Guardsman would rather face Taliban than U.S. economy

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Mc

DELARAM, Afghanistan — Around the barren military base, which sits at the crossroads of the Taliban's poppy trade route, news arrives slowly. A single issue of the U.S. military's newspaper arrives by airlift about every two weeks. While on patrol in remote villages, Afghans sometime shout at the Marines in Russian to go away, unaware that the troops are promoting democracy. Most Marines here said that they didn't know about President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks, including his decision to keep Robert Gates as their secretary of defense.

However, the domestic economic meltdown has reached even here. The National Guardsmen who serve with the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Corps Regiment, based here, say they fear that their jobs won't be there when they return.

With uncertainty at home, some are doing what they once considered unthinkable: extending their tours. They say that they'd rather tackle a resurging Taliban than a struggling economy.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/59087.html

[jwirr]

1. And that is just exactly what the war machine wants. Volunteer bodies.

[texanshatingbush]

2. Jeez, this is pretty much what the Russians in Afghanistan did.

I well remember reading an article in the New York Review of Books, years and years ago, about how life back in Moscow was so bad that the troops did not want to go back home, but preferred the (relatively) easier living in Afghanistan. And that war pretty much bankrupted the USSR.

I used this story as a "mark my words" kind of statement when we went into Afghanistan back when.

Are we bankrupted yet?