A French Soldier’s View of US Soldiers in Afghanistan

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They have a terribly strong American accent – from our point of view the language they speak is not even English. How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever State they are from, no two accents are alike and they even admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other. Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine- they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them – we are wimps, even the strongest of us – and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.

And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark – only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered – everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.Here we discover America as it is often depicted: their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley.

And combat? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay. That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later – which cuts any pussyfooting short.Honor, motherland – everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention….

Despite what the Obama administration forces on them, let’s all make a resolution to support our troops, both on a personal level and with our letters and emails to congress to stop Obama’s disdainful politicization and undermining of our military.

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Humbling comments from an allied soldier.

This description of an American soldier – from all walks of life in our country – is the essecnce of what makes America great. It is not the fault of the soldier, but of the politician (especially the leftist version) that our foreign policy is a shambles.

Now compare this iconic image of the US soldier to the pathetic leftist worms chanting for dead police officers as they try to start a chaotic race war as a prelude to collectivist revolution.

They are humbling words. When I was in, the other guys were the best to be around and work with. And, you know they always had your back. Fortunately, I also had some good senior NCO’s and CO’s to serve with.

@David:

Dave,

I started out as an infantry private, originally just to earn money for college. The guys I worked with were from all over the country, all races. Everyoe worked together, teased each other and got the job done. When I was commissioned as an LT and went cavalry, I had a great group of guys in my platoon as we went to Desert Storm. Then I went to medical school, and was so proud of the medics who worked with me in Iraq and Afghanistan taking care of US troops, allied soldiers, and local civilians. As a group, we remained true to the ideals of America, no matter the mission.

All too often, the leftists go out of their way to insult and belittle our soldiers, so seeing these grateful words from an allied soldier describing the American warrior in so appreciative a manner eases the frustration of watching leftists work so pathetically to tear down our military and the ethos by which it lives.