Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Still Losing? Yup.
Sorry for the long absence. I found a temporary gig doing contracting work at local biotech and it has really eaten into my screw around at the computer time. And the kids, so demanding.
But anyway, I'm going to attempt to redo a post that I wrote the other day right before it got eaten by Blogger.
This post is the latest in my recurring post theme: are we still losing in Iraq?. Previous episodes included a lovely post on a tank named "New Testament" driving down a road in Iraq and another about a clerk who was serving in a Provisional Rifle Company. I get these pictures from the USMC Image Archive. This website features pictures taken by regular everyday Marines that are then posted on an official usmc.mil page. So it's a strange combination of mundane and right up there in the middle of the action pictures. Today's picture is this:
Caption:But, internets, I can hear you asking, "Why does this mean we're losing, Hank?" It's quite simple really. The AAV (Amphibious Assault Vehicle) is what the Marines use to get infantry from ships out at sea onto beaches when it's time to do the D-Day thing. After the Marines secure the beach the idea is that other forces more set up for continuous campaigning on land will take over and continue with the ass whipping of the bad guys. So, an AAV is not designed to drive around on dry land for long periods of time. What we're doing in Iraq right now is destroying the ability of the Marines to do their primary job (to the point where their swimming armored vehicles have to be stripped down to bare hulls and entirely rebuilt) by having them fight a pointless war.
Lisa White works on rebuilding an AAV on the assembly line at MCA. Hundreds of the Marine Corps’ most valuable vehicle are getting rebuilt to extend their life cycles.
Photo by: Pat Fisher
To reiterate Hank's Query: How many Iraqis do we have to kill before the survivors will be our friends?
Still Losing? Yup.
