Just four days with new son: soldier, 21, killed

[ejbr]

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

The latest Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan has been identified as Mathew Hopkins - a 21-year-old who spent four days with his baby boy before returning to combat.

"He was excited about becoming a daddy," said his wife, Victoria Hopkins, in a statement.

"He only got to spend four days with our son when he was born before he had to go back overseas. I'm so glad that Mat got to meet his son and experience fatherhood."

She said her husband had the "most important job - he was a father to our son Alex, my husband and my best friend".

She asked for the family's privacy to be respected.

The Defence Force said Corporal Hopkins - the ninth Australian to die in the war - was based in Darwin with the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

He was shot during a battle with Taliban insurgents in the southern Oruzgan province on Monday.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/just-four-days-with-new-son-soldier-21-killed-20090318-91tv.html

---

We can argue about whether we should be there or not, but we all know that the general consensus is that this "operation" is/was mismanaged. Here is one of the many faces of those who suffer for this. With adequate planning and focus, could this child have grown up with his daddy? We'll never know.

[Zero T]

1. And we are sending 17,000 more troops there.

This will not end well.

[MADem]

2. He was working with Afghan Army Forces.

This "operation" is going to be the future model. Small units, working with Afghan Army, who do the bulk of the front work, at Forward Operating Bases in remote areas outside the safety of citified, pacified Kabul.

There wasn't any "mismanagement." They were AMBUSHED. This shit is brand spanking new. There's no paradigm that suffered a deviation. Now, if you want to talk about the Big Picture, that's a horse of a different color, but this guy was part of a brand new strategy that Obama wants to implement. It's a hearts-and-minds evolution, from the ground up, and focuses on rural areas with an eye towards essential security (policing, basically) by the Afghans, tamping down insurgency, digging wells and building roads, hospitals, schools, etc.

Further, it's springtime, and in spring, the taleb come out.

A member of Australia's first army training team assigned to live and train with Afghan troops, Corporal Hopkins more than halfway through his eight-month tour in Oruzgan at the time of his death.

The army has a 70-strong Operational Mentor and Liaison team which has been deployed in forward operating bases in Oruzgan province and engaging in regular patrols with Afghan army soldiers.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25205574-601,00.html

This guy was the first casualty of the "spring offensive" as it were. Expect the casualty count to go up over the coming months--the taleban like to fight in the good weather, and hole up during the winter months. Forces assigned to the regions where they're active are going to have to learn their ways and compensate. It's a situation where drone technology could come in handy.


Cpl Hopkins was on foot patrol with fellow Diggers and Afghan soldiers when the Taliban sprang the first ambush of the 2009 fighting season, in lush meadows near the village of Kakarak.

They opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades about 9.30am on Monday.

Cpl Hopkins , who suffered gunshot wounds, was put in a Black Hawk Medevac helicopter, but was dead on arrival at the Tarin Kowt field hospital.

The patrol radioed for urgent reinforcements, and help arrived in the form of two Dutch Apache helicopters whose 30mm chain guns and rockets routed the enemy.

Cpl Hokins was with the new Operational Mentor and Liaison Team.

The group was formed last year to train the Afghan military, with members participating in operations alongside their trainees, the first time Australian troops have done this since the Vietnam War.


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25205432-5005961,00.html

It's a heartbreaking situation for his family, certainly. That "mid tour leave" is an interesting feature of the Australian military, as a side note. It would be interesting to do a study and see how that feature correlates to PTSD statistics, or casualty rates, for that matter.

[ejbr]

5. Yet do we know

whether this type of operation would have been necessary if the war was managed correctly from the beginning? If we never went into Iraq, how would this was panned out? These are the questions that are nagging me, not that this particular assignment was poorly executed.

Cheers for the links.

[MADem]

6. It's what should have been happening from the beginning.

The "Coalition Forces" haven't had any real, sustainable and impactful presence in the outlying areas to any great extent in all this time.

This has nothing to do with Iraq, unless you're referencing the shortage of forces in Afghanistan as a consequence of Iraq. In that case, yeah, sure--if we'd been able to use those forces in 'the 'Stan' and continue to contain Saddam the way Bill Clinton did, with no fly zones and a bit of HUMINT and other intel gathering methods, it might not have been this particular Aussie kid dying, but odds are there would have been (as there will be--and we need to realize it's a-gonna happen) deaths along the way as this new strategy is implemented. We will have an opportunity to see the new "Dover Policy" (caskets coming home) in action--it's springtime, when the Taleban's thoughts turn to roadside bombs, RPG attacks, and other means of death, disruption and chaos. Even as we chat, they're probably already raping young girls, shaming them so that suicide is the only option, and loading 'em up with explosive vests so that they can redeem their shame with blood sacrifice! That IS how those cretins roll.

What remains to be seen in the entire Afghanistan equation is if Karzai plays ball. He's a bit pissed at having to work for a living--Bush's cretins did everything save wipe his ass. He's been getting a bit annoyed lately, and making noises about how he's not happy with us. He could bollocks-up the works and make it difficult for us over there if he can retain power and chooses not to be helpful. That would make it more difficult for us to address this whole "Osama" crowd that's been raising hell and still intends to do us and anyone else they don't like harm, but worst of all, it will really suck for the women in Afghanistan--they're still under some of the worst oppression in the world.

[ejbr]

7. Sigh....cheers. n/t

[MADem]

8. Sadly, my prediction has come true even sooner than I thought--four Canadians were killed today.

Two separate incidents.

Stand by for a LOT more of this stuff. The Taleban are in a "stand and fight" mode right now. They suspect, and it could well be because of this new strategy, that if they don't do it now, that the people of Afganistan won't stand with them. The people are sick of those assholes with their onerous rules, in particular the rules against MUSIC (Afghans love music) and dance, and the requirement that everyone (oops--males, but then, females aren't "everyone"--they're property) wear a beard (nothing worse for a guy who can't grow a good one to have a wispy one--it's ...er, emasculating, and they become objects of ridicule, so they like the option of not having one).

These guys want to watch the Pakistani soap operas, listen to the music, dance at weddings and have a bit-o-fun. If the coalition forces in the 'Stan can get a handle on how they are doing this and push back, and get the people to help them, it should work. The real trick is getting the Afghans themselves to take over the dodgy stuff.

[CRK7376]

9. That's a nasty

place near the end of the world, I know I spent time in Tarin Kowt and Deh Rahood in the Province of Oruzgun. Nasty place indeed. No power, no lights, little water, people that did not want us there...My prays to the young soldier and his family.

[Stargazer09]

3. Politics aside

It's always sad to read stories like this, even if the young man had been killed in a car accident near his home.

[ejbr]

4. True

as well as knowing that Afghans are going through the same heartbreak.

[Tim01]

10. Sun Tzu

He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue... In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War

[opihimoimoi]

11. Sun Tzu?? Them Pubs would never get caught reading that book...