Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast

Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb blast
Deaths – thought to have occurred in Kandahar province – take number of US troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 32
Associated Press in Kabul
Saturday 4 May 2013

Five US service members were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the latest deadly attack against international troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive this week.

The coalition did not disclose the location of the blast, but Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said the coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.

Captain Luca Carniel, a public affairs official for the US-led coalition in Kabul, confirmed that all five were Americans. With the deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year including 32 Americans.
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Afghanistan Cargo Plane Crash Kills 7 Crew Members With Florida Ties

Afghanistan Cargo Plane Crash Kills 7 Crew Members
Reuters
Posted: 04/29/2013

KABUL, April 29 (Reuters) - Seven crew members of a U.S.-run cargo plane were killed on Monday when their plane crashed shortly after take off from Bagram air base near the Afghan capital Kabul, the cargo operator told Reuters.

The Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the crash, but NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there were no reports of insurgent activity in or around the base, which is one of the largest in the country and located about 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul.

"We did lose all seven crew members," a spokeswoman for National Air Cargo told Reuters by telephone from Florida, where the company is located. The nationalities of the crew members were not immediately clear.
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NATO Helicopter Crashes In Afghanistan

NATO Helicopter Crashes In Afghanistan
Huff Post
By KIM GAMEL
04/09/13

KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO helicopter crashed in a field in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two American service members.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force said the cause of the crash is under investigation but initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time.

It did not immediately identify the nationalities of those killed. But a senior U.S. official confirmed they were Americans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information ahead of a formal announcement.

The deaths raised to nine the number of Americans, including three civilians, killed in Afghanistan so far this month.
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MREs: Going to war with the meal you have

MREs: Going to war with the meal you have
Drawdown in hot chow hall breakfast underway in Afghanistan
By Gretel C. Kovach APRIL 5, 2013

If chow is morale, as the Marines say, then troops deployed to Afghanistan may be getting grumpier.

Because of security needs, cooks and other support staff are withdrawing from the war zone faster than service members who protect military bases. That means some who used to dish into hot meals at the chow hall now have to start their day ripping open a Meal, Ready-to-Eat packaged ration.

“As a part of the responsible drawdown of operational forces ... commanders in some areas have altered the ration cycle. The same number of meals is provided, but the type of meal may have changed. Commanders have not eliminated breakfast,” Army Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force, said in an email from Kabul.

Hot breakfasts cooked by food service specialists may be a casualty of the drawdown, but no one must go hungry. “No ISAF service member is being denied any meals,” Wojack said.
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Green Beret among the dead in Afghanistan insider attack

U.S. Green Beret among those killed in Afghan attack
By Mark Morgenstein and Masoud Popalzai
CNN
March 11, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A Green Beret is one of two Americans killed in Afghanistan, a U.S. official says
Two Afghans also are killed; 10 more Americans are wounded, coalition officials say
The assailant is dead, a U.S. official says
It was first fatal "green-on-blue" attack on coalition troops in two months

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two Americans -- one a Green Beret -- were killed Monday when an assailant wearing an Afghan National Security Forces uniform opened fire on the group, U.S. and NATO's International Security Assistance Force officials said.

The shootout in eastern Afghanistan didn't last long, as coalition forces "returned fire and killed the attacker," a U.S. official told CNN.

Two Afghan army personnel also were killed, said Gen. Zahir Azimi, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman. A U.S. military official told CNN that at least 10 Americans were wounded as well.

The assailant fired at the victims with a truck-mounted machine gun, Azimi said, after a meeting between coalition and Afghan forces at a military base in the Jalrez district of Wardak province, about an hour west of Kabul. Green Berets and Afghan forces are based there, a U.S. official said.
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2 Service Members Killed Insider Attack

General John Allen Retiring

Gen. John Allen, Recent Top Commander In Afghanistan, Is Retiring
NPR
by MARK MEMMOTT
February 19, 2013

Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan until earlier this month and had been on track to be the top NATO commander in Europe, is retiring from the military.

The White House early Tuesday afternoon released a statement from President Obama that says, in part:

"Today, I met with Gen. John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family. I told Gen. Allen that he has my deep, personal appreciation for his extraordinary service over the last 19 months in Afghanistan, as well as his decades of service in the United States Marine Corps. ...

"John Allen is one of America's finest military leaders, a true patriot, and a man I have come to respect greatly. I wish him and his family the very best as they begin this new chapter, and we will carry forward the extraordinary work that Gen. Allen led in Afghanistan."
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1st Lt. Alejo Thompson's killer killed by NATO

NATO kills insurgent behind US soldier's death
Miami Herald
BY PATRICK QUINN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan soldier-turned-insurgent who was feted by the Taliban for killing an American soldier during an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan last year has been killed in a raid, the U.S.-led international coalition said on Monday.

NATO identified the insurgent as Mahmood and said that he and an accomplice, identified only as Rashid, died in last Wednesday's operation in eastern Kunar province's Ghaziabad district. No other details were provided.

Mahmood is thought responsible for the May 11 killing of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Alejo Thompson, who died during an insider attack on a base in Kunar. The attack also wounded two American soldiers. Mahmood, in his early 20's and who went only by one name later fled. Thompson, 30, a father of two, was from Yuma, Arizona. He was based at Ford Carson, Colorado.
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Mom, returning from Afghanistan, surprises children

Mom, returning from Afghanistan, surprises children
The News Gazette
Fri, 12/14/2012
Meg Dickinson

CHAMPAIGN — It was a breathless moment, then a tearful reunion, as a Champaign woman surprised her children at school Friday when she returned home from serving in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Theresa Brownfield and her kids, first-graders Michael, Carolyn and Caitlyn, and third-grader Matthew, wrapped each other in a giant hug as Brownfield surprised them at Stratton Leadership and Microsociety Magnet School in Champaign.

Brownfield is home from serving a year for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. She works in human resources and with NATO, and was stationed at Kandahar Air Field.

Her son, Matthew, had been on stage with other third-graders, preparing for a holiday program scheduled for Friday night.
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Pentagon to Send Missiles, 400 Troops to Turkey

Members of NATO cannot take care of the wounded they already have and now they are sending more into Turkey?

Pentagon to Send Missiles, 400 Troops to Turkey
Dec 14, 2012
Associated Press
by Robert Burns

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order en route to Turkey from Afghanistan calling for 400 U.S. soldiers to operate two batteries of Patriots at undisclosed locations in Turkey, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters flying with Panetta.

Germany and the Netherlands have already agreed to provide two batteries of the U.S.-built defense systems and send up to 400 German and 360 Dutch troops to man them, bringing the total number of Patriot batteries slated for Turkey to six. The German Parliament is expected to formally agree to the deployment on Friday. NATO foreign ministers endorsed Turkey's request for the Patriots on Nov. 30.
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General Allen investigated for emails to Petraeus friend

Allen investigated for emails to Petraeus friend
Nomination to serve as top NATO commander placed on hold as investigation unfolds
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 13, 2012

PERTH, Australia — In a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a written statement issued to reporters aboard his aircraft, en route from Honolulu to Perth, Australia, that the FBI referred the matter to the Pentagon on Sunday.

Panetta said that he ordered a Pentagon investigation of Allen on Monday.

A senior defense official traveling with Panetta said Allen’s communications were with Jill Kelley, who has been described as an unpaid social liaison at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., which is headquarters to the U.S. Central Command. She is not a U.S. government employee.
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Polish Soldiers Discover Abandoned Baby on Side of Road in Afghanistan

Soldiers Discover Abandoned Baby on Side of Road in Afghanistan
By Kevin Dolak
Sep 24, 2012
AP

A newborn baby girl left abandoned on the side of the road in southern Afghanistan has been discovered by a group of Polish soldiers.
The soldiers came upon the baby, who they have named Pola, after Poland, wrapped in a towel on Wednesday while they were checking a route near their Waghez military base for safety, Defense Ministry spokesman Janusz Walczak told The Associated Press.
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4 U.S. Troops Killed In Afghan Inside Attack

Afghanistan NATO Attacks: 4 U.S. Troops Killed In Afghan Inside Attack
By HEIDI VOGT and MIRWAIS KHAN
Huffington Post
09/16/12

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in the south of the country before dawn Sunday, killing four American troops, according to Afghan and international officials.

It was the third attack by Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms against international forces in as many days, killing eight troops in all.

Recent months have seen a string of such insider attacks by Afghan forces against their international counterparts. The killings have imperiled the military partnership between Kabul and NATO, a working relationship that is key to the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces as international troops draw down.

Meanwhile, according to Afghan officials, airstrikes by NATO planes killed eight women and girls in another remote part of the country, fueling a long-standing grievance against a tactic used by international forces that Afghans say causes excessive civilian casualties.
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Combat stress can cause soldiers long-term brain damage

Notice that this study did not come out of the US. It came from Australia.

