To take a look at the official DOD photos or the Army's photo files, you'd have to seriously question whether we were at war or not. All I see are photos of people in meetings and formations, military training and exercises, or military service members doing things in a peacetime setting.
This photo is of Combat Outpost Munoz. All is well. It's surreal. The only "combat photos" I see are in the NY Times and British media. You know, when the US government is spending $10 billion a month on combat operations, it would be nice to see what we're getting for it.
Puzzling.
Having to speculate on reasons "why"... this is annoying. I searched for authoritative media on your subject as Posted but couldn't find US Operations as a current subject for public consumption. It wasn't always so.
An Idle thought (no more than that) suggests to me that there is a dumbing-down in order to present an image that things are going well for troops generally in Afghanistan- time for quieter pictures and news.
DoD casualty and death announcements don't bear this out, so what the heck is going on.
Posted by: Ray | 01 November 2010 at 08:36 AM
Jason,
I think the reason is rather obvious - there simply isn't a lot of combat in Afghanistan. The vast majority of violence against coalition forces consists of roadside bombs along with the occasional ambush or harassing fire. I don't recall the various insurgent forces attacking a major outpost for quite a long time and most of those took place in and around Nuristan, which is an area we've pulled out of.
Posted by: Andy | 01 November 2010 at 09:12 AM
CENTCOM seems to have a better collection of "action" photos. Just surprised that these don't get into the Army/DOD photo files or news stories.
Posted by: J. | 01 November 2010 at 10:11 AM