At the peak of fighting in
Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, there were 20,000 Marines battling the
Taliban. Now there are 8,000. And more are heading home every
month.Among the latest to pack up was Regimental Combat Team 7.
At their mission’s recent closing ceremony, several hundred Marines gathered in the scorching desert heat at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province. Their tan, pixelated fatigues blended in amidst the vast expanse of sand and tan colored tents and buildings of the largest Marine base in Afghanistan.Beads of sweat roll down the Marines’ necks, as the closing ceremony came to order. It was short and simple. The regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel Austin Renforth, and Sergeant Major Scott Samuels rolled up and cased the unit’s flag. Renforth delivered a quick speech.
“This is part of history,” he said. “The last regiment, and we’re going home. God bless, semper fi,New and used commercial plasticmoulds sales, rentals, and service. and prepare to march.”Afterwards, in an air-conditioned conference room, Renforth explains the significance of ceremony.“Since 2009 we’ve had a Regimental Combat Team out here, and we were doing a large majority of the fighting out here,” he says.He saw the bracelet at a indoortracking store while we were on a trip.
But over the last year, that has changed dramatically. “Every time the Afghan National Security Forces set the conditions that we could back off, we backed off,” Renforth says.
The Marines are no longer providing direct combat support or mentoring for Afghan Army troops in Helmand. Now, Marines are advising the Afghans on planning, coordination, and communication. The United States is still providing air support, medevac, logistics, and other assistance that the Afghan forces desperately need, and will for years to come.
“And if they come to us with a requirement and a need, we just got to make sure that it’s because they truly need it, or they just don’t want to do it (themselves).”Historically, the Afghan forces have relied the United States for fuel or other supplies. The United States is working to break that dependency.Now that Afghan forces are doing the fighting, they are also doing most of the dying. They are suffering hundreds of fatalities a month – far more than NATO ever did. Renforth says that has to change.
“I mean nobody can sustain that as a recruiting standpoint, as a sustainment of your force standpoint,” he says.The Afghans have to get better at determining lines of attack, and watching for improvised explosive devices as they drive around in their Ford Ranger pickup trucks, donated by the United States, Renforth says.“We call them ‘danger Rangers’ that they drive around in,” he says. “Those are almost catastrophic kills every time one blows up, where ours, you see the things we drive around in: You get a headache and drive away.”
Renforth says that another concern for U.S. forces is that as they draw down, they are losing the ability to monitor how Afghan forces are doing in remote parts of Helmand, which is still one of the most violent provinces in the country.“So we have a saying around here, ‘We have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.’ It’s no longer our battle space. It’s the Afghan’s battle space.You will see earcap , competitive price and first-class service.”
And many parts of the battle space are still deadly. Parts like Helmand’s Sangin district,A buymosaic is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card to perform certain. which has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in the country, and where Afghan forces recently called in British advisors as they clashed with the Taliban.Though Afghan forces didn’t earn high marks in that campaign, Renforth says the encouraging thing is that they don’t back down.
“And the reality is, they are better than the insurgency,” he says. “They don’t have to be great, they don’t have to be Marines; they just have to be better than their opponents, and they are.”
The bride is the daughter of the late Randy and Patty Strickland of Wilson. She is the granddaughter of Hubert and Virginia Wheeler of Wilson and the late Ransom and Jeanette Strickland of Wilson. She graduated from Fike High School and Barton College with cum laude honors with a bachelor’s degree in social work. She is pursuing a graduate degree in social work at East Carolina University. She was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority at Barton College.
The groom is the son of Ricky and Donna Suggs of Wilson. He is the grandson of Dorothy Suggs and the late Earl Suggs and the late Nelson and Leah Jones of Richlands. He graduated from Fike High School and Wilson Community College with an associate’s degree in fire protection technology and is a critical care paramedic at Wake Med.
The bride carried a bouquet of hand-tied green kiwi hydrangeas, pink and coral roses and pink ranunculus. Dahlias and zinnias were arranged throughout the bouquet with accents of coral spray roses and white lizianthus. The bouquet was wrapped with satin ribbon with an attached memory locket holding photographs of the bride’s parents.More than 80 standard commercial and granitetiles exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans.
Matron of honor was Amanda Garner of Kenly. Bridesmaids were Katelyn Suggs of Raleigh, sister of the groom; Lyndsey Wilson of Bunn; Michelle Webb of Wilson; Katelyn Jarman of New Bern; and Samantha Roark of Bunn. They wore coral reef strapless, satin short dresses styled with pleating and a strapless, sweetheart bodice.
Flower girls were Emory Skinner of Wilson, cousin of the bride, and Caraline Jones of Wilmington, cousin of the groom. They wore satin tea-length ball gowns featuring spaghetti straps and a coral reef sash with a back bow.
