War Can Change, And It Has.

L.T. Cheek and his troops had just climbed up a switchback road towards The Taliban's city, Wanat. Wanat is the location of the bloodiest battle ever fought between the US and Afghanistan since 2004 (trust me, that's saying a lot). Enemy lookouts watched from high ridges. They had devices like walky-talky(s). (Sort of like the "intruder" relay at The Great Wall of China). In the first stage of the war in Wanat, we had a mere 120 soldiers in extremely hostile enemy territory. We had a small outpost in a raging fire of however many Taliban troops there are out there. In the next stage, we will have multiplied the # of U.S. troops by 175(for a total of 21000 soldiers)! A majority of them will stay in the bases being built on the SE edge of Wanat. The dramatic increase in the amount of American troops can effect the behavior of the children and other citizens. It is surprising how much tolerance or intolerance could be shown or how different the same nationality of people can feel. Some children waved, some others stuck their middle fingers up into the air, and some even threw stones. (how abused would would you have to feel to throw a rock at someone holding a gun?!). But stones weren't the worst, there was a woman carrying an assault rifle and a 12 year old boy with a RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). It is a sad thing to see a war that has escalated to the point where 12 year olds are throwing RPGs at the U.S. Army.

My Source: NYT