The war, with its carnage and madness, continues.
Since according to the polls the voters seem to have largely forgotten about foreign policy in general, and Shrubama's war in Afghaninam in particular, I didn't want us to do so, because pressure needs to e brought continually to bear on the Administration and Congress to bring our troops home. Now.
I didn't see it diaried, so I wanted to make sure this story—in words and photos—in yesterday's WaPo, received my fellow Kossacks' attention.
The story by embedded photog Brennan Linsley, is titled Medevac Teams Save Lives in Southern Afghanistan, and it gives us a glimpse into the work the men and women of our Medevac units do to serve the "boots on the ground" in Helmand Province.
And not just them, but anyone else who needs help, apparently:
At least 1,310 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died since the Afghan war started, and at least 8,530 have been wounded. But the toll would be even higher if not for the medevac teams that swoop in to rescue the wounded and deliver them to relative safety.
Medevac teams work at about 20 locations in Afghanistan, where they serve as a net of sorts for soldiers and Marines caught in a high-wire act every day. The medics save everybody - U.S. soldiers and Marines, Afghan civilians, even Taliban fighters. The Helmand-based medevac team I traveled with - Charlie Company, from the 6th Battalion and 101st Aviation Regiment, known as Shadow Dustoff - is among the busiest in Afghanistan. Since the team arrived this spring, they have gone on more than 2,000 missions and have evacuated more than 2,500 patients.
While reading this, I thought of the excellent work on the IGTNT diaries done here on DKos, and how Medevac personnel were probably the last human contact many of the men and women remembered there ever had.
The hollow feeling in my chest has yet to go.
It wasn't hard for this to be personal: My son deploys in 2011, and my daughter in 2012. Many of their friends are already there, and we hear from them regularly.
They call it "Shitcanistan."
Like every other parent we know with a child in the armed forces, we're hoping and praying for the best, but reading of how personally and emotionally these medics and their crews take caring for so many wounded touched me profoundly that even in the worst case, someone is often there with a hand to hold, a face to look into, and a reassuring word.
I hope it moves you as it did me, and it moves us all to continue to agitate for the soon return of every one of these soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines, and Coast guardsmen.