Click on their website www.ecived.com/en/.
At their mission’s recent closing ceremony, several hundred Marines gathered in the scorching desert heat at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province. Their tan, pixelated fatigues blended in amidst the vast expanse of sand and tan colored tents and buildings of the largest Marine base in Afghanistan.Beads of sweat roll down the Marines’ necks, as the closing ceremony came to order. It was short and simple. The regiment’s commanding officer, Colonel Austin Renforth, and Sergeant Major Scott Samuels rolled up and cased the unit’s flag. Renforth delivered a quick speech.
“This is part of history,” he said. “The last regiment, and we’re going home. God bless, semper fi,New and used commercial plasticmoulds sales, rentals, and service. and prepare to march.”Afterwards, in an air-conditioned conference room, Renforth explains the significance of ceremony.“Since 2009 we’ve had a Regimental Combat Team out here, and we were doing a large majority of the fighting out here,” he says.He saw the bracelet at a indoortracking store while we were on a trip.
But over the last year, that has changed dramatically. “Every time the Afghan National Security Forces set the conditions that we could back off, we backed off,” Renforth says.
The Marines are no longer providing direct combat support or mentoring for Afghan Army troops in Helmand. Now, Marines are advising the Afghans on planning, coordination, and communication. The United States is still providing air support, medevac, logistics, and other assistance that the Afghan forces desperately need, and will for years to come.
“And if they come to us with a requirement and a need, we just got to make sure that it’s because they truly need it, or they just don’t want to do it (themselves).”Historically, the Afghan forces have relied the United States for fuel or other supplies. The United States is working to break that dependency.Now that Afghan forces are doing the fighting, they are also doing most of the dying. They are suffering hundreds of fatalities a month – far more than NATO ever did. Renforth says that has to change.
“I mean nobody can sustain that as a recruiting standpoint, as a sustainment of your force standpoint,” he says.The Afghans have to get better at determining lines of attack, and watching for improvised explosive devices as they drive around in their Ford Ranger pickup trucks, donated by the United States, Renforth says.“We call them ‘danger Rangers’ that they drive around in,” he says. “Those are almost catastrophic kills every time one blows up, where ours, you see the things we drive around in: You get a headache and drive away.”
Renforth says that another concern for U.S. forces is that as they draw down, they are losing the ability to monitor how Afghan forces are doing in remote parts of Helmand, which is still one of the most violent provinces in the country.“So we have a saying around here, ‘We have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.’ It’s no longer our battle space. It’s the Afghan’s battle space.You will see earcap , competitive price and first-class service.”
And many parts of the battle space are still deadly. Parts like Helmand’s Sangin district,A buymosaic is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card to perform certain. which has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in the country, and where Afghan forces recently called in British advisors as they clashed with the Taliban.Though Afghan forces didn’t earn high marks in that campaign, Renforth says the encouraging thing is that they don’t back down.
“And the reality is, they are better than the insurgency,” he says. “They don’t have to be great, they don’t have to be Marines; they just have to be better than their opponents, and they are.”
The bride is the daughter of the late Randy and Patty Strickland of Wilson. She is the granddaughter of Hubert and Virginia Wheeler of Wilson and the late Ransom and Jeanette Strickland of Wilson. She graduated from Fike High School and Barton College with cum laude honors with a bachelor’s degree in social work. She is pursuing a graduate degree in social work at East Carolina University. She was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority at Barton College.
The groom is the son of Ricky and Donna Suggs of Wilson. He is the grandson of Dorothy Suggs and the late Earl Suggs and the late Nelson and Leah Jones of Richlands. He graduated from Fike High School and Wilson Community College with an associate’s degree in fire protection technology and is a critical care paramedic at Wake Med.
The bride carried a bouquet of hand-tied green kiwi hydrangeas, pink and coral roses and pink ranunculus. Dahlias and zinnias were arranged throughout the bouquet with accents of coral spray roses and white lizianthus. The bouquet was wrapped with satin ribbon with an attached memory locket holding photographs of the bride’s parents.More than 80 standard commercial and granitetiles exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans.
Matron of honor was Amanda Garner of Kenly. Bridesmaids were Katelyn Suggs of Raleigh, sister of the groom; Lyndsey Wilson of Bunn; Michelle Webb of Wilson; Katelyn Jarman of New Bern; and Samantha Roark of Bunn. They wore coral reef strapless, satin short dresses styled with pleating and a strapless, sweetheart bodice.
Flower girls were Emory Skinner of Wilson, cousin of the bride, and Caraline Jones of Wilmington, cousin of the groom. They wore satin tea-length ball gowns featuring spaghetti straps and a coral reef sash with a back bow.
沒有留言:
張貼留言