However, in Feb 2002, when I asked 10th Mountain staffers at Bagram Air Base why there was no arty on the ground (at least anywhere out in the open that I could see or in fact, I believe, anywhere in country), the response I got was, "CENTCOM/SECDEF believes it sends the wrong message to the locals and the folks at home....we don't want to make it look like we're occupying Afghanistan." Then, not a week later Operation Anaconda kicked off. We sure could have used some 105/155 help up in the Shai Kowt...