2nd Hand Stories

I’m aware that there is an interest, on the part of practically everyone, for more information, a closer look, a personal story, the ground truth, anecdotes, paradigms, reality, first person accounts, anything that would shed more light on what exactly we’re doing in the Global War on Terror. What impact are we having, what are our short term and long term goals, and how are we doing on accomplishing those goals? What are the criteria that need to be considered in a valid risk versus gain analysis of our continued involvement in different arenas? To what ends should we be willing to go to accomplish political objectives, and how forgiving will national and international opinion be of an administration that acts to neutralize a danger which can reasonably be identified as posing a clear and present danger to the United States of America, its people, or their way of life?

I’d be happy to provide my view, but my experiential interaction with any of the variables that would contribute to meaningful evaluation, appraisal, or even (valid) opinion is limited to the point of being non-contributory. I’m aware that the average resident in the US is exposed to more information in a twenty four hour period as to what is going on in GWOT than I am exposed to in a week—what is suspect is the source of that information, the motivation of those providing the information, the realization that whatever information is actually communicated is only a fraction of the information available on the subject (so what information am I NOT hearing regarding this event), the agenda of the organization providing the salary of the person gathering the ‘information,’ etc. What I can do, however, is relate experiences as they are related to me by the individuals that participated in specific events, and report what THEIR experience was (in as much as their experience can be verbally communicated). I don’t hear very many of these accounts, as I’m necessarily chained to my computer with my headphones on and oblivious to my surroundings while I work in a vacuum on what is, despite its isolation from operations, an essential series of products. However, I do hear a few ‘stories,’ and those that can be told in this medium, I will attempt to do so.

Semper Fi, Jon G.