Why We Fight

As cliche as the title is, I believe it to be necessary.  Only a month here and I think many have lost track of why we are here.  And as I am continuously told I will change with the arrival of the fighting season in late spring I want to put down why we fight now and then if the viewpoint changes I can look back and compare.  I had a serious conversation with some other soldiers last night about what exactly we are doing here.  Army command might use an official sounding strategy (COIN), but I am taking a more practical view.  Essentially I view us here as doing more than just walking around in villages looking for contact.  We are NOT here to draw fire for 12 months.  We are here to build enough of a structure in order to leave and never have to come back.  I believe Afghanistan is a unique place as a whole with many unique subareas.  Perhaps I am being too optimistic.  Whether I am or not isn't overly important.  What is important is the mission, keep everyone safe and kill the bad guys.  I told our commander our grand plans for what we would like to achieve this year.  I also told him that if only a fraction of those plans actually worked I would consider it a success.  Plan for the best, prepare for the worst.  We are not here to hold hands and be friendly to everyone we see.  We are here to be two-faced and skeptical.  We are here to offer our hand while holding a knife behind our backs just in case.  I don't distrust every Afghan I meet, but I also don't trust anyone.  I don't trust our US soldiers to not be biased based upon their previous deployments here.  I don't trust our local workers to not know or even actively provide information to insurgents.  What I do trust is our abilities.  I trust my personal abilities and my fellow soldiers.  I believe we are competent and adequately trained to handle battle situations.  But if we as a fighting force do not keep an open mind and try our very best to think from another perspective, we are bound to fail.  "The victorious general only seeks battle when it has already been won." -Sun Tzu.  If we go on every mission expecting contact and just reacting to it we have already lost.  The victorious general will only go on a mission to which they already know the outcome.  The time for moving to contact has passed.  It is only my opinion and therefore not worth much, but if we are to succeed here in our battle space and in Afghanistan as a whole we need to do our very best to think as the enemy and act accordingly.  Otherwise, we have already lost.