For all the talk of aerial drones and soldiers weighted down with all the latest hi-tech gadgetry, the Marines on the ground in Marja, Afghanistan, are fighting the old-fashioned way – weighed down with five days of food, water and ammunition; sleeping in the cold without fires; and slogging their way from village to village taking fire from Taliban insurgents at all the wrong moments. The Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran has an excellent snapshot of one battalion's war:
They had slogged through knee-deep mud carrying 100 pounds of gear, fingers glued to the triggers of their M-4 carbines, all the while on the lookout for insurgents. Now, after five near-sleepless nights, trying to avoid hypothermia in freezing temperatures, the grunts of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment finally had a moment to relax.
As the sun set Thursday evening over the rubbled market where they set up camp, four of them sat around an overturned blue bucket and began playing cards. A few cracked open dog-eared paperbacks. Some heated their rations-in-a-bag, savoring their first warm dinner in days. Many doffed their helmets and armored vests.
Then -- before the game was over, the chapters finished, the meals cooked -- the war roared back at them.
The staccato crack of incoming rounds echoed across the market. In an instant, the Marines grabbed their vests and guns. The 50-caliber gunner on the roof thumped back return fire, as did several Marines with clattering, belt-fed machine guns. High-explosive mortar rounds, intended to suppress the insurgent fire, whooshed overhead.
And so went another night in the battle of Marja.
It's a solid story, and well worth a read.
