"Unfortunately, this is another fragmented dispatch with no clear trajectory other than to mention HIIDE and Charlie company."

Michael - nothing to apologize for! Another amazingly informative post and I thank you for all your hard work. We know the goons sold you down the river, man.

Michael,
Keep going, it is your kind of reporting that is putting a real face on this war, unfortunately not enough people seem to be paying attention and you got derailed trying to do it... God bless and God Speed

Michael,
There's no way I (or many, many others) would ever know about the Good Work being done by the courageous men and women of our armed forces without the dispatches that you have provided for so many years. I applaud your integrity, your perserverance and your willingness to put yourself in harms way to bring truth to light. You have brought an intelligent perspective to un-intelligibly violent situations, put a human face on the experiences of our soildiers and the civilians they interact with, and shared rich experiences that are often reduced to mere sound bytes by politicians and news networks with self-serving agendas. You, and our military, have my deep respect and profound gratitude.

I miss it so

Michael:
You are doing a great job and I appreciate the hardships you and the troops go through. I think there's little coverage of the Afghan war in the States now because there aren't big casualty counts on our side. So it gets "boring" to the press unless Americans get killed. I don't get it, but I think it's because most of the press is anti-war, maybe some anti-American, and unless they can print stories making our own side look bad, they're not interested. Wait until Karzai or the like make their next almost always false claim about Americans killing innocent civilians and you'll see plenty of publicity on that.

My wife and I discuss almost every day that we can't believe the easy life we live here while our amazing military is over there risking their lives for all of us.

It looks like I'm out of touch with what's going on as the censorship is news to me. If you haven't already, could you maybe do a dispatch about what's going on with that? (Or maybe have someone "write it" for you so you don't get retaliated against for it) Maybe some of us can contact some sympathetic legislators to get some action for you and the press to get that lifted. Also, could you spell out why you think the war is being lost and what could be done to turn it around? That would be very helpful.

Keep up the excellent work and please be safe.

Great work again and I hope that General McC does not head this war too long... Thanks to Staff Sergeant Hughes and all who are like him for his service and professionalism .

AmericanJarhead (aka: Cris Yarboroough
www.americanjarhead .com

Your frustration is understandable. Detailed info about the biometric systems we use is very helpful, because it clarifies a basic principle of war-- knowledge is power. We will not win this war with Islamic supremacists until we know them better than they know themselves. In that vein, please help us with something-- write a dispatch (or update one already written) on the role Afgan women play in war. They may not carry weapons, but they are a tremendous source of intelligence-- if we can get it. Can we? If not, why not?

May the Lord God (Who has a name, and it isn't Allah) protect you.

You seem frustrated Michael. Your dispatch is informative and amazing as always, and greatly appreciated. It seems the war is forgotten by the media, which is probably this administration's plan, but it is not forgotten by everyone. No doubt its quite easy for the press to write negative stories about soldiers, but they aren't walking in these soldiers shoes are they? Keep up the good work.

You always call like it is and what it is is unsettling. There is always that air of desparation when you try to censor information. McC iapparently likes to treat the press like mushrooms, keep them in the dark and feed them s**t . Things seem to be bubbling around Jbad and Nangahar province. From my friends in the north, word comes that activity is increasing in the Mazar and Konduz areas. The south speaks for itself. Not good. My son is now deployed in the north and to say I'm concerned is an understatement. Please do what you can, it is appreciated.

Michael:
Great post and most useful about the biometrics. Question: You indicate that the eye biometric is a "retina" scan. Could it be an easier to obtain "iris" scan?

Interesting that the first institutional, practical use of fingerprints for identification happened in Bengal. By global standards, right next door to these Afghans.

I am watching the Military Channel-- we had leaders then who said if we fight we win-- no pussy footing around-- We are not fighting to win-- Our President and most of Congress does not believe we are at war-- only thing they know is spend spend spend on things we as a nation do not need--- Mike if they boot you out come back for a rest then go Arizona bring your vest-- got a war here-- and report on it-- then our President will chide you as he did the Governor who signed into law to take control of her borders!!!!

Michael, You truly are the Ernie Pyle of our generation. I know how hard it must be for an embedded combat journalist to advocate such a plan, but you must start advocating a full scale pull out. There is nothing left to be won and nothing left to prove in Afghanistan.
Where Bush was foolhardy and incompetent, Obama is indifferent and equally incompetent.
Meanwhile, my little brothers & sisters get blown to pieces for no apparent reason pursuing no clear objective.
Insanity is pursuing a false objective using faulty tactics. Madness is blaming someone else for your failures while using the same faulty logic and suffering the same crushing failures.
This is beyond madness.
The war in Afghanistan is criminally insane. Madness beyond comprehension. Sorrow beyond tears.

Suck it up, quit wining and go to Kabul and report on where and how long MaChy's staff takes lunch, in a hashmark PFC word's, make a pain in the ass of yourself. There is no one way to do anything, haven't you ever read the Chairman's little Red book?

I have been reading your articles for years now and have also read your book and have developed great respect for your skills in observation and interpretation as well as photography. I have read your respect for the boots on the ground and some of the higher up officers who should have boots put up their respective a...s. Most of your analysis I agree with but disagree on occasion with your ultimate conclusions. I cannot think of any print or electronic media writer that I believe or trust, and I do not consider you in that category. My first problem is that any writer who has not walked in our peoples boots should keep their mouths shut, and indeed admired your background but also your crossover to the survival side in Iraq when you actually picked up a weapon to protect a comrade as well as yourself. I recently watched (unfortunately) a PBS broadcast interview with General MyChrystal and have decidedly changed my mind about senior leadership in this whole arena. Any respect I had for Gates and McChrystal is gone. I can say for certain I would not follow that man anywhere and we are indeed fortunate he was not in charge of Desert Storm. Gates has just turned into another politician suck up to Obama, and then this weekend we were all nauseated with Obama and Karzai sucking up to each other. As soon as we leave, and I am now believing the faster the better for our people, Afghanistan can return fully to the stone age is seems to like and Karzai will soon be assassinated by the Taliban. That leaves us with Obama.
With such poor command leadership, it cannot bode well for the boots on the ground, not to mention the different countries different command mentality. It is time for you to come home and get out of harms way which they are turning into 'fools way'. You are a good writer with all of the skills and your work will be appreciated in many venues, not just combat. Bring our people with you, just leave our command leaders in Afghanistan with Karzai.

Seems with my understanding that Gen. McChrystal doesn't appreciate your interaction with the troops. Or writing unblushing versions of your observations. I was under the impression that our Spec Ops Commanders would have a larger understanding of the situation and maybe be able to engage all their assets in a manner that would "kick the doodoo" out of the bad guys. Seems like maybe our commanders have "bought" into the CIC and Karzai's version which many seem to interpret as an unwinnable situation. Unfortunate. With many of the bad types around the world, the only thing they understand is death. They only negogiate in bad faith to allow them time to reorganize and rebuild and keep snipping at us with bombs and IED's while they do that and find a new way to counter strategies we have developed.

I greatly enjoyed this dispatch Michael. Thanks for putting my contributions to good use!

One minor correction on the HIDE system. It actually scans the iris, not the retina. I'm an eye doctor so I'm supposed to notice these things. You can check this out by going to the Securimetrics site and downloading the data sheet for the HIDE device.

Hang in there!

Always admire your photography, perspective and turn of phrase. The penguin reference is fascinating, it almost alludes to a simpler way of life which we have lost. If the Afghans are happy to live like this, who are we to tell them that is wrong?

Thank you for your work and may God keep you safe, Ron