Have been out with British forces in the area of Sangin in northern Helmand Province.  This area appears to be turning into the main effort of the current fight in Afghanistan, but this is unclear to me at the moment.  I do know that air assets are heavy.  During our mission yesterday, a B-1 could be seen overhead, though it was miles high.  On the ground, this place is loaded with IEDs and there were many firefights during yesterday’s mission.   My section of eight soldiers did not fire a single round; we did not come into direct contact, though bullets sometimes zipped overhead.  Nearly all missions are conducted on foot and the soldiers like it that way.  I am with the British battalion called 2 Rifles.  The last mission I did with 2 Rifles was in Iraq, and they killed maybe 26-27 JAM members during that fight.  Yesterday they only killed two Taliban (Predator actually made the shot), but the mission was well run, and morale here is very high.  Everybody is ready to roll again and missions are near continuous.  I’ll ask British commanders to let me stay, though that might not be necessary because there are so few helicopters.  More likely I am stuck here.  FOB Jackson is probably going to be my Hotel California, but that’s all good because these are great soldiers, in the thick of it, and I want to stay.

More broadly speaking, our forces are spread to the high winds across desolate stretches of Afghanistan, sometimes in tiny “bases” with as few as a half-dozen soldiers.  Last December, I spent some time with a group of such soldiers in Zabul Province, but hardly wrote a word about them, yet. They were deep in wild country and it took two days for us to drive out to a paved road.  Those soldiers had no access to Internet, and said that on one occasion they didn’t even get mail for three months.

Until December, I used a satellite antenna called a “Regional BGAN” (R-BGAN) HNS-9101 to transmit dispatches from remote areas.  These small, portable systems are expensive; during a fifteen-day period last year, I spent almost exactly $5,000.  (Prices based on bandwidth usage.)

During late 2008, when I saw the group of a half-dozen American soldiers, out there in the boondocks, two days from a road and once going three months without mail, I told Mrs. Frankie Mayo, who runs Operation AC.  Frankie and Operation AC had sent loads of gear to Iraq, including air conditioners and generators.  When I told Frankie about the isolated soldiers, she got to work with Hughes to send R-BGANs to Afghanistan.

Lucky for me, with the old R-BGAN no longer usable, Hughes, through Frankie, shipped a newer model, the Hughes 9201 BGAN Inmarsat Terminal.  Many of this year’s dispatches will come through the 9201.

Without such a terminal, large numbers of Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors will be without regular communications for much or most of their time in Afghanistan.  The infrastructure is Spartan to non-existent.  Life here is tougher than it was in Iraq, and the fighting will be tougher still.  Yes, there are the gigantic bases-as in Iraq-where everything is available, but little of the war is being fought from the larger bases.

Extended battlefield journalism from Afghanistan is relatively non-existent.  Broadly speaking, folks at home will not know how their loved ones are doing unless they can communicate directly.  To learn more about the effort to send satellite communications gear to troops downrange, please see Operation AC.

I cannot operate in the war without your support.  If support does not substantially increase, I will be forced to abandon war reporting in September.  There has seldom been much interest in the Afghanistan war.   True interest has been starkly reflected in the support for this mission.   Each journey into Afghanistan, since 2006, has bled out resources from my operations.  Reporting from Afghanistan is not sustainable at this rate.Nevertheless, I continue to crack on: Please consider signing up for free Twitter updates at Michael_Yon (not Michael Yon), for the most timely snippets possible.

 

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I believe that the average person in America, and I include myself in that number, has become complacent about the liberties with which we are provided. Most of us don’t vote. Most of us don’t pay much attention to what the government is doing. Most of us don’t care that little by little, freedoms won and protected by the blood of our young man and women, are being whittled away. Smoking is banned, but hey, most of us don’t smoke. They kicked an old lady out of her house, but we all got a great new shopping mall. The government decides that AIG or GM is too big to fail but that’s OK because my insurance or my uncle’s pension was saved. Each time one of our freedoms is chipped away it is an insult to those who have laid down their lives protecting them.   

Over the years I have done a number of shows at military bases — officers clubs, NCO clubs, for the enlisted guys. I’ve done shows for a few dozen Marines at Camp Pendleton and a few thousand Airmen at Randolph. At all of those shows I have never been heckled. In every visit to a base I have always been treated with the utmost respect. Every man and woman I met called me “Sir.”  The men and women in our military service live in a culture of respect, honor and order. Stories like Abu Ghraib and other war crimes are news because among our military folks they are the rare exception and not the rule. So, if you see a man or woman in uniform on the street or at the airport say “thank you.” If you have the time, buy them a soda or a coffee. The best part is that you’ll feel great and get a bigger thank you than you gave in return.

