Photo By Logan Pierce | FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Sangin District, Helmand province, Afghanistan - Adm....... read more read more
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FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, Sangin District, Helmand province, Afghanistan - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen visited the Marines and sailors of 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at Forward Operating Base Jackson, July 30, in an effort to find out growing concerns and answer questions concerning changes to the fiscal budget for the military, the work completed since his last visit and the continual development of the Afghan National Security Forces.
This was the chairman’s second visit to the district of Sangin since 1/5 took control of the area in March.
“It’s good to be back with you. I have watched since I was here in April the progress. I would like to say how impressed I have been seeing the progress you have been able to make in the battle space,” said Mullen to the Marines and sailors who gathered to hear him speak. “I want to let you know that’s critical progress. I know it comes with great sacrifice; you have lost fellow Marines.”
“There is still a lot of work to be done; I know that you know that. In this province, you are at the core of completing what some people thought couldn’t be done.”
Mullen also cautioned them against becoming complacent in the time they had remaining.
“We are in a time right now where year-to-year the number of attacks is down. That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to jump back up,” said Mullen. “You have been here when it did so that certainly could happen. The progress we have been able to make, in great part because of what you have done, is really going to force the Taliban into making some decisions they haven’t had to make in the past. Continue to keep the pressure on,” said Mullen.
Mullen mentioned the development of the Afghan National Security Forces in Sangin and their importance to the recent timelines for the U.S. Forces draw down in Afghanistan.
“I am confident based on what I have seen that we can make that work. There is no question that we will meet the deadlines,” explained Mullen. “I am fairly encouraged by the evolution of the ANSF. When I look back over last couple years, it’s pretty extraordinary what they have done.”
“They have made an extraordinary amount of progress and in the end they are the way home,” said Mullen. “They are the ones who are going to have to take this over. They are the ones who are going to have to secure their own people and they have taken significant steps forward to do that.”
Before opening the floor up for questions, Mullen took care of a popular question regarding the ongoing budget concerns and how it will affect the military.
“This is a big debate of having a legal debt limit if you will,” explained the chairman. “Obviously the political leaders are going through that as we speak.”
“We won’t lose focus on you. We won’t lose focus on your families. We won’t lose focus on resourcing and funding the operations here, but we are all going to have to tighten our belts,” assured Mullen. “This is the third time I have been through this. We need to do it well, deliberately and carefully, and ensure that we don’t generate unintended consequences we don’t understand.”
After the question and answer session, Mullen sat down to eat with some of the Marines and sailors who have spent the past five months working to make the differences Mullen cited possible. For some of the junior Marines, this was an enlightening visit and let them know they are not forgotten.
“There was a lot of good information that we usually have to get out of some other source,” said Lance Cpl. William K. Gilliam Jr., a driver for Mobile Assault Platoon, Company B, 1/5. “It was nice to have someone who is there in the conversations and in the discussions and was able to give us a firsthand answer to the questions we had to ask.”
“It reassured me with how he talked about our specific situation,” added Gilliam, who rated his combat action ribbon in June during the increased attacks to the north which Mullen referenced. “It’s nice to hear the topics we talk about are getting discussed at that level.”
“Some of our concerns at the junior enlisted level are the same concerns at that senior level,” said Gilliam, 21, a 2008 graduate of Weimer High School.
Editor’s note: Regimental Combat Team 8 is currently assigned to 2nd Marine Division (Forward), which heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Force and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
| Date Taken: | 07.30.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2011 08:12 |
| Story ID: | 74573 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE JACKSON, SANGIN DISTRICT, HELMAND PROVINCE,, AF |
| Web Views: | 996 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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