Quote Originally Posted by MikeF View Post
This is a fight between Andrew Poppas and the Taliban Commander. My money is on COL Poppas. The winner wins the populace.
I don’t know if this comment is in jest because you are cheering on your boys, or if it really shapes your perspective. If it is the latter:

Does the populace know this? Do they care? Can they even be ‘won’?
Is it really this zero-sum? Obviously, a combat operation is zero-sum; but is counterinsurgency a zero-sum or nonzero activity?