Short-Term Thinking about a Long-Term War

Someone once said that Vietnam was a war fought one-year at a time for ten years. The same could be said of the Afghan war. Commanders (and Soldiers) deploy to Afghanistan for one year and then move out to their next assignment. Many do more than one tour in Afghanistan - which from an experience point of view is a good thing as Soldiers have a clue during those subsequent tours. During the time between those tours the Soldiers are not usually preparing for their next trip to Afghanistan. Most do a brain-dump and proceed on to mastering their next job - most likely very unrelated to Afghanistan or counterinsurgency. Unless of course they are a member of Special Forces or the very small AFPAK Hands program. Read more on this topic in an article by Joshua Foust entitled "How Short-Term Thinking Makes the U.S. Worse at Fighting Wars", The Atlantic, March 31, 2012.