Guest Authors | First Person Singular

The American Pedros - No Nonsense Combat Rescuers

Details: Published: Sunday, 27 September 2009 03:46; Written by Camilla Fuhr Nilsson

I asked Danish journalist Camilla Fuhr Nilsson to write two dispatches about USAF Pedros. Camilla accompanied me at Camp Bastion. Here is the first:

By Camilla Fuhr Nilsson
Published: 27 September 2009

It is the last weekend of August 2009. It is also the last weekend in southern Afghanistan for the currently deployed US Air Force rescue crew 129th . They have been in Camp Bastion for four months and have taken on over 400 rescue missions in this deployment. The Pedros, as they are called, are well-known for their kamikaze- like operations. They are far from kamikaze-like themselves but their personalities stand out. These are their last days in the theatre. This time around.

”Dude, I’m like so tired,” Adrian says to Josh.
The dark-haired Adrian, who looks a lot like Friends actor David Schwimmer and the smaller sweet-looking Josh have just completed a twelve-hour shift which had begun with a rescue mission at 2 AM and ended with a rescue that had taken their last strength away for the day. Now they have to get everything in order for the farewell BBQ tonight. It’s a very hot and sunny Saturday afternoon in Helmand.

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Disturbing Developments

Details: Published: Thursday, 06 August 2009 11:43; Written by Paul Mundt

06 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Paul Mundt is a long-time friend from my Special Forces days. Paul emailed today regarding some disturbing developments on the home front. He emailed the following to the Special Forces Association. The reader should find it self-explanatory. I've known Paul for a long time. Considering the source, my instinct is that this topic is introduced with great merit.

The following email was written by Paul Mundt and transmitted to the Special Forces Association:

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A Jump Start For Iraq’s Private Sector

Details: Published: Friday, 17 July 2009 13:13; Written by DR. JOHN A. NAGL and DANIEL RICE

17 July 2009

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On McNamara's Leaving

Details: Published: Tuesday, 07 July 2009 12:32; Written by Joseph Galloway

07 July 2009

By Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." —Clarence Darrow (1857–1938)

Well, the aptly named Robert Strange McNamara has finally shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of Hell.

McNamara was the original bean-counter — a man who knew the cost of everything but the worth of nothing.

Back in 1990 I had a series of strange phone conversations with McMamara while doing research for my book We Were Soldiers Once And Young. McNamara prefaced every conversation with this: "I do not want to comment on the record for fear that I might distort history in the process." Then he would proceed to talk for an hour, doing precisely that with answers that were disingenuous in the extreme — when they were not bald-faced lies.

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