Four More US Troops Killed in Our Longest War

US troops are still being killed in an unpopular war in which it is impossible to tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys” and where a large portion of the country’s population supports whatever group is predominant in their village on any given day.  Today (7 October 2013) marks the Afghanistan War’s 12th anniversary and the beginning of its 13th year.  It has replaced the Vietnam War as the longest war in which US troops have fought. 

In much the same way that the US government finally managed to extricate itself from the Vietnam debacle, US troop strength in Afghanistan is being slowing reduced while at the same time while responsibility for the war’s fighting is being handed over to a weak central government.

Fortunately, unlike the Vietnam War, which ended with over 58,000 US military personnel killed and more than 300,000 wounded, Afghanistan has claimed fewer casualties.  There have been 1,575 US military personnel killed and slightly more than 3,400 wounded.  Of course, the war in Afghanistan has not yet ended.

The following table is a comparison of military and civilian casualties from Vietnam and Afghanistan:

The People Affected	Afghanistan War		Vietnam War
	Killed	Wounded	Killed	Wounded
US Military	1,575	3,400	58,168	304,000
Afghan Military	8,587	25,761
Afghan Civilians	8,913	15,863
Vietnamese Military			440,357	499,000
Vietnamese Civilians			587,000	935,000

In contrast to both of these lengthy wars, The US participation in WWII lasted slightly less than four years, yet claimed 400,000 US lives.  Germany lost 3.5 million, Japan 2 million, and the Soviet Union 10 million military personnel killed.  Apparently the length of a war is not directly proportional to the number of casualties that it produces.

When will the next war start?  Where will the next war be?  How many will die?  What will it prove?

Toccoa

Nothing too exciting today.  We visited Carol Ann’s hometown of Toccoa, GA today.  It’s only about 25 miles or less from here (Carolina Landing RV Park in Fair Play, SC).  We did the obligatory "ride-bys" of the old home places of her family and friends and took a few photos.  Nothing anyone would get excited about unless you once lived in Toccoa.  After the tour we stopped at the local Walmart for some groceries before heading back to Carolina Landing.

Toccoa does have at least one claim to fame.  Curahee Mountain, which, during WWII, served as home to Camp Toccoa.  This is where, beginning in July 1942, paratroopers of the 506th and 501st Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR) of the 101st Airborne Division, the 511th PIR of the 11th Airborne Division, and the 517th PIR of the First Airborne Task Force underwent rigorous physical training in preparation for the roles they would play in the war.  Every training day included a run of 3-miles to the top of Curahee Mountain and 3-miles back down.  A total of 17,000 paratroopers were trained at Camp Toccoa.

The 506th and 501st PIRs would jump into France on D-Day, the 511th PIR would serve in the Pacific Theater, and the 517th PIR would invade Italy.  The 506th PID adopted the motto, “Curahee”, the name of the mountain that challenged them and the Indian word for “Stand Alone,” because they would be parachuting behind enemy lines on D-Day.  E Company, Second Battalion of the 506th was the unit featured in Stephen Ambrose's book “Band of Brothers," which became an 11-hour TV miniseries in 2001.

A project to restore Camp Toccoa is now underway and the Curahee Military Museum has recently opened in Toccoa.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late to go through the museum.  I served in an artillery battalion of the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and was disappointed that we were unable to experience the museum.

Tomorrow we will be back on the road but only driving about 90 miles to Gaffney, SC and the Freightliner Custom Chassis Service Center. We have an appointment for Wednesday morning to have the chassis, engine, and drive train serviced (change fluids and filters, lubricate, etc.) and will be spending tomorrow night in their parking lot (they do provide electricity).