"I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.
What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.
Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.
Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level." Daniels
---------------------------------------------------
Another brave soul. He knows the price he will pay. pl
"The Nemesis Of Power" by Wheeler Bennet and "Interrogations" by Richard Overy illustrate the terrible fate of military organisations that cease to revere truth - especially when it is received from the lower ranks,
Col. Davis can now pass "The Sleep Test" - a good nights sleep with no dawn equivocations. He has done his duty.
Walrus.
Posted by: walrus | 07 February 2012 at 03:58 AM
The word must be out in the top circles - we're leaving. So now it's time to prepare the American public for something that few of them care about - leaving Afghanistan.
I suspect Davis' commentary would be little different if one spoke with PRT commanders, joint training commanders, soldiers committed to embedded training of Afghan Forces or soldiers who sat on top of hillsides in Kunar, Khost or most other places in that country.
Thank you LTC Davis. Bravo AFJ. But where have you been all these years?
RP
Posted by: RetiredPatriot | 07 February 2012 at 06:36 AM
And there seems to be more to this story, here:
http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/35159/
RP
Posted by: RetiredPatriot | 07 February 2012 at 07:06 AM
This story was reported on one of the wire services yesterday or the day before. The officer reportedly went outside the chain of command and contacted Congress directly, but his military superiors are treating him with kid gloves. Does anyone know the real story??
Posted by: r whitman | 07 February 2012 at 09:05 AM
Sir,
LTC Davis' assessment seems to elicit general approval, from venues as diverse as Democratic Underground and freerepublic.org (!)
I suppose that tells us something about how weary the American public is with these wars, all sides included. Apparently Mitt was looking to use Afghanistan withdrawal as an angle of attack on Obama (remember "cut and run"?). I guess he'll have to reconsider.
Posted by: toto | 07 February 2012 at 09:58 AM
Most will never appreciate this man's courage and sacrifice. Hopefully he will receive support. He will need more than the spirits of Vann and Hackworth standing with him, although that's damned good company....IMO.
It seems to always be the Colonels who take the step. My hat is off.
Posted by: Agincajun | 07 February 2012 at 10:09 AM
The story broke before DoD SecDef Pannetta announced the Lisbon Agreement was defunct and US would be out by end of 2013. Coincidence?
The first casualty of war is the truth. Oddly the draftee Army I was in was quite honorable IMO.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 07 February 2012 at 10:41 AM
LTC Davis is a true patriot, showing the rarest kind of bravery. May the 'angels' protect him from the fury of the revealed, and their authoritarian followers.
Posted by: Roy G. | 07 February 2012 at 11:12 AM
I have always admired those who faced the enemy personally; secretly admitting that, while going down in submarines takes a certain degree of something, those men are better men than I. Even more do I admire those who face authority with the unvarnished truth. We don't give medals for that, but...
Posted by: Bill H. | 07 February 2012 at 11:22 AM
This is shocking. LTC Davis may be a military man but this is not a question of military failure. Over 10 years of effort and this is the situation? Afghanis are not stupid people - they would have welcomed the rescue and rescusitation of their country.
This is a political failure of the nth degree, brought about by stupid ngos and well connected graduate students who didn't understand anything about Afghani/Islamic culture and cared less.
And Obama's surge? So who lost Af? And I don't mean it rhetorically.
Posted by: jr786 | 07 February 2012 at 11:42 AM
WRC
"the draftee Army I was in was quite honorable IMO." The senior officers in "your" army were not drafted. they cam from the same process as these men. Enlisted men have little effect on policy even though they do most of the fighting. This applies to privates or sergeants-major, pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 07 February 2012 at 11:50 AM
If this man isn't as brave as any wartime hero, then I guess I just don't know the meaning of the word. To stand up against our military power structure while still living under it is almost unbelievable. Say what you like about LTC Davis, the guy has incredible backbone and intestinal fortitude.
Posted by: zot23 | 07 February 2012 at 11:54 AM
The Army in which I was a draftee had a rather shocking stream of cronyism and corruption flowing among many average people and a few highly honorable people.
