Hope We Can Gain More Public Support

Greetings.

President Obama made a surprise visit to Kabul today to make sure the Afghani government keeps their end of the bargain. I’m glad to see the war in Afghanistan remains on the radar. I was at least encouraged to hear of the bipartisan support that exists for our troops from those in Washington. But, with what we just witnessed from our Congress last week on health care- I wonder what the definition of “bipartisan” really is any more. We’ll really know how much bipartisanship exists when debate on the defense budget begins in the next few weeks.

The public support for the Afghanistan effort improved a little as well. Our country remains pretty-well divided with 49% opposing the war and 48% supporting it. The support has grown quite a bit since the Marjah offensive (Operation Moshtarek) was launched. I’m disappointed with the overall level of public support today but the trends are heading in the right direction.

We talked to Brian today and he sounds like he’s doing well. The situation over there is challenging to say the least. Brian has already had his share of challenges to deal with and we are so proud of how he has handled them. The Afghani soldiers cooked another chicken for them today so they had a hot meal and were ready to turn in for the night.

It’s going to start getting hot over there. One of Brian’s commanders told him that if anyone asks how hot it really gets just tell them:

1. Turn your oven up to 130 degrees
2. Stick your head in the oven
3. Stay there all day

That’s what it is going to be like. They’ll be drinking a lot of water.

I’m including some photos I found to provide a perspective of what it’s like over there:

This is an eerie photo of the “business district” in Kabul. The destruction is a result of the Soviet occupation and has never been rebuilt.

This is a photo from the British News Service of the beginning of Operation Moshtarek in Marjah. Note the streamers. Quite unreal.

Ethan Update

Lindsey, Jason, and Ethan are doing well. If all goes to plan, Laura and I hope to babysit an evening this week so we can continue the spoiling process. I had to include this photo.

Thanks again for your support and prayers. Brian told us they spent an afternoon last week responding to letters they had received from various support organizations. These letters and packages mean a lot to these men and women as it is not easy to stay “up” when living in the environment they are in.

Semper Fi