Marine's Launch Assault in southern Afgahnistan

You may have heard on the news that the Marine's have launched a major assault on Marjah in the southern part of Afghanistan. This is one of the Taliban's strongholds.

There is some information here and here. It is frustrating to me that most of the best information these days come from newspapers in Europe. I didn't see any real detail about what is happening over there in American media until a wayward missile hit a civilian location. The second link talks about the stifling rules of engagement that can cripple our troops efforts to win. Here is an example from the UK's Times Online paper:

US Marines said they are constrained by strict new rules of engagement that make their task more dangerous. Under the rules, troops cannot fire at people unless they commit a hostile act or show intent.

Corporal Travis Anderson, 20, from Iowa, said his platoon had repeatedly seen Afghan fighters dropping their guns into ditches before melting away into the civilian population.

“It’s hard to fight a war like this,” he said. “They’re using our rules of engagement against us.”

And there is more. One of Lisa's friends is over there assisting two of the two infantry units involved, known as the Marjah Marines. As a result of the rocket incident they are no longer beging allowed to use them to target the bad guys.

Keep them all in your prayers. This information from the mom of Lisa's friend brings home just what they face.

(Lisa's friend) called last Thursday. Her unit had a meeting the night before and was told the (stuff) is about to hit the fan and to call home to make peace with your loved ones and paper work. While she has a desk job she is also required to drive convoys when ever needed. She had a convoy the day before and was scheduled for one the next day, which happened to be Friday, the day the Marines went in to Marjah. Her last thoughts were for me to “tell Dad I love him very much.”

UPDATE: (She) also called her Mom very early Monday morning. She is back at her desk job. Her Mom said she was fine and she sounded great.

Lisa qualifies as Sharp Shooter

Lisa finished here work on rifle range last Friday finishing just short of Marine Expert by a few points. She said one shooting table, the rapid fire at 300 yards cost her the Expert qualification.

The good news is that qualification was the final step for her to be pinned as a Corporal which should happen in a month or two at the most. She bought her chevrons and pins which they are required to have with them all the time. The promotion usually happens without warning so they have to be prepared for it to happen.

Last step on the way to Corporal!

Lisa has been on the Rifle Range for the last week. Today was test day and she "qual'd" That is the Marine lingo for passing score.

She said she was on pace to score Expert, the top rank, but didn't score as well on the rapid fire series as she normally does. But she is hard on herself and it probably isn't all that bad. She has testing on moving targets tomorrow which provides a chance for her to boost her score.

In any case she was relieved after last year and said this was the last thing she needed to pass before she can obtain a rank of Corporal. No telling when they will actually do that. The Marines are kind of funny that way. But is should happen in the next month or two.