Needless to say, LTC Davis won't be doing any consulting for the defense/security industrial complex after his military retirement.
I don't think much has changed except it is all a little bigger and the toys have more flash.
Posted by: John Massie | 07 February 2012 at 12:42 PM
RetiredPatriot,
Re: "But where have you been all these years?", Lt. Col. Davis has been at it for a while. See the publications listed on his website:
http://www.afghanreport.com/index.html
He's a 48 year-old LTC, and appears to have been speaking candidly and paying the career price for some time.
Posted by: joe brand | 07 February 2012 at 01:27 PM
More and more I'm thinking that how we deal through our compartmented governmental structure combined with elements of the influential monied interests outside are major factors in leading us down the ostensible primrose path to utter disaster. We really need to involve known experts outside the "system" as well, like Pat Lang, Adam Silverman, etc.
Posted by: stanleyhenning | 07 February 2012 at 02:13 PM
There is no real difference between now and 40 years ago. The stories about the ARVIN and ANA troops are the same. What has changed is the Agitprop that passes for news now days and the dependence of American Corporations and Politicians on kick back from the forever war. Light Colonels still tell it like it is. But, no Army can keep rotating in and out of war, year after year. Sooner or later, all of your buddies will be dead, wounded, or REMFs.
After the 2012 election, the USA will leave Afghanistan. But, the Military Industrial Complex plus the Israel First Supporters are intent on dragging the USA into a war with Iran. If the Revolutionary Guard has learned the lessons from Hezbollah and if the USA tries to invade Iran, trench warfare, mutiny and collapse of the global economy are real possibilities. World War I played out one more time a century later.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 07 February 2012 at 02:42 PM
But remember those of us who came home from the Nam and spoke out against it are still traitors.
Posted by: Mj | 07 February 2012 at 05:08 PM
pl
What did you say and what was your job in VN? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 07 February 2012 at 06:27 PM
One reason LTC Davis may be being treated with kid gloves is because he did the generals a service - he told the unspeakable truth to the American public. Now the generals don't have to do it themselves. Thanks to Davis, the bad news is out there and since he talked to his congressman he probably had a privileged conversation unlike Gen. Fuller. They need only confirm now what the LTC has already declared. So much easier that way; no need for a spine or career ending move by anyone else now up the chain of command.
Posted by: bth | 07 February 2012 at 06:34 PM
I guess you are directing that question at me? I was a truck driver in the Signal Corp mostly driving convoys in the Delta. Same as my tour in Korea (67-68) except I was in a 105 Arty outfit.
Posted by: Mj | 07 February 2012 at 06:53 PM
@joe brand, my rhetorical question was aimed at AFJ vice the LTC. Poor wording I suppose. RP
Posted by: RetiredPatriot | 07 February 2012 at 07:14 PM
Looks like the chupacabras in the Pentagon are starting their smear campaign against LTC Davis.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/08/10355394-pentagon-investigates-colonel-over-critical-report-on-us-progress-in-afghanistan
Michael Hastings, who wrote "The Operators," claims that bold faced lies are part of this opening salvo against LTC Davis.
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2012/02/09/the-pentagons-smear-campaign-on-lt-col-davis/
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 10 February 2012 at 12:27 AM
Hopefully Davis will run for Congress, but unlike Alan West he won't get any help from the jingoist crowd.
Posted by: Fred | 10 February 2012 at 10:01 AM
It appears that our military leadership is seriously lacking in everything but "can do sir" and this is the problem. Who will stand up and say "I don't recommend this sir because". We simply do not have military leaders that have the guts and understanding and, most importantly, the attitude to accept anything but "can do sir". we've lost it!
Posted by: stanley henning | 11 February 2012 at 09:59 PM
You didn't come to my AO, Davis, and I cannot understand where in Hell you came up with this disparaging view of the situation or the tremendous progress that the Afghan security forces and NATO servicemen have made on the ground. Your statements are baloney.
A.D.S.
Posted by: A.D.Sinnott | 15 February 2012 at 11:46 PM