Thank God for America’s Armed Forces and Her courageous men and women in uniform who selflessly stand for us “between our beloved home and the desolation of war.”

Such brave and heroic souls, with their families’ steadfast love of country and sacrifices in support of their mission – to secure the Blessings of Liberty to our selves and our posterity – provide for us all the sacred opportunity to pursue our own happiness, hopes and dreams.

For that, we fellow Americans must pledge our humble and eternal gratitude to all those in service to our nation, past, present and future.

I am profoundly honored to know and consider many of you as my friends. Thank you for walking the walk, keep up the good work!

May God bless America’s Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and Law Enforcement.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.

“It would be a very, very terrible thing for the United States in many, many ways,” he said. Adding that Mr. Obama, “represents a huge step upward from (the) incompetence and misjudgment” of the Bush administration.”

You know, it’s a hard thing to watch your heroes fall. To see them as they really are, not as you thought they were, not as you wish they were.

I grew up loving Woody Allen movies, ranking “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as three of my favorite all-time films. With “Radio Days” and “Sleeper” not too far behind. 

I also grew up watching the evening news. I felt it was good, it was right when breaking news events came by way of the distinguished anchor, the courageous reporter in the field or by intrepid foreign correspondent, trench coat and all, reporting from overseas. I thought we were being looked after, our interests as Americans were safe with the names I could recite, everyone could recite, without skipping a beat, names synonymous with reporting, with news, with professionalism. I watched Dan Rather,  Peter Jennings, MacNeil/Lehrer, Bill Moyers and even a little of Walter Cronkite without a thought to any reason why I shouldn’t.  These were the voices I heard. These were the faces I believed. The people on TV that I looked up to. That’s the way it was.

Since then, I have learned that I was fooled. I was tricked, tricked by professionals at illusion: entertainers and journalists.

I don’t blame them.  I just feel sad. I feel sad that those fixed stars of my childhood have all but vanished, disappeared into a bleakness and a darkness that is bias, that is a pandemic misguidedness all in the name of power, power for one side, their side, their choices, with little regard for the big picture, the country, our culture.

Like myself, Woody Allen is a New Yorker. He, too, experienced the reality of 9/11 up close and personal. It hit home like nothing else before it. Yet, if we are to judge him by his statements to the press — the international press – he is ignoring the fact that our country has been untouched, completely and absolutely for the seven plus years since that horrible day. No matter how many arguments you have over oil, Halliburton, missing Bin Laden, etc, there has been no repeat of 9/11. None. It’s a fact that seems to go unnoticed by so many in the media, so many like Woody Allen, so many otherwise intelligent people. We have not been hit again.

Mr. Allen completely ignores the reality that this feat was and has been due in large part to the steadfastness of one man, one man who faced obstacles in our media, in our press, in our entertainment fields of movies, music, news, print and video. Every possible avenue of information dispersal in the English language and beyond has been hellbent on bringing down this one man, removing him – trying to do to him, to President Bush, with slow bullets what befell President Kennedy with fast ones.

They failed. No, they didn’t miss. They hit him most certainly. Yes, they wounded him and us.  They wounded and killed many in the field, many innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of our finest citizens who volunteered to protect our nation by joining the armed forces. They, that our friends in the press and entertainment call rubes, morons and uneducated, those honored souls that Hollywood defiles at every opportunity are our best. Yeah, those guys. How many of them were wounded or killed because our irresponsible media and shameless entertainment industry heaped scorn on our country’s Commander in Chief at the worst possible time, when all the world’s eyes were upon us, when everyone waited to see what the United States was going to do when attacked on its shores. Eyes strained to see what would happen when the entertainment capital of the world, Woody Allen’s beloved New York City was struck a lethal blow and when the political capital was likewise attacked.  What enemy would not want to see and examine what this so-called omnipotent super power was going to do next?

When the burned steel and flesh was still smoldering at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto allegedly stated, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Whether or not he actually uttered those words, or only included them in his diary later, is unknown. But what is undeniable is that he believed them.

This phrase was repeated, in various versions all over the place after 9/11. So many people believed that we could not let 9/11 go unpunished. So many people felt we could not just wait for the UN to bungle it. So many people were certain we’d come together as a country, just like after Pearl Harbor. So many people were positive it was finally time to send the message that America was not going to allow its citizens to perish at the hands of madmen.

So many people… forgot.

