Hello Marc,
I like 120mm's thought process, but then I am also in a sense anglo and tend to think that way. Tom would kick me and wake up the other side of my thought process when he thought I was drifting.

The press here were trashing US for the longest time. Especially when Estonia lost bomb techs and infantrymen. Again, size is everything (afterall, 5 from 7,000 is a big deal, especially when you consider the birth rate is in the red).

We tend to live with the fact that 3,000 US military have sacraficed their lives And I have a very hard time with that number. But Estonia's people take the loss of 3 to 5 people in support of another country to the extreme, and as you already guessed, the press have a field day.

When POTUS - GWB visited in late November, all that changed. For some or many reasons, his visit pumped the country up and the new Estonian President (who spent more than 25 years studying in the States) stood firm with Estonian comitments. The poles later told the story. Over 90 percent in approval for what they were doing and the stories stopped.

We do not lack volunteers. A Platoon is what was promised and we have sufficient volunteers to take us into 2010, 35 at a time for 6 months.

Regards, Stan