Tread Carefully The Folly of the Next Afghan “Surge”

Tread Carefully
The Folly of the Next Afghan “Surge”
By Danny Sjursen
We walked in a single file.  Not because it was tactically sound.  It wasn’t -- at least according to standard infantry doctrine.  Patrolling southern Afghanistan in column formation limited maneuverability, made it difficult to mass fire, and exposed us to enfilading machine-gun bursts.  Still, in 2011, in the Pashmul District of Kandahar Province, single file was our best bet.
The reason was simple enough: improvised bombs not just along roads but seemingly everywhere.  Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Who knew?
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