Mhaze, you and I are never going to reconcile are differences so I think it is pointless twoing and froing with this.

I do however agree with your final post, another lost war to the US!
Galen

I would have to disagree with you there, mhaze. Like I said previously, Afghanistan was and still is the greatest training ground for allied soldiers there has been in the last twenty years. The allies have had the opportunity to try out a whole new range of weapons and re-examine old ones. it looks like the British Army is finally going to do away with their beloved Land Rovers as these vehicles were very prone to lethal land mine attacks. The British are now trialing mine protected light vehicles.

If you would love to read a smashing book on the fighting in Afghanistan then I would recommend Firestrike 7-9 Sgt Paul Graham. Sgt Graham is a JTAC (a guy who targets enemy positions for attack by attack aircraft) and he was responsible for calling in strikes that killed over 200 Taliban with only one mortal casualty inflicted on the British. His victims included a two top Taliban commanders and a mullah with his entire bodyguard. Great book. My own copy was loaned to a RAN naval officer and it did the rounds of the Officers Mess at Garden Island.

You will be astounded at how accurate and lethal the weapons of the Allied armies are. I almost felt sorry for the Taliban who are providing a real service by providing our troops with great moving targets.

Poor young Galen obviously has never read a history book in his life as his opinions are completely bizarre.; He must get his "facts" from the Green Left Weekly.

Oh, and by the way, Galen. Afghanistan is not the graveyard of armies. You are simply mouthing a slogan you heard somewhere which has no basis in fact. A bit like your opinions in general. Afghanistan was conquered by Alexander the Great, then by the Muslims who completely destroyed the Buddhist civilisation and occupied the place for themselves. Then along came Genghis Khan who simply exterminated everybody he could find and almost completely depopulated the place. Try picking up a book and expanding your vestigial brain.

Hey Lego,
Having spent well over a decade in the military in a branch I cannot mention due to the nature of its sensitive activities I can only rely on my first hand knowledge and the information I have seen with my own two eyes.

Unlike you, I am not getting my insights from some wannabe has been soldier who probably embellished his book with over exaggerated memories needed to secure his book deal.

Believe what you want, Afghanistan was, is, and will remain a shameful episode in our military history. Future truthful historians will write the truth, and testing weapons won’t rate highly among our achievements.
Galen

Hi Galen.

Of course you don't want to read any book which contradicts your prejudices and fashionable views. But my advice to you, is that if you want to be taken seriously, then stop banging on about your conspiracy theory that 9/11 was somehow a US plot (or was it the joos, they are the usual suspects?) Otherwise, nobody who's brain has not been damaged by the debilitating effects of going to university and studying for an Artz degree will take you seriously.

Your historical take is so preposterous that one can only wonder by what means your civilisations enemies managed to impart such nonsense into your overly receptive brain? Like the Hitler Youth and the Comsomol, Your PC indoctrination must have started in kindergarten. So, I can only conclude that you began your early, formative years in the People's Republic of Victoria?

As for being in a sensitive part of the military, I can only conclude that you must have been a part of Defence Acquisitions, the same branch of insipid, world class idiots who gave Australia the Tiger attack helicopter, the Seasprite, the 12 obsolete diesel electric French submarines which are nearly twice as expensive as US Virginia class SSN's, the FA-18, which became significantly more expensive than the incomparable F-15, FFG7 frigates with no CIWS. The same idiots who advised former PM Bob Hawke to scrap the sale of the HMS Invincible to Australia on the grounds that aircraft carriers were supposedly obsolete, who were responsible for the situation where the Australian Army, who for the last 70 years has done nearly all the fighting and dying, is the service at the bottom of the financial lifeline which sees most defence money going to the Air Force and RAN. The list of their incompetence is just too much for a 350 word post.

You aren't an ethnic Chinese, by any chance, are you? If so, your touching loyalty to your former homeland would account for your extraordinary worldview and the peculiar behaviour of Defence Acquisitions, who must be entirely staffed by Chinese or Muslims.

cannot mention due to the nature of its sensitive activities I
Galen,
cannot mention because it would unearth the incompetence & hypocrisy that prolongs the careers of high rankers ?

Lego, individual, wrong on all counts.

I’ll say this, not ethnic Chinese, not from Victoria, no lefty leaning whatsoever and extremely well read in military history, tactics etc.

Additionally I’ll only mention my employment this last time and keep it vague, vis special forces, specialist communications and intel, that’s all you get.

No 9/11 conspiracy Lego just the science. Explain nanothermite residue, a then ‘military only’ available material. You can’t deny this because it’s documented and it’s residence in the debris of both buildings 1 & 2 show the entire US govt and NIST reports are wrong and glaringly wrong. Look at the science.

Try again without the personal attacks, it cheapens your credibility.
Galen