Two more US troops were injured in Iraq and/or Syria this past weekend. The Pentagon insists that they weren’t involved in trigger-pulling operations, but rather in the rear, according to the Military Times;
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said both troops were injured by indirect fire while conducting train-advise-and-assist missions.
“In both cases, these were people operating behind the forward line of troops. They were not on the front lines; they were not engaged in active combat…The troops’ injuries were severe enough to prevent them from being returned to duty, Davis said.
More newsworthy this weekend, perhaps, is that the President finally admitted that US troops are involved in combat operations, that we’ve actually lost troops in combat, despite the fact that whole rest of the world has recognized that fact. From Stars & Stripes;
The losses of Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV, Delta Force soldier Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler and Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin had previously been called combat deaths by White House and Pentagon officials. Obama’s comments Friday appeared to be the first time that the president himself has acknowledged them as combat deaths.
“These three men were killed in combat while they were supporting local forces in Iraq,” Obama said.
I guess he saw it in the news.
Comments
30 responses to “Two injured in war against ISIS”
“They were not on the front lines; they were not engaged in active combat…” The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Not trying to be funny…but are there really ‘Front Lines’ in this fight?
IED’s, Suicide Bombers, and VBIED’s, and the spray and pray crowd don’t really seem like frontline combat units or equipment.
No, I had the same thought and made the same observation recently when some poser was described as having been on the front lines of Vietnam. The term conjures the image of armies facing off against one another in organized combat or lines of demarcation fairly separating their us/them territory. I suppose one can say that there are places in Afghanistan that are relatively safer than others, but that’s about it. There are no front lines.
” . . . they were not engaged in active combat . . . .”
Bullsh!t. If you’re getting shot at, whether by direct or indirect fire, you’re “engaged in active combat”. Anyone telling you otherwise has their head firmly inserted in their 4th point of contact.
This is indeed the correct response, if you are under any kind of fire that can get you killed by the enemy you are engaged in some form of active combat regardless of your position relative to the more active areas of operation.
If you can die by the enemy’s actions the ‘lines” (such as they are in any asymmetrical conflict) are irrelevant. Troops in harm’s way are troops in combat operations. The nature of the operation might vary in that these were not door kickers at the moment, but anyone with a modicum of sense knows indirect fire doesn’t much care about whether or not you are “actively” engaged at the moment, because once it starts detonating you can bet your ass you’re suddenly very actively engaged.
All of these fuckers spend more time parsing the commentary than they do telling the truth, and they must thing we are all far too stupid to understand the reality. We might as a nation be a little dumber from time to time than I’d like but nobody is buying this bullshit story, not the kid who works in my shipping department not the engineer in my structural department….it’s not that complicated.
At the same time, I was sometimes at Balad when the base was mortared, but I’m quite sure they weren’t aiming at me. (If they were they were really poor shots…) I have never presumed to say I was engaged in combat.
None of which is to detract from the honor due to these troops. The fight against ISIS is the best fight there is, no matter what one thinks of our leadership.
“I have never presumed to say I was engaged in combat” – maybe not, but I would suggest that the folks on the other side were, and since they were the ones shooting, they outvote you.
Debatable. If you ever had to take cover from IDF, I’d say you were – even if it was just harassment fire that wasn’t well-aimed. That kills just as dead as IDF personally aimed at you in the classic “wrong place, wrong time, sucks to be you” scenario.
FWIW: while I was there, Iraqi insurgent IDF seemed to be essentially for harassment purposes vice being well-aimed. The insurgents had found out the hard way that taking too long to set up and adjust well-aimed fire wasn’t exactly good for their health. Our counter-battery capabilities were quite good – as well as quite quick. (smile)
Well, everyone had to take cover when those sirens went off…but I don’t remember ever being close enough to hear the explosion (not that I remember everything). I don’t think I could ever feel right calling that “combat experience.” (Not that I wanted it to be.)
“Two more US troops were injured. they weren’t involved in trigger-pulling operations, but rather in the rear;”
Which tells me one thing. There IS NO rear. It’s ALL front, no “lines”.
So sick of this Bull Shit about them not being engaged in active combat. If there is the potential that you will be shot at, you are in a combat zone!!
Are you saying that Omybadme has been – gasp! – lying to us for 7.5 years?
I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Just shocked… that he finally used THAT word.
I’ll bet it hurt when he said it, too. I wonder how long he practiced in the mirror.
(snrc off)
Last I heard, indirect fire kills you just as dead as direct fire. The CinC is a bozo.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Who’s the biggest lying mfckr of all ?
His name’s not Saltine, he’s not a cracker
‘Fore it’s over, we’ll learn he’s a poop chute packer
They probably wouldn’t have been injured if they weren’t wearing their shower shoes and could have moved a little faster.
I meant they were wearing shower shoes right? There were never going to be boots on the ground.!
So let’s guess if a Republican was in the White House… The Libtards would be raising hell with there media partners. Code Pink would be having a orgasm at the fence of the White House. WTF !!!
Old saying would apply here Look at the WTUs and see just how many injured and wounded are really coming back for some odd reason they are playing games with the numbers because it’s the funny season again. And that would mean the they the one getting injured are getting screwed as always??????
K last paragraph is ate up and I have no idea why this pice of crap keeps changing my words
Because, like all electronic toys, it hates you for making it do actual work while it’s trying to hack into your bank account.
And slow internet at the he NM house is also a plus…. ???
Hey I’ve got a question for all here has anybody been getting e-mails from Google accounts that just disappear I’ve had three from some loser in Texas and the last one
I screen shot the e-mail and now it’s gone WTF !!!! Gives here ?????
It sounds like someone got orders from Obama that says “If you get one single troop injured or killed you must get up behind a podium, cry, lower you voice in shame, squint your eyes and whip yourself all while telling the American people why you failed”.
but I thought the preezy ended the wars!
Apparently Obama is a victim. He’s has Peacetime Personality Disorder.
He’s has Peacetime Personality Disorder.
Your tablet hates you, Kent. That’s why it does those things to you.
puters are da debbil
He is just using Libtard Logic. Libtards are gutless pussies that expect other people to do their dirty work.
The big eared, bug eyed, bat shit buffoon that has infested the White House expects someone else to do the actual fighting.
In the end, brave men will have to draw blood and kill the enemy. His kind of peacenik propaganda brings war to the door. It always has, it always will.
When the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor, at the very moment they were dropping bombs and killing Americans the leader of the peaceniks was giving a speech in Pittsburgh ranting against Roosevelt and his blood lust for war.
He was notified several times during his hour long speech that the Japs were bombing Pearl Harbor, he just continued his rant.
What was a popular peacenik movement evaporated into obscurity that day.
A Theocracy is at war with us, not a country, no boarders, no race, a belief that a particular religious world view should have the ultimate authority over mankind is at war with us.
It will end when we kill those who defend it or support it in mass.
Islam is a disease of the mind, its use as government is tyranny, its destruction will only come through violence.
By the way, Fuck Allah and anyone else that believes a meteor hidden in a building in the desert has magical powers.
All I am asking is give war a chance.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
— George Orwell
?????
One way to answer the combat question is to ask whether the Purple Hearts will be issued. If yes, done. The distinction between a gunfight or another face-to-face engagement is, to me, merely fine tuning the term “combat” for the sake of specificity.
Some things don’t change. The term military advisor has given politicians cover for decades. No combat troops my ass!