Gates Hopes Taliban Think U.S. Will Leave Afghanistan

In interviews conducted in Australia, where public support for the war in Afghanistan is faltering, Secretary Gates made it very clear that only one option exists, and that is to maintain an increased US/NATO presence in Afghanistan past the July 2010 date and forgo significant troop reductions.  In fact he wants the Taliban to believe that July 2010 will be the end date for US/NATO operations – he wants them to be surprised.   I always thought the notion of  “surprise” meant to encounter something suddenly or unexpectedly – I guess Gates’ declaration to “embrace Karzai’s goal of completing the transfer of security responsibility to Afghanistan by 2014” and that “that’s the kind of time frame we’re looking at” shoots that down that notion.  

 Military Deployment Stress Seeps to Children; Children With Deployed Parent at Risk for Mental and Behavior Issues, Study Shows

•  This recent study confirms the additional hardship that deployed servicemembers face and the detrimental effect that repeated deployments are having on dependent children.
• It is becoming increasingly more difficult for deployed servicemembers who are parents to stay focused on their combat task at hand when their dependent children are increasingly being diagnosed with mental and behavior disorders.
• The study points out that not all families seek support from resources available from military bases and making it more difficult to accurately gauge the impact that repeated deployments are having on children. Of note is that numerous families opt to return home to live with relatives during a deployment period or are family members of activated National Guardsmen and Reservists who do not have access to resources on military bases – this also adds to the stress to deployed servicemembers because they know that their loved ones may not have proper access to support and resources normally available on military bases.

 ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’ Hits Store Shelves; New Game Is Sequel to Record-Setting ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’

The new “Call of Duty: Black Ops” video game is being released just in time for the holidays!  .  The video and graphics are so realistic that it’s just like being in combat.  One young player waiting for the video game casually stated that he was going to “blow people’s heads off.” To help with marketing, comedians and professional athletes are featured in action-packed commercials where they are firing every imaginable weapon while engaged in running gun battles with terrorists.  Its release and marketing are guaranteed to set new sales records, while at the same time real US casualty records continue to be set in Afghanistan.  The problem is that the future generation of warriors can’t tell the difference.

Kobe Bryant Stars In New ‘Call Of Duty’ Commercial