There is constant action in Afghanistan these days. The Taliban (and their friends) are either targeting the Afghan Army, Afghans who transport goods for NATO, or NATO forces. Typically they will avoid direct confrontation with NATO patrols unless they have elevated positions and a quick avenue of escape, or caves. The Taliban love caves.
It seems like the most frequent attacks against NATO forces are IEDs (pressure plates or command-wired) or indirect fire (Chinese-made mortars or rockets). These guys are resourceful. Most of the trigger mechanisms are basically made out of trash and stuff that they find laying around in the dirt. I have been shown a number of IED trigger devices that were made from trash that was discarded by US forces: water bottles, batteries, copper wire, calling cards. There's terrible irony that people from this medieval culture take the refuse of the industrial age and fashion it into weapons that have the potential to crack open the most advanced vehicles we field. Of course we counter this with more technology.
The word on the street is that we probably have one more month of intense fighting and then Ramadan eats up most of September (that was a bad joke, ya get it?). Typically Ramadan means less fighting, or so I hear, but I would speculate that maybe that time would be ripe for suicide bombers? A rich combination of religious fervor and grumpiness from fasting-- that promise of 70 virgins. Lots more female suicide bombers these days.
Do the female martyrs get 70 male virgins? Probably not. But that might not be such an incentive anyway.
After Ramadan it will start getting cold here. Once the ground freezes at night it becomes harder to dig holes for IEDs, but because they lack good cold weather gear they also lose their motivation to sit around in prepared fighting positions waiting to ambush NATO patrols.
So, the start of the NFL season roughly coincides with the start of Ramadan. I am looking forward to both.
With luck I will be back home in time for the AFC and NFC championship games!
It seems like the most frequent attacks against NATO forces are IEDs (pressure plates or command-wired) or indirect fire (Chinese-made mortars or rockets). These guys are resourceful. Most of the trigger mechanisms are basically made out of trash and stuff that they find laying around in the dirt. I have been shown a number of IED trigger devices that were made from trash that was discarded by US forces: water bottles, batteries, copper wire, calling cards. There's terrible irony that people from this medieval culture take the refuse of the industrial age and fashion it into weapons that have the potential to crack open the most advanced vehicles we field. Of course we counter this with more technology.
The word on the street is that we probably have one more month of intense fighting and then Ramadan eats up most of September (that was a bad joke, ya get it?). Typically Ramadan means less fighting, or so I hear, but I would speculate that maybe that time would be ripe for suicide bombers? A rich combination of religious fervor and grumpiness from fasting-- that promise of 70 virgins. Lots more female suicide bombers these days.
Do the female martyrs get 70 male virgins? Probably not. But that might not be such an incentive anyway.
After Ramadan it will start getting cold here. Once the ground freezes at night it becomes harder to dig holes for IEDs, but because they lack good cold weather gear they also lose their motivation to sit around in prepared fighting positions waiting to ambush NATO patrols.
So, the start of the NFL season roughly coincides with the start of Ramadan. I am looking forward to both.
With luck I will be back home in time for the AFC and NFC championship games!
