I'm reluctant to criticize the military as I have a lot of respect for our professional soldiers, I don't want to play the armchair general, but this really makes me angry. You may have seen the news reports today about the 8 soldiers killed in Afghanistan defending a base that will be soon closed. Wait, that's not the tragedy, the tragedy is where the base was located. Military strategy and tactics have changed a lot over the history of human conflict but there are some things that are basic and unchanging and one of those is the simple rule that you don't give your enemy the high-ground. Since ancient times military bases, camps, and forts were built on whatever local hill, precipice or mountain that would allow them to command the area. Take a look at this video from MSNBC, note the terrain and the location of the base and consider the situation the soldiers were put into by a commander who should have known better. Eight American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, not by the Taliban, but by the negligence of their commander. Shame.
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