Sleeping, indeed. Well, Yamamoto was half right. While most of the country forgot their words, their resolve, they went back to work, never really feeling a blip in their daily lives, since they didn’t live in Woody Allen’s New York or work in the Pentagon, and let’s face it, continuing to think about 9/11 was like going to watch “The Sorrow and the Pity” one more time. It was depressing. So, we went back to our lives already in progress. We fell back asleep again.

But our Commander in Chief didn’t. Our airmen didn’t. Our sailors didn’t. Our soldiers didn’t. Our Marines didn’t. They are our giants. And it is their shoulders we now stand upon. How many have lost eyes, limbs, years from their lives because callous individuals which make up our celebrity class are quoted in the domestic and overseas media constantly spewing their hate for this one man, for his stubborn efforts to keep us safe and prevent another 9/11?  How many suffered, who are not Americans, because terrorists, and that’s what they are, were emboldened by a fraud documentary or a movie star-of-the-week’s public mockery of our president to anyone and everyone who would listen. And brother, did the world’s press love to listen.

This reminds me of something I’ve thought about a lot since 9/11. In the movie “The Godfather,” there are so many great scenes it’s really hard to pick a favorite. But there is one very small but profound one that stands out for me.  It’s a keystone to what happens to the Corleone family from that moment on. Nothing for that family, other families and for the entire business – since the Corleone’s strength is what keeps the peace amongst them –  is the same after that scene.  Can you start to see why this scene comes to mind? No, it’s not a shootout at a toll booth in New Jersey.  No, it’s not a montage of execution and baptism, nor is it a very nice veal dinner ruined by a .38 caliber tracheotomy. No, it’s a very quiet scene. And many might not even remember it. But it’s the stepping stone to all that follows. And it applies exactly to what I have  witnessed my country doing to itself since 9/11, and maybe before, if I had taken the time to notice.

The scene takes place in the building of the Genco Olive Oil Company. The Godfather is there with his sons. He is visited by an ambitious outsider making the rounds to all the families who run New York’s underworld. When Sonny, for a brief moment, shows that he might be interested in a new line of business being pitched by this outsider, but which his father had already concluded was not in keeping with their line of work or morality, all is lost. Sonny blew it. That one moment, that one action of Sonny’s was to be the undoing of all that they knew.

How can that be, you ask?  Just by showing interest? Or was it greed? The Godfather, the father to his sons, had wisdom enough to realize that to show even the slightest bit of division of purpose within the family was to show the enemy how to attack and defeat them. His displeasure at his son’s carelessness is obvious, but he attempts to diminish its importance by writing it off to youth and a few too many amorous expeditions. But the damage is done. And the Godfather knows it. He shows it in his eyes. Brando is marvelous here. Coppola was very clever not to overplay this scene. He knew to keep it simple and subtle. Because it was subtlety, nuance, and yes, greed that gives away the shop, that exposes the weakness.

Division. You would think no celebrity, no movie star, no director, and especially no director from New York would ever miss something that poignant.

It’s known worldwide that President Bush was a man who did not always do well in front of the camera. But it’s not an easy thing for anyone in even the best conditions. It’s particularly difficult, if not impossible, when the camera has, so to speak, a limited focus and narrow depth of field. Thanks to those cameras, Bush’s every flub, every misstep, every awkward moment that we’ve all been prone to, was highlighted for all the world to see, and for our enemies to learn from, to learn of our lack of unity. Thanks to those cameras President Bush took the heat and became the figurehead for every error, perceived and real, made in America or abroad dating back to the Magna Carta. And for those small, insignificant gains, such as not being attacked since 9/11, for that actual accomplishment and so many others of which we never hear of, he is given none of the credit. Nor does he seek it. What does he do, instead? He thanks the troops.

Filmmaker Woody Allen knows all too well the manipulation possible with the camera,  microphone, and editing room. He knows all too well how easy it is to make things appear the way you want them to. The way you need them to.

He knows.

Yet, he seems to have been hoodwinked into thinking Mr. Obama was going to bring change, real change, positive change to the Oval Office. Why did he think this? What evidence was there? Mr. Allen had stated quite clearly that our country would suffer home and abroad if we as a nation did not elect Mr. Obama. Of what evidence or expertise did he consult or review to make such a claim, other than the promises made by a smooth candidate unknown to him and most of the world a mere one year earlier?  All we could judge this candidate on were his words and his appearance in front of the camera on the campaign trail. That, and promises of change, loosely dangled in front of self-inflicted weary eyes, hoping for something, anything to bring joy to them after the eight years of misery, of not being attacked again.

