Soldier's E-mail Changes House Defense Chair's

[Joe Cocker]

Soldier's E-mail Changes House Defense Chair's Position on Afghanistan

By Julie Percha | ABC OTUS News – 5 hours ago

Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sitton knew there was the threat of casualties when he deployed to Afghanistan for his third tour of duty, but he said he was "totally on board with sacrifice for [his] country."

What he didn't agree with, though, was his chain of command, who mandated Sitton's 25-man platoon to take twice-daily patrols through fields littered with explosive devices. The platoon was averaging an amputee a day, Sitton said, and since the patrols didn't have an end goal, he didn't see the point of risking such extreme danger.

Sitton was so concerned with his platoon's safety and morale that in June, he wrote a measured letter to Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., who chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.


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Soldier's E-mail Changes House Defense Chair's Position on ...
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[ferrous]

Maybe the soldiers could just run out a wave of old men and children across, to clear the mine field before the soldiers ventured out?

Oooops, wrong Army.

[Joe Cocker]

"I feel myself and my soldiers are being put into unnecessary positions where harm and danger are imminent," Sitton wrote in an e-mail. "There is no endstate or purpose for the patrols given to us from our higher chain of command, only that we will be out for a certain time standard."

"We are walking around aimlessly through grape rows and compounds that are littered with explosives," he wrote.

On Aug. 2, less than two months after he sent the email, Sitton, 26, was killed by an IED blast. He left behind a wife, a 9-month-old son - and an 81-year-old Congressman with a new perspective on Afghanistan.

Young is the longest-serving Republican member of Congress, and he has continuously voted against troop drawbacks from Afghanistan, or even for setting a timetable for troop withdrawal. But after Sitton's death, Young noted a change of heart.

"I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can," Young told the Tampa Bay Times this week. "I just think we're killing kids that don't need to die."

Young's new position on Afghanistan comes as President Obama's troop drawback plan marks another milestone. Last June, Obama ordered the U.S. military to withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this summer, effectively ending the troop "surge" he deployed in 2009. Today the last of those troops left Afghanistan; 68,000 American troops remain.

The plan also calls for those American troops to be out of Afghanistan by 2014. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney supports this timetable, but Young's influential position in the House could mean more GOP support for the drawback.

In a meeting with Tampa Bay Times editors, Young said he's come to a new realization throughout the past three months, as he visited Veterans Administration hospitals and met with veterans about their time in the field.

Sitton's death also played a role, he said. Young said the Army Ranger predicted his own death in that e-mail, adding, "What he said would happen, happened."

Young has served in the House of Representatives since 1970 and is now running for his 22nd term.
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4,468 comments

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carlo
carlo • 13 hours ago

Bring our soliders home and let these coutries deal with there own problems.

Patrick
Patrick 42 minutes ago

we dont need to be there after 11 years, besides the people there have made it clear that they DONT want us there anymore..... so lets stop sending them money and aid, get our troops out, and let the them handle their own problems

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Mojac
Mojac • 16 hours ago

Unfortunately Staff Sgt. Matthew Sitton died. But he was right, with no clearcut goal we risk lives for nothing. This has been the problem with our approach to wars we have fought since Korea, no clear cut goal to win, instead we there only to limit the oppositions expansion.

Lou
Lou 1 hour 28 minutes ago

@duece you are so ignorant. What? Do you think we have gone to war with a mentality to win??!! No, the powers that be, want us to bleed as much as possible so they can reap their profits.Read up on your military history or better yet serve like I did. Rainhorse we need more people like you.

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Melanie
Melanie • 15 hours ago

More politicians SHOULD visit these places that they send these soldiers to as well as VA hospitals, and military bases to listen to what the soldiers who have been there have to say! Who knows more about the situation over there the person on a phone or in an email or the ones who are there? There is my answer

a
a 1 hour 39 minutes ago

Drive on, Justin, drive on! From a retiree of 24 years' service who did a little Army time before switching to Air Force. Stay sharp! Stay safe!

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boston
boston • 16 hours ago

Shows how out of touch and uninformed our poiticians are.

L' Natural
L' Natural 3 hours ago

Is that not exactly what the GOP want? Less government jobs, they should be voting for him according to your facts.

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Donald
Donald • 16 hours ago

Afghanistan has turned into a political war, and should be ended. There is no trust on either side.

