Restrepo...

I'm waiting for this to be checked back in at Hastings and then I will rent it.

Hunting and Helping...

General Larry Nicholson described his work in Afghanistan as: 10% Hunting and 90% Helping. Can any of you soldiers affirm or add insight or commentary to that assessment?

How Baseball Helped Children and Saved Lives in Afghanistan

I've been looking for ways to highlight the positive work our Troops are doing to support the humanitarian goals related to rebuilding Afghanistan. Spirit Of America is an organization doing just that in cooperation with the US Military. Here is an article describing one project in a village related to starting a 'Baseball game". You can watch a video of the founder talking about the org: here

I have mixed feelings about seeing a solider with a gun and soccer ball...but I also know men who would be the kind of people deeply motivated to heal more than hurt that are in the military, so I see this as a chance to show that to the people of Afghanistan.

The Big (Military) Taboo...

"The U.S. military now has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has in its foreign service" -NY Times Article

Change...???

President Obama, a Democrat who symbolized new directions, requested about 6 percent more for the military this year than at the peak of the Bush administration.

An in-depth look at the war in Iraq and Afghanistan

Nir Rosen on "Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World". The book looks like a must read and this interview, though dense in subject matter, is extremely helpful in understanding the complex issues that underly Iraq and Afghanistan and their many and different cultural challenges. In the era of media soundbites about such massive issues, I found the mentally challenging subject matter a needed discipline in doing the work of understanding the wars. I know for many there is a war-fatigue and we would rather just change the channel. I too wrestle with that temptation. But as in the interview, when you have friends and family that might have their 'numbers erased from your phone' it's still important to keep the wars in the front and not the very back of the American cultures consciousness.