Make no mistake.  Mr. Allen is not to be grouped in the same category as the Matt Afflecks, the Ben Damons or the Maggie Cho Garofalos. No, he is not an outspoken and overpaid semi-talented celebrity smitten with the limelight and adored by fans hanging on and hooting at his every shameless, treasonous word. No, that is not Woody Allen. He is a talented director and a gifted writer with a vast reservoir of experiences that trump anything a pretty face and high friends in higher places could ever hope to muster. Unlike the celebrity actor, a good director is a manager, a contemplator of bigger pictures than the scene at hand, constantly dealing in the reality of imaginary ‘what if’s. With all due respect to great actors everywhere, and there are many, the director has a bit more to be concerned about than lines to be memorized, a mark to hit and a good side to show to the cameras. He must be a multi-level chess player aware of always changing contingencies on what to do if this fails, if that goes wrong, if so-and-so doesn’t show up. He is tasked with a never-ending list of scenarios of what ideally should be done, what can be done, and what will probably have to be done for each and every set-up, with more levels of uncertainty than a fictional “Buck” Turgidson or Walter Groteschele could ever dream of. He does this all the while inspiring confidence among his crew and never losing sight of the goal: to create something entertaining for others. Maybe even something fun.

In the James L. Brooks film “As Good as it Gets,” Jack Nicholson’s character, Melvin, is approached by a fan who adores his very successful novels.

Young Woman: How do you write women so well?

Melvin: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

Jack could just as easily be talking about our favorite liberal celebrities there. Too many on the left, while our nation is at war and lives are at stake, have failed to apply reason or bother to take responsibility for their words or any accountability of their behavior and actions, aside from that connected with their box office appeal.

Directors, traditionally, must be able to reason and are always accountable. That’s why, when a director makes statements such as Woody, it means more, it hurts more. While in the past, Mr. Allen had shown himself to be an astute thinker and poignant commentator on the comic tragedy called life and with all his abilities, all his experience, all his wit and humor on the fraud that is power, that is politics, he fully accepted Mr. Obama’s campaign promises on face value alone. He did so for no other reason than that such otherwise written blandness was performed well in front of the camera. With all his background why would Woody Allen fall for that?

Why did Dan Rather throw away a distinguished career on the eve of his retirement, to push a story he simply had to know was false, or at the very least stemmed from a single, highly questionable source? Again. Why?

What has happened to critical thinking?

Mr. Allen is not naive.  I won’t get into his personal life and criticize him for his judgement there. That would be unfair, and far too easy. Besides, who among us, including our former president, has not made decisions in their lives, absolutely certain of their correctness at the time, that to others, not in-the-know would seem misguided, wrong or downright evil? Mr. Allen seems unaware that the same description he used of what would have happened to us in America if Obama had lost, “a disgrace” and “humiliation,” are the very words most would apply today to our media, our entertainment industry and of course Mr. Allen’s own personal family life choices.

How can a man who brought us such great visions in his films suddenly be so blind?

Are we in good hands now? Today’s news says otherwise. Woody must feel we are at least not “a disgrace and a humiliation” to the rest of the world. So, that’s something, I guess. Are we safe? Time will tell. But watching the news as I used to do no longer leaves me with any comfort or feeling that the news system itself is in good hands, that they’ll get to the bottom of it, whatever ‘it’ is. Gone is the feeling reporters will leave no stone unturned while the anchor, fulfilling his namesake, will steady the nerves of the nation and remind us of our safety and our security as the president quietly but effectively ensures it.  Is that happening anymore for anyone? Is anyone out there feeling reassured by the news, that all may not be well, but that we can handle it because we’re Americans, after all?

I’m not getting that anymore.  And I don’t believe that those in the news really care anymore if we do. I think they did, at one time. I really think they tried. But that isn’t what is happening today in all newsrooms great and small. This is a sad conclusion that many, like me, have come reluctantly to meet, and that others are turning their eyes away from. I will confess, though, that what I miss more than most things about those days are the anchors themselves. It may sound shallow, but there aren’t any real anchormen or women in the news business anymore, are there?  Like the great actors and directors of Hollywood, they’re replaced by a  washed-out bland parade of interchangeable names and faces, all equally untrustworthy and lacking.

To my own questions I have no answers, it is true. Only a kind of sadness and a yearning. A yearning to go back to those days before I knew any better, before the stars began to fade, before they ceased to shine so brightly above, blinding me with their visual eloquence and to a reality that I can now see all too clearly.