Bad month in Afghanistan rippled across U.S.

[unhappycamper]

In this undated file photo released by Jake A. Herrle, Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver, second from left, and Sgt. Gary Robinson, left, deliver medical supplies to a clinic in northern Uganda. Sklaver was a humanitarian who lived and died trying to fix whatever he found broken in the world, his friends and family said. The 32-year-old reservist had worked on refugee issues in Africa and started a nonprofit organization that brought clean drinking water to thousands. He was killed in southeastern Afghanistan when his civil affairs unit was ambushed.


Bad month in Afghanistan rippled across U.S.
By Sharon Cohen - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Nov 22, 2009 16:05:20 EST

Every afternoon, seven days a week, Ed Epley has a 5 p.m. appointment with the war.

He pulls a protest sign from his maroon 1961 Volkswagen van — he has 30 to 40 stashed inside — and joins a one-hour peace vigil at the Benton County courthouse in Corvallis, Ore. Epley has been doing this, day in and day out, since the U.S. launched its first air strikes on Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001.

“I really don’t look at it as a job, it’s just part of the daily task of being a citizen,” says the 73-year-old retiree.

More than eight years later, this small, 365-day-a-year vigil may seem quixotic. But it stands apart for another reason: It has kept a steadfast focus on the war. Even though hundreds of thousands of troops have served, even though more than 800 members of the military have died, the marathon war in Afghanistan has, for long stretches, been off the nation’s radar.

~snip~

The deaths of 62 Americans — including three federal agents — in ambushes, roadside bombs and helicopter crashes turned a spotlight on an often overlooked reality: The war is forever shaping lives here.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_afghanistan_deadly_month_112209/



unhappycamper comment: A few minor points:

1. The current death toll of American soldiers in Afghanistan is nine hundred twenty seven -- > http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx
2. November 2009 is the deadliest November in the eight years we have been occupying Afghanistan --> http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx