walt both know it is a farce. I know it is a farce. Why do we continue to pursue no win situations?

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autie (anonymous) says…

I really need to hear some logical answer to the question. Now I know there are a bunch of you that can explain this to me in concise terms with perfectly clear logic. Old men are pretty smart.
September 10, 2009 at 8:28 p.m.
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…

It is not only the Americans fighting in Afghanistan, the Brits are there also, but we never hear about them.
The topography of Afghanistan makes it very friendly to the home team who knows every nook and cranny.
Most of terrorism is funded by the sale of drugs from those poppies.
By the by, does anyone remember when vets would sell paper poppies on the street? I can't remember what it was for.
September 11, 2009 at 10:32 a.m.
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…

http://www.classbrain.com/artholiday/...
September 11, 2009 at 10:49 a.m.
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) says…

I posted this the other day on another thread concerning our exit strategy towards A-stan;

*********************************************************************

Afghanistan is not a hopeless mission. Reconciliation is possible. Karzai is pushing reconciliation, and isaf/usfor-a's COIN operations have to support this. On Friday, Gen McChrystal said that 60% of the Taliban are open to reintegration, which collaborates other reporting that I have seen. This the only course of action that will solve the problem… everyone realizes that the problem will not go away. The solution is to find a way to bring everyone into to fold, then get rid of those left who refuse. When the government takes control of the whole country and they have a standing military then we can take the training wheels off and let them go. But until then we have to take a “We broke it, we buy it” stance. Plus we pretty much ignored Afghanistan from late '02 to mid '09 when we diverted our attention elsewhere. We'll have a lot of catching up to do to make up for our distraction.

ISAF = International Security Assistance Force; consists of 42 nations and roughly 62,000 troops in Afghanistan providing security and stability operations as well as mentoring/training/supplying the fledgling Afghanistan National Army. It is commanded by US Army General McChrystal.

usfor-a = us Forces Afghanistan

COIN = Counter Insurgency
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You need to remember the old regime in Afghanistan welcomed Al Qaeda into their country with open arms. They allowed Al Qaeda to build training camps for terrorist activites.

Al Qaeda is blamed for the Khobar Tower bombings killing 19 airmen in 1996; attacks on U.S. troops in Mogadishu in 1993; the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya; the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen; the 1996 World Trade Center bombing; the 2001 hijacking of four airlines which we all know the results of 9/11.

Now you tell me why are we fighting Al Qaeda and the taliban in Afghanistan? Unless you deem the above acts as acceptable then I think you know the answer to the question.
September 11, 2009 at 1:34 p.m.
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…

"Why do we continue to pursue no win situations? "

In an attempt to save face.
September 11, 2009 at 1:48 p.m.
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…

Thank you Roe.
September 11, 2009 at 4:47 p.m.