With Obama recently back from Afghanistan, perhaps this diary is of interest.
I was at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center today as Red Cross buses were arriving with wounded soldiers, I'm pretty sure coming in from Afghanistan; yesterday there was helo crash in southern Afghanistan with 14 injured. I saw seven soldiers wheeled in on gurneys, some with IVs. All were conscious and talking, and one had a bandage over his eye. A medical team was ready for another bus to arrive. I had to leave for an appt.
In the waiting room a member of a medical team from Afghanistan was talking to another medical worker. I'd like to include his comments in my diary.
This medical worker had done a tour of Iraq as well. He compared his experiences in both places:
In Iraq it was about the US and the UK, nobody else.
In Afghanistan it is a true multi-national effort, with about 15 countries clearly participating, their diversity evident in their uniforms (Romanian soldiers wear shorts), with many chains of command. He said it must be difficult for the person who has to organize all the countries' units to work together, trying to communicate to get things done.
He also said he had much more difficulty trying to MEDEVAC soldiers out of Afghanistan than he'd had in Iraq. In Iraq he simply got on the phone, and the job was done. In Afghanistan he must grapple with the chains of command, making it a much lengthier process.
He said there were many more contractors in Afghanistan than in Iraq "if you can believe that." He said there was no accountability for "the mercenaries," that they took over the jobs of the military. The other medical worker said he thought KBR had lost its contract in Iraq. The man responded that KBR had been replaced, or taken over, by another group...I heard initials, but didn't quite get it...could have been Xe because then he mentioned Blackwater, following with "Different name, same smell." He said that sometimes they would come to him for medical needs. He would ask, "What are you guys doing out there anyway?" The contractors would respond with something tangled and complicated, so he would drop the conversation. He told his colleague, "I'm probably better off not knowing."
I was then called for my appointment.