A Critique On The Consequences Of Troop Deployments Done For Political Reasons

ARMORED TOUR - A member of the U.S. 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit gives U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Wilson a tour of an armored vehicle during a Marine sustainment training exercise, Jan. 30, 2010. Wilson is the commander of Amphibious Squadron 7, the command element for the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group, which is supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsiblity. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Tim Hawkins

In Harm’s Way: Obama’s Shell Game Puts Troops In Danger -- Big Journalism

This is the kind of story that might be expected to draw a journalist’s attention, for it has the kind of elements that should outrage the average reader: a commander playing politics with the military, troops called upon to execute a mission they had neither expected nor been trained for, and subsequent accusations that heavy casualties might have been avoided, but for politically-motivated shell games.

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My Comment: This blog and others have chronicled the bewildering array of decisions that have soldiers training for one mission .... but then forwarded to another. The Big Journalism website illustrates a few more additional examples.