Things we don't understand - the Afghan war, part 5

Stories I get from Afghan war are mostly discouraging. The latest relates back to Afghan war post 3. Not only do taxpayers not understand Afghanistan and its culture, we have no clue about how our military operates.

The context

Back in Afghanistan post 3, the story was about how the USAF (U.S. Air Force) runs things at Baghram airbase near Kabul. USAF arrogance and incompetence was center stage. By comparison, this makes the USAF look good. The loons running the USAF aren't just arrogant and disconnected from reality. They are a disgrace.

The new story

After the rocket attack incident at Baghram described in Afghanistan post 3, USAF medical facilities administrators decided to have a meeting that included even lowly military medical officers from other U.S. medical branches (not Air Force). No one knows what prompted that incongruity. At that meeting, USAF administrators deigned to discuss the situation around rocket attacks on Baghram and the USAF's refusal to send out USAF doctors to help wounded American personnel until after the "all clear" sounded. By then, most seriously wounded American soldiers would have died.

The Air Force side of the story: At the meeting, which included medical personnel from other U.S. military branches and contractors, USAF medical administrators proudly made the following two points (self-evident and irrefutable, in their opinion):

1. After the weekly rocket attack on Baghram, Air Force medical people would continue to not move from their air-conditioned, bomb-proof medical bunker with big flat screen TVs and cappuchino machines until after the all clear sounded. It didn't matter if U.S. military people on the base died before then or not.
2. Air Force medical personnel were too valuable to go out to rescue injured U.S. military personnel until it was safe. USAF medical lives ranked above normal soldiers, especially one in other military branches (Army or Marines).

In response to that lunacy, an doctor from another military branch piped up and said that he/she would be willing to go out immediately after an attack and try to help wounded U.S. soldiers before the all clear sounded, even if that meant the he/she was going in harms way. Then the U.S. military medical person said that he/she would bring the wounded back to the USAF's nice, safe, bomb-proof hospital before wounded U.S soldiers died.

A civilian contractor (ex-U.S. military) at the meeting piped up and said that he/she would do exactly the same.

The USAF administrators (administrators, not doctors) responded this way (paraphrasing): "Contractor, you cannot do that (save wounded U.S. military personnel) because that isn't in the scope of your contract."

The contractor responded (paraphrasing): "I don't care if trying to save them is in the scope of my contract or not. I am going to do everything I can to save wounded U.S. soldiers and I don't care if the all clear has sounded or or if it is safe or not. I will do that because it is the right thing to do and just try to stop me."

The contractor was pissed off - and rightly so.

The doctor from another branch (not USAF) said, "fine USAF medics, not USAF doctors, can go and help wounded U.S personnel. That way USAF doctors will not be in jeopardy."

The USAF administrators (doctors and nurses who had not treated patients in years) said, "Huh, we have medics!! What are you talking about???" Even if we do have medics, they are too valuable to jeopardize. Implying: "As if we are in a war or something like that, you stupid numb nuts".

Then the USAF administrators said, you (non-USAF doctor) could go out and try to save wounded soldiers, implying: "You are not as valuable as USAF doctors. We don't care if you die or not."

The non-USAF doctor said that he/she would bring the wounded back to the USAF hospital and then let USAF doctors save our wounded. In response to that, the USAF administrators said: "You can't do that without a printout of the patient's medical records."

The non-USAF doctor had no response to that idiocy. He/she lives in a B hut. B huts have plywood walls, intermittent electricity, usually no printers, not much heat and not much air-conditioning. B hits are primitive. Doctors in B huts can't print out the patient's records most (or all) of the time.

By contrast, the USAF hospital has electricity, heat and air-conditioning all of the time and the exact same records that the USAF was demanding from the non-USAF doctor for admission of dying U.S. soldiers into the USAF's hospital.

The non-USAF doctor then said, fine, I may or may not be able to get the patient's records. I don't care. I will just bring them here in a USAF ambulance to the USAF hospital and your doctors will do the right thing, i.e., try to save them. They don't have to leave the safety of the secure hospital bunker.

The meeting ended.

A couple of days after that meeting the USAF released a memo to medical personnel at Baghram. It said that after a rocket or other attack on Baghram, the USAF would park a big truck front of the hospital admissions area until after the all clear had sounded. If anyone wounded showed up before it was safe, they would not be admitted into the hospital . . . . . 

End of story.

Hm. Is anything wrong with this? Something amiss?

Why do we tolerate this?

This isn't just about the apparent hopelessness of the Afghan war and our profound ignorance of that country and its people. That isn't the only issue. What in the hell are us taxpayers funding in terms of how our military operates? Is this kind of incompetence and arrogance acceptable? 

Where is the press?

I do not expect to hear things like this from our politicians or the military. I get that. But, where is the American press? Why do I hear stories like this from close confidants and not the press? Why? Where is the press? AWOL, that's where. They kiss themselves and marvel in their useless Ivy League brilliance. For the most part, the U.S. press is worthless. If this is what U.S. journalism gets us, to heck with them. What we get is the Faux News propaganda hour with no pretense of "journalism". With few exceptions, the press is a failed institution.

Who is on your side?

How much do we average citizens really know about how our military operates? Not much, despite the tens of billions we rain down on them every year, freedom of speech, the freedom of information act and the idiot press. Who is on the average citizen's side? Nobody, that's who. Not the USAF. And certainly not the Democratic or Republican parties. This sad story is just another grain of sand - a rock actually - on the scale that tips in favor of the conclusion that American two-party politics is a failure.