Operation Enduring Freedom

The small group of eight eager and young Soldiers stepped out of their vans, not knowing exactly what to expect. They had taken one of the biggest steps in their careers, putting them as the first line of defense in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The sky was mostly clear on this warm, sunny September morning in the Midwest United States, with a few light fluffy clouds listing lazily by. Each of them had a different vision of the future as they nervously waited for their new training partners. The young nervous Privates who had never seen the horrors of war eye glanced around at the others, looking for some kind of reassurance they had made the right choice. The Specialists’ whose lives were unaffected by the dangers of combat but had listened eagerly to their comrades stories of heroism and valor, longing to be the hero of the story. The balding and slightly overweight Sergeant who longed…

Current situation: The initiation of Operation Enduring Freedom has been the beginning of an exceptionally long period of war. In total, 2.7 million service members have been to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, and over half of them have deployed more than once. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University (2015). Furthermore, research also shows that with each additional time that a Soldier is deployed to a combat zone, that the likelihood they are to…

Numerous veterans of the Vietnam War through Operation Enduring Freedom are faced with the disillusionment created by their enormous sacrifices and the slow removal of the U.S. military from the campaign. In turn, veterans and their families often lament the loss of friends, daughters, sons, lovers, spouses, parents, extended family members, sanity, and body parts in countries which are over-run after an American drawdown. This raises the question, do U.S. leaders have prior knowledge that a…

Two Navy Veterans that served together as flight deck crewmen aboard the USS Harry Truman. Birkinsha served from June, 2006 to March, 2011 and went on 2 deployments in the Persian Gulf during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom war campaigns. Brian Parker served in the Navy from Jan 2010 until Feb 2013. Parker went on 1 deployment in the Persian Gulf during Operation Enduring Freedom. Later he endured an injury on the flight deck in which the military granted him…

As the United States military, and the American public at large, struggle with the legacy and lessons of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq, and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General (Retired) Daniel Bolger’s book, Why We Lost, adds an important element to the debate. An element that questions the advice to political leadership, the strategy, and the leadership of the country’s senior military officers. Bolger’s service as a…

advantage over opponent caused insufficient training and human resources management. Pilots training was shorten, multitasked, and did not prepare for real missions. Pilots assigned to combat squadrons individually, needed to learn how to cooperate within different squadron rules that took time and was risky in real war environment. To avoid shoot downs in first few missions in the future conflicts, the US Airforce invented Red Flag exercises. With better training, and human resources…

War Veteran Participation in war changes a person, but participation in two wars extremely changes a person that only a few will fully understand. People who have never been there ask me what it was like. Did you get shot at or shoot anyone? Others will share stories about a sibling, cousin, friend, or someone they knew who went to fight in a war. Even though they know someone who fought in a war, they themselves don’t fully understand what I went through on a daily basis. Only your brothers in…

1. Are you authorized to work in the U.S.? A. Yes, I am a U.S. citizen born in Grand Island, Nebraska. 2. Are you a current or a former U.S. Government employee, i.e. former military, Federal Government employee? A. No 3. Do you currently hold an active US security clearances? Level: Held by: Last adjudicated date: A. No, however, held level of Public Trust with DoD & DoS during Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. Accordingly, I qualify and am able to obtain a Secret…

Operations Enduring Freedom Afghanistan began in October in 2001after the terrorist attack of 9-11. Which was an attack on the twin towers. The American government decided to repel with force. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization made the mutual defense clause.Other countries like Russia and Pakistan pledged support. This strategy pursued america and its government to destroy the Al-Qaeda group who destroyed the twin towers on September 11. America was then allowed to engage in combat and…

Military involvement in Afghanistan has been historically ineffective, and characterized by bad strategy. In order to run a successful campaign in this area, a military must develop an effort which incorporates tactics known as COIN operations to minimize the “Accidental-Guerilla” syndrome. Specifically speaking, three major pieces of COIN ideology are relevant in regard to the Afghan conflict. This particular campaign must seek to legitimize the Afghan government by creating local change…