JTex67
JTex67 2 hours 22 minutes ago

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case since George Washington, with very precious few exceptions. Men were fed to the war machine in the civil war, both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam. D Day was, in many ways, a botched operation, were it not for the bravery of the men who did the fighting, same for the islands in the Pacific, many of which had no strategic importance. Officers ordered their men to certain deaths for the "honor" of being in the last battle, AFTER, the armistace was signed in WWI, Pork Chop Hill in Korea, Hamburger Hill in Vietnam, and how many brave and brilliant men and minds were wasted in the service of generals' vanity, or the profits to be made by the military-industrial complex former 5 Star General and President, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about. Though I should mention, he was partly responsible for the D Day debacle, just as Churchill was responsible for the loss of thousands of men in an absurdly planned and implemented battle at Gillopoli in WWI. But we, as a nation, seem to love war and only too happy to send our sons and daughters in harms way [daughters being subjected to rape at an extraordinary level, while said field officers and generals sweep most of the accusations under the rug, while creating a stigma for rape victims in the military]. Not much to be proud of there. But those same scoundrels collect their $70,000 to $243,000 dollars in retirement every year and brag about their careers. If there is a God, I wish He/She/It would stop proving how foulable we are and rescue us from our own shotcomings...the ones created within us, or that we create within us...depending on how you look at it.

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MichaelW
MichaelW • 15 hours ago

Based on this soldiers words, HIs chain of command should be under investigation by the military for gross incompetence. If his superiors know the area is heavily mind (ie IEDs) then they should be sending in armored equipment to explode or counter the IEDs. They should also have the area under 24 hour surveillance to detect personnel planting the IEDs.

You make patrolsd through villages and towns, there is no strategic reason to send patrols through the same fields you know are seeded with IEDs.

First L
First L 7 minutes ago

Michael, I have been to Iraq and Afghan as a military nurse. I believe the story 100%

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Gigi
Gigi • 13 hours ago

And absolutely no one in the Army will ever explain why they had to patrol that dangerous field over and over - what was they leadership (I use that term loosely) trying to accomplish. I'm a retired officer, I've seen this kind of crap more times than I can count.

Robert
Robert 1 hour 7 minutes ago

I don't see that the congressman took any action based on the letter.Did he just ignore it? Why didn't the reporter ask about that.

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Diogenes
Diogenes • 16 hours ago

We could stay there100 years and be no closer to winning their harts and minds as we were 10 years ago.

Shootest1
Shootest1 2 hours 59 minutes ago

I am proud of our navy seals,but there not the only service men over there or in danger,I say bring every one of our men and women home,Period !!!!!!!!!!!!

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OldsRagtop
OldsRagtop • 16 hours ago

War always kills kids that don't need to die.

stpetejohnny
stpetejohnny • 13 hours ago

I can still remember what George McGovern said when he was running against Nixon for Presdient in 1972.
I am tired of Old Men dreaming up wars for Young Men to die in....

Polaris
Polaris • 13 hours ago

I want to know why his commanding officer sent him out on pointless, dangerous patrols.

Ken Duncan
Ken Duncan • 15 hours ago

My time in the military I got very tired of being told that someone in Washington said that we have to do this. Let the people in Washington do it.

Jim
Jim • 13 hours ago

While Sitton was not a Marine, I'll still give him a sincere "Semper Fi." I hope his child knows what a great man his father was. Out of Afghanistan by 2014? So sad, how many more 'Sitton' will Congress and the WH allow? Get out NOW! It never was worth it and it won't change.

PaPa Pat
PaPa Pat • 15 hours ago

Afghanistan will revert to the Islamic Taliban way of life even before the last American troop leaves, mark my words. This has been the worst foreign policy debacle since Vietnam.

Mike
Mike • 14 hours ago

This is why, when a leader wants to send our troops to war, they and their family should be on the front lines first. This includes all politicians, Presidents and military leaders. Its easy to send someone else's kid out to be killed but not so easy if its your own family.

GulfStar
GulfStar • 16 hours ago

"I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can," Young told the Tampa Bay Times this week. "I just think we're killing kids that don't need to die." Really, it took this long for him to figure this out. Whenever you try to occupy a country and be all huggy kissy with the enemy, you waste the lives of your Soldiers. Soldiers are trained for war, not politically fueled occupations to make nice with Islam.

My last tour in Iraq was nothing but sitting around for 15 months and listening to the Iraqis complaining that we are not giving out as much money as we used to.

Jim
Jim • 15 hours ago

These wars usually come with at book cover that gives the illusion we are fighting for a morale cause, but the core of every war is money and power and we are nothing but tools used by the rich and mighty. I am a patriot and served in Viet Nam, but I feel if you are a politition that wants a war, be willing to get your own hands and the hands of your own family bloody as well.