A day at work in Afghanistan

I ran across the following video on a military aggregator site today - it shows in raw detail what life is like for many of our troops in Afghanistan these days.  The video begins immediately after a vehicle is struck by an IED - shot from the point of view of the troops INSIDE the vehicle that was hit. 

They are all surprisingly calm, a testament to their high level of training and to the incredible survivability they now have with the new MATV's that are being rolled out as fast as possible. The MATV is a smaller version of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles that helped win the war in Iraq. 

Now, the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicles carrrying our troops in Afghanistan are, in my estimation, poised to do the same in Afghanistan. When the Taliban realizes (and they are already) that the game has changed - that the roadside bombs they litter the roads with just aren't killing our soldiers very often anymore, they'll start to adjust their tactics - which means that in six months or a year, the roads will be much, much safer. 

This is a good thing, but it also carries risk. In Iraq when the insurgents could no longer kill us on the roads, they began wiring up entire houses with explosives - "house-borne IED's" they were called. And too many men were killed searching houses on patrol.  But that increases the civilian casualties, and so it led to the local populace turning against the insurgents. 

If we persevere, this will happen in Afghanistan, too. Be sure to watch to the end of the clip, when the soldiers hold a small worship service at their remote outpost. Watching our warriors giving praise to their creator is something that should warm your heart, and give you hope for America. Our men aren't just tough, they're GOOD.