Another Good American Falls Without Notice

On Sunday, the “NATO” headquarters on the island of Kabul announced that a soldier was killed in a roadside bomb. No location or nationality. Another soldier was injured in the blast. But without specific information on this casualty – no newspaper or network in the US can give this attack in Afghanistan much play. (It’s hard enough to capture the news on a Sunday – especially when we lost at least 10 troops in Iraq this weekend – which makes the US headlines.)
On Monday, the U.S. DoD released his name, hometown and unit. He was Pfc. Conor G. Masterson, 21, of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., a soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. These are soldiers who normally play to role of the opposing force in training at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
Who was this good American?

PIONEER PRESS, MINN.:
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_5630542

In the DoD release, they simply say that Masterson was killed in “Eastern Afghanistan” – no specifics – by and IED that hit his vehicle. Here they are again, dribbling out very unspecific information about the loss of a good American serving his country in a largely forgotten fight in Afghanistan.
If Mastersons’ death was lost in the news cycle, how can we differentiate this loss with the unfortunate vehicle accident that killed a Dutch soldier sergeant in Uruzgan Friday or the six Canadians killed by a roadside bomb this weekend?

And today, (April 10) the AP reports that two troops were killed and 14 wounded in a rocket attack along the Kabul/Kandahar highway in Zabul. And Afghan Army officer was quoted, but there is no mention of which nation in the “coalition” the troops belong to.

Afghanistan is not "turning" bad – it’s been bad. It’s continuing to be a difficult slog against the Taliban and other anti-Western insurgents. But why try to hide that news from the US public? ? The Canadians have some good coverage of their fallen troops in Afghanistan, but our go largely unnoticed. I have my ideas on why we are doing this….what are yours?

Also, a sidebar – the Afghan government has banned Al-Jazeera from local TV. So this so-called “democracy” we helped start in Afghanistan does not support opposing views of a free fourth estate. Al-Jaz is not my favorite news outlet, but they have their place – in fact, they have millions of viewers worldwide. Clamping down on them only makes them more intriguing to those who have doubts about the U.S.-back Afghan government. It’s the U.S. military that has had trouble with Al-Jazeera’s reporting slant in the past. The odd thing is that the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture are blocking the English version of Al-Jaz – not many Afghans are fluent in our tongue.

And the News has moved on ...

As suspected, the “NATO” casualties from a vehicle accident on Mar. 29 were in fact, U.S. troops from the 82nd Airborne.
On Monday, April 2, the DoD issued a news release.

They are Sgt. Edmund W. McDonald, 25, of Casco, Maine and Spc. Agustin Gutierrez, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif.

These good Americans were killed by accident during a convoy north of Kabul. They are not nameless coalition members – as initially released. Four days (96 hours) passed before the military released their names to the public – again, well past the average news cycle in today’s information age. (While I’m not a casualty assistance officer, I can guarantee it did not take that long to notify their families – the normal reason for a delay in release.)

SO, HOW WAS IT COVERED?

Kevin Maurer, a military writer for the Fayetteville Observer – the hometown paper to Fort Bragg where the 82nd Airborne is based – cranked out a story which was online by Tuesday morning (April 3).
Here is where you find that these troops are more than just nameless NATO troops who died in an unfortunate way in Afghanistan. McDonald served two previous tours in Iraq. He has a wife, a mother in Maine and other family who will miss him dearly. His commander called him one of his top non-commissioned officers, a dependable mechanic – literally the unsung nuts and bolts of our military who do their thankless jobs with pride.
In the small town of San Jacinto, Francisco and Elvira Guitierrez are now morning the loss of their teenage boy who died a world away.

And what do Americans know about this incident – and so many others that occur everyday in Afghanistan and Iraq?

This is not the pony express days of previous conflicts – this is the information age, where were should have the ability to access and understand combat situations in far off lands though our free fourth estate.
The few hits on the internet were simply AP wire copy – a regurgitation of the DoD news release. Yes, the local papers ran stories. The local reporters did their jobs, collected the DoD news release, the AP wire copy and then had the difficult task of interviewing the families. Their stories offer a glimpse of who these troops were.

But most of us don’t read their local papers four or five days after we may have heard that “NATO” coalition soldiers died somewhere in Afghanistan – because we never make the connection and the news has moved on.

Portland Press Herald
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070331mcdonald.html

CBS San Jacinto
http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_092201538.html

WHY NOT JUST SAY NOTHING, MR. NATO SPOKESMAN

Today we have another “no news” release designed to hide the truth about the war in Afghanistan.
A “NATO” soldier was killed Thursday and three wounded in eastern Afghanistan – where the majority of our U.S. troops are based. But again, the military public affairs officers do not discuss the nationality of the casualties.

U.S. casualties should not be considered nameless NATO coalition numbers - our troops deserve the honor and respect for their sacrifice - but because of current and shameful politics, they die largely unknown to America.

The Associated Press and Agence France Presse filed wire copy, which was picked up by only a few online sites. There was no mention of this combat or Afghanistan in my local paper or the New York Times.

The U.S. military used to say they would not name the soldiers, claiming that they were sensitive to the feelings of the family. Then, they would say, they do not want to release the casualty’s unit – because then a whole bunch of Army wives/families get freaked out when they hear the news at their home base. These are reasonable decisions, but the delay in information about a casualty can likely be release within 24 hours – because it does not take that long for the military to contact the family after their loved one was killed.

Now, things have progressed – we hide behind the idea that we’re ALL IN A COALITION – as if it does not matter to Americans, should the casualty be one of our own – because we’re part of NATO….
And because the journalists can guess on which country suffered the loss by the location of the firefight – now the “NATO” command in Kabul will not even discuss where the combat occurred!

“Somehow, someone died sometime somewhere in something that involved some others,” NATO spokesman said.

So, why not just say nothing at all.

LINK TO AP WIRE COPY:

http://news.bostonherald.com/international/middleEast/view.bg?articleid=191835