The Afghan War on facebook



Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2009

by Walter Rhett
Charleston Perlo

Afghanistan is a facebook war. You can, with the click of the mouse, survey pictures of American troops in-country, in camp, and on the enemy's trail. You can read the prayers and best wishes of their families a 1000 miles away from the war theater. Or scan news from the wire services chronicling the movements and events of the campaign, and the decisions of America's international war partners. You can even review policy papers from the Pentagon. From top to bottom, the Afghanistan war effort is posted, uncensored on a government established facebook site. The facebook webpage, named, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, has 19,000 fans. Its URL link is http://www.facebook.com/usforcesafghanistan .

The page also has links to other military command pages. But the heart of its story is the human side. War is filled with extreme irony; American men and women are dying to preserve human freedom for a people half a world away. In turn, the defeat of terrorist forces in Afghanistan protects American freedoms. The war is won in small steps, the rebuilding of villages and schools, the smiles of children, the posts of Afgan citizens on the facebook page. But the war requires massive violence against the enemies of freedom. And as the war is won, American lives are lost. One world war two veteran who experienced the horrible of such an effort expressed its impact on his soul: "Allow those of us who served at the front to live out the lives we never expected to walk away with, quietly, with our lonely memories and our private, contradictory, and unresolved emotions of pride and shame."

The facebook page is sensitive to this balance.

The Chair of the US Joint Chiefs, Adm. Mike Mullen, in this light, flew to Afghanistan to attend the opening of a new girls school. A facebook comment highlights Adm. Mullen's and the US Command's mission, to allow the Afghan people to self-determine their future without tranny: My fiance is currently on deployment in Afghan, and has asked me to send him stationery and notebooks, little things that he can give to the local people working for them so these people can bring it home and give it to their kids. I'm doing all I can to help, as I am a school teacher and know what it's like for kids to go to school and not have anything to work with.Hope these girls will grow up smart and educated, the face of the new Afghan.





And a comment for the troops stationed in-country: To all those who are serving now and those who have served YOU are our heroes. May God protect and bless you. We are more than grateful to you and your families. Your selflessness will never be matched and will never be forgotten.





There is a post, too, about a soldier's last farewell. A picture shows a ramp ceremony, two formations at attention on the tarp, before the take-off of the final flight.

For an unfiltered look at the war, its terrible "burden and priviledge," the great odds that measure our compassion, our deepest choices between darkness and light, for the preservation of freedom against misguided passions, go to facebook. There, the real war is recorded as its being fought.

All photos taken in Afghanistan by US uniform personnel. (fair use.)

Thanks for reading!, Hope you found food for thought.

Walter Rhett writes Southern Perlo from Kudu Coffee, in downtown Charleston, SC. Southern Perlo, in print and photos, connects the American experience and builds a global heritage. Stir the perlo,leave a comment.

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Walter Rhett Walter Rhett attended Ohio State and writes from Charleston, SC. He writes about national and global affairs with an eye on Southern history and culture and enjoys listening to his readers.

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