Combat stress can cause soldiers long-term brain damage, research finds
Sydney Morning Herald
Date
September 4, 2012
Bridie Smith

A US marine has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire. Photo: Reuters

THE stress of combat can change the way soldiers' brains are wired, resulting in a reduced cognitive function, such as the ability to focus on tasks.

Published in the journal PNAS this week, the results showed that exposure to ''combat stress'' - including armed combat, enemy fire, combat patrols and improvised explosive device blasts - affected the structural integrity of the midbrain and its ability to interact with the pre-frontal cortex.

Julie Krans, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of New South Wales, said the study findings illustrated that exposure to highly stressful situations wasn't just expressed via post-traumatic stress disorder.

''[The soldiers] may not be suffering a clinical disorder but they are still impairing their daily life,'' she said.

Dr Krans said more attention should be given to the effect of combat stress on cognitive functions such as attention, memory, problem-solving and decision-making.

The research studied a group of NATO soldiers before they were deployed to Afghanistan and compared the results with tests taken six weeks after the troops returned from a four-month stint.
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It happened again: Man in Afghan army uniform kills 3 NATO troops

Man in Afghan army uniform kills 3 NATO troops
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 29, 2012 16:39:18 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan says three of its troops have been killed by a man in an Afghan army uniform.

The attack is the latest in a rising number of disturbing shootings this year by Afghans soldiers — or insurgents dressed as government troops — on the international forces training them to fight the Taliban as the international coalition withdraws.
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4 soldiers confirmed dead in Afghan helo crash

UPDATE August 16, 2012
Black Hawk crash kills 7 Americans, 4 Afghans

4 soldiers confirmed dead in Afghan helo crash
Taliban says it shot down Black Hawk
7 U.S., 4 Afghans dead
By Heidi Vogt and Kay Johnson
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 16, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven American troops and four Afghans died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, the NATO military coalition said. The Taliban claimed their fighters shot down the aircraft. At least four U.S. soldiers were confirmed among the casualties, according to Col. Thomas Collins, Army spokesman in Afghanistan.

The crash marked another deadly day for the United States in Afghanistan, less than a week after six American service members were gunned down, apparently by two members of the Afghan security forces they were training to take over the fight against the insurgency as international combat troops prepare to exit the country by the end of 2014.
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Another Afghan police officer kills 3 U.S. Marines

UPDATES August 12, 2012

Son of Santa Clara County judge killed in action in Afghanistan
By Tracey Kaplan
Mercury News
Posted:08/11/2012

Five years ago, a blast from an improvised explosive device slammed into Capt. Matt Manoukian. Even with a debilitating concussion, the Marine leader scrambled to the aid of one of his men, quickly applying a tourniquet to his leg that saved the soldier's life.

But Manoukian's bravery and resourcefulness couldn't save him this week from a surprise attack in southern Afghanistan by an insurgent disguised as an Afghan policeman.

Manoukian, the 29-year-old son of a Santa Clara County judge and state appellate court justice, and two other Marines were fatally shot after a pre-dawn meal and security meeting at a police checkpoint. It was the third attack on coalition forces by their Afghan counterparts in a week.

The meal took place before dawn because of Ramadan, the month in which Muslims abstain from food during daylight hours. Manoukian's father, Judge Socrates "Pete" Manoukian, said Friday that his son was observing the holiday out of profound respect for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, whom he made a point to get to know during his four tours of duty.

"He was very into their culture," the judge said. "He managed to learn Arabic and worked on opening up a school and setting up a police station and got a courthouse running with some of his people. He even taught little kids to play baseball after one of our friends sent baseballs and bats.
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6 Americans killed in one day in Afghanistan
By Deb Riechmann
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Aug 11, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan working on an installation shared by Afghan and foreign forces shot to death three U.S. service members, raising to six the number of Americans killed by their Afghan partners in a single day, officials said Saturday.

The newly announced killings took place Friday, the same day that an Afghan policeman gunned down three U.S. Marines in a separate attack in southern Afghanistan.

Such assaults are on the rise and have heightened mistrust between foreign forces and the Afghan soldiers, police and others they are training and mentoring.

