Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
There are acceptable risks, unacceptable risks and pure gambles.

Looking at the stats for this years and noting that NATO halts routine joint patrols with Afghan forces that more than just me believes it has reached the "unacceptable risk" level.

It is also as much about the causes than just the actual risk itself.

You can teach "junior troops" as much as you like but - to be brutally honest - how many of them - as opposed to officers and SNCOs - are capable of diplomacy/courtesy/discretion/and all those good things when interacting with the ANA?

Is this not where the friction point is?
They are all capable, and that is statistical fact. Being a decent, restrained person is not the sole domain of the SNCO or officer.

Across the hundreds and thousands of patrols conducted, the number of troops killed is significant relative to the beholder. I do not think we have reached any unacceptable level, but it would seem some handlers somewhere believe so, and that is risk-averse IMO.

Shrinking away from the issue is not the answer, not in 2005 or 2012. It merely seems so due to the decent interval we have chosen to pursue.