Afghanistan is not Iraq, Viet Nam, or Cleveland

Seems as though we have to learn and relearn the most common of military lessons. Seems someone has not even watch the iconic Eastwood flick "Heartbreak Ridge" on how to survive and win "You're Marines now. You adapt. You overcome. You improvise," says Eastwood's character.

As several marines, one US and one Aussie, advised about the same topic: Trust the terrain, not the map. The plan calls for training Afghans to fight the fight we want them to fight and the way we would fight it.

People who care about each other, innovate, adapt, and overcome win - or at least don't lose because they took the advise of someone 10,000 miles away with no eyes on the ground and butt on the line.

clipped from www.registan.net The Importance of Local Relevance Their American trainers spoke of “upper body strength deficiency” and prescribed pushups because their trainees buckle under the backpacks filled with 50 pounds of equipment and ammo they are expected to carry. All this material must seem absurd to men whose fathers and brothers, wearing only the old cotton shirts and baggy pants of everyday life and carrying battered Russian Kalashnikov rifles, defeated the Red Army two decades ago. American trainers marvel that, freed from heavy equipment and uniforms, Afghan soldiers can run through the mountains all day — as the Taliban guerrillas in fact do with great effect — but the U.S. military is determined to train them for another style of war.