Sick of this war!

Today I read an article that breaks my heart. Found on CNN.com, 'It's gonna be a bloodbath' sort of brings light to the reason I chose not to enlist in the armed services.

Let me break here to say that I support our troops. Not the reason they are there mind you, but I support the hell out of the brave men and women fighting for our country. This topic is usually a hot button issue and I don't mean to touch off a debate over the merits of our political agenda in the Middle East, but it really grinds me that we are still there.

Each of our young men and women who have signed up for duty did so of free will (undue influence of pushy recruiters, miserable home conditions and family disputes aside). To a certain extent you cannot say they were 'victims' or walked into this blindly. To a certain extent.

Having said that, I just don't understand why our military continues to repeat the same mistakes. This example comes from Afghanistan...Where you say? Afghanistan...you remember, the place we landed first all those years ago to rid the world of terrorism and spread democracy, irregardless of whether it was wanted or not. We were supposed to have won victory and crushed the Taliban into oblivion just before we left for big oil in Iraq (I'm sorry, that is why we went there, plain and simple).

Now we have reports that on July 13th, a handful of America's finest were 'scouting' for a remote outpost in what they described as the 'most dangerous part of the world'. Needless to say, the outnumbered brave soldiers were overrun by a group of Taliban numbering in the hundreds. It was the highest US military fatality rate in three years.

Why are we playing cat and mouse games with an enemy that has continuously proven a desire to bring the fight to us anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances?All of the political stuff aside, what makes this worse is among the dead are several soldiers who were in the last days of a 15 month tour of duty. Tell me how it makes any sense that these people, who were about to rejoin their families, were sent out in what even the soldiers new was a bad situation?

I have read my share of gut wrenching tales about young men and women dying without ever meeting their newborn children, or leaving behind young spouses and other beloved family members. This one makes no sense because these soldiers were in an area that was clearly not secured. They weren't hit by a roadside bomb, or an RPG. They were attacked by a group of people who have nowhere near the level of sophistication and technology that we are supposed to have.

Either we occupy an area and clear it of all threats using superior technology and numbers, or we move on. What is with the 'outpost' thing? I am so sick of hearing us declare victory over an enemy only to be smacked in the face a couple short years later.

My heart goes out to the family of our fallen soldiers. I hope they all come home soon. God bless.