Four of the attacks occurred in the past week, raising questions about the safety of international trainers more than 10 years into the war. The U.S.-led coalition insists the attacks do not represent the overall security situation in Afghanistan and that they have not impeded ongoing work to hand over security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Most of the attacks have been carried out by Afghan police and soldiers or militants wearing their uniforms. There have been 26 such attacks so far this year, resulting in 34 deaths, according to the U.S.-led coalition.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks on Friday in Helmand province — an area of the south where insurgents have wielded their greatest influence.
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Afghan police officer kills 3 U.S. Marines
By Kay Johnson
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan police officer shot and killed three U.S. Marines after sharing a meal with them before dawn Friday and then fled into the desolate darkness of southern Afghanistan, the third attack on coalition forces by their Afghan counterparts in a week.

Thirty-one coalition service members have now died this year at the hands of Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in Afghan uniforms, according to NATO— a dramatic rise from previous years.

The assaults have cast a shadow of fear and mistrust over U.S. efforts to train Afghan soldiers and police more than 10 years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban's hardline Islamist regime for sheltering al-Qaeda's leadership. The attacks also raise further doubts about the quality of the Afghan forces taking over in many areas before most international troops leave the country in 2014.
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also

Afghanistan Sacks Its Security Chiefs: How Will That Affect U.S. Forces?

The parliamentary denoucement of the ministers of defense and the interior may be a sign of Afghan democracy at work but it makes the security situation much more volatile for U.S. forces preparing to withdraw

Helicopter Crash Kills 2 NATO Soldiers in Afghanistan

Helicopter Crash Kills 2 NATO Soldiers in Afghanistan
VOA News
May 28, 2012

NATO officials said two coalition members were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan Monday.

The coalition said it is investigating the cause of the crash. Initial reports said there was no enemy activity in the area.

Earlier, another coalition aircraft also crashed in eastern Afghanistan. There were no fatalities in that crash.

Also Monday, an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan killed a NATO service member.
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Iraq War vet wants to return his medals to NATO

Iraq War vet talks about why he wants to return his medals during NATO summit
Ohio guardsman's hitch as gunner in Iraq turned him against war

Iraq War veteran Greg Broseus, who has a photography exhibit at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, wants to hand over the medals he received for his service to a NATO representative during this weekend’s summit. (Nancy Stone, Tribune photo / May 14, 2012)

Dawn Turner Trice
May 14, 2012

Greg Broseus joined the Ohio National Guard in 2002 to help pay for college. He wound up spending all of 2005 in Iraq as a gunner on a convoy whose mission was to search for roadside bombs.

For his service, he received 11 medals. But now he wants to give them all back.

On Sunday, he plans to participate in a unity march for reconciliation and justice at the 25th NATO summit. The march, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, will culminate in a ceremony in which veterans will get rid of their medals.

Organizers said they wish they could hand over their medals to a NATO representative. Since that's unlikely, contingency plans range from members erecting a memorial site where the medals would be pinned to an American flag to tossing them over a barricade near McCormick Place, where NATO officials will be meeting.
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also on this

Colin Powell on the Bush Administration's Iraq War MistakesThe General's Orders
May 13, 2012
Colin Powell reflects on lessons from the battlefield to the halls of power-including the mistakes of the Iraq War, his infamous U.N. speech, and the crimes at Abu Ghraib.

Chaos in Baghdad

On the evening of Aug. 5, 2002, President Bush and I met in his residence at the White House to discuss the pros and cons of the Iraq crisis. Momentum within the administration was building toward military action, and the president was increasingly inclined in that direction.
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U.S. Marine killed by Afghan soldier

U.S. Marine killed by Afghan soldier
May. 7, 2012
By Chris Blake
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan soldier killed one U.S. Marine and wounded another before being shot to death in return fire Sunday in southern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of attacks against foreigners blamed on government forces within their own ranks.

Nearly 20 such attacks this year have raised the level of mistrust between the U.S.-led coalition and their Afghan partners as NATO gears up to hand over security to local forces ahead of a 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of combat troops.

In another sign of deteriorating security, the United States is considering abandoning plans for a consulate in the country's north because the building chosen was deemed too dangerous to occupy. The United States spent $80 million on the project despite glaring security deficiencies in the former hotel, according to a copy of a document drafted by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
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40K troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012

40K troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012
By Deb Riechmann and Slobodan Lekic - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 29, 2011 9:29:54 EST
KABUL, Afghanistan — Drawdown plans announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations will shrink the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan by 40,000 troops at the close of next year, leaving Afghan forces increasingly on the frontlines of the decade-long war.

The United States is pulling out the most — 33,000 by the end of 2012. That's one-third of 101,000 American troops who were in Afghanistan in June, the peak of U.S. military presence in the war, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.
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