We know we have troops deployed or with duty stations around the world, places like Germany and South Korea. Although we ignominiously pulled our troops out of Afghanistan, we do have troops still deployed in hot zones at Christmas, places like Poland, Syria and the Horn of Africa. I am willing to bet that most people have absolutely no idea. We brought our military home. We all saw it.

I wrote about the Afghanistan cock-up last year. In the post about that flustercuck, I wrote “We need answers before the next war. Which, of course, may be quite soon thanks to Biden. We can’t have another cockup.” It was about six months later that troops began to be deployed to Poland. No answers. No accountability. Just straight on into a proxy war with Russia. Our troops in Poland are supplying security forces and training the brave Ukrainian war fighters. We are proud of our war fighters. There won’t be a surprise visit from the Commander in Chief for Christmas. There won’t be any carving station manned by Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.

I personally have three favorite soldiers. One of those soldiers is deployed to Syria. Syria? I was not aware that we still had soldiers in Syria. We do. Operation Inherent Resolve, Task Force Sabre. I knew that this family member deployed. I followed the news:

Elements of the Ohio Army National Guard’s 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted call to duty ceremonies for their units in advance of an approximately yearlong deployment in support of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve.

Why is this never in the news? The last article I found was from January 2021, nearly two years ago, in the waning days of the Trump Administration. In War on the Rocks, Sam Heller wrote:

You could be forgiven for thinking that, in Syria, the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State (ISIL) has succeeded. The militant group’s territorial “caliphate” in Syria and neighboring Iraq has been erased from the map. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. Mission accomplished, no? And yet the United States is still nowhere near the benchmark the Donald Trump administration adopted for counter-ISIL victory in Syria: the jihadist organization’s “enduring defeat.”

That’s because enduring defeat, as the Trump administration defined it, involves not only incapacitating ISIL in Syria in military and security terms, but also extensive political and social change across Syria to prevent the organization’s future return. The administration thus defined victory in such implausible-seeming terms that, for the deployment of U.S. forces in eastern Syria, there is no end in sight.

The presidential transition and first months of the Joe Biden administration are an opportunity to review America’s Syria policy, as well as the aims of the counter-ISIL campaign. As part of that review, the Biden team ought to scrutinize the chimeric-seeming goal of ISIL’s enduring defeat. It’s time for some hard thinking about what America needs to accomplish in Syria, and what it really means, for U.S. policy purposes, to “defeat” ISIL.

Biden MAY have wanted to think about that before the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. He didn’t. I mean, like, Syria is totally on the Western border of Afghanistan. You remember, the vaunted “over the horizon” capabilities. I am so mad I could spit. What in the actual F? Do these flaming morons just fall flail from disaster to disaster? Baby formula, anyone? They don’t care. From our babies to our war fighters to our Senior Citizens unable to pay their heating bills, they just don’t care.

I did find this video from three years ago when Donald Trump was still President:

And our soldiers are successful:

U.S. Forces Detain 6 Islamic State Group Militants in Syria – The Yeshiva World. ⁦@USArmy⁩ https://t.co/K0Ju5fpQtc

— Elliot Lieberman (@LiebermanElliot) December 21, 2022

I am furious. Our troops are risking their lives and Creepy Joe Biden just issues the generic “God Bless our Troops”. I really don’t know about the Horn of Africa. I suspect it is still as dangerous AF. It frosts me that our Troops are deployed and unacknowledged at Christmas. As you sit down to enjoy your Christmas dinner, please pray for the safety of our Troops and for our current leadership to develop discernment. That’s a big ask, but Christmas is the perfect time for big asks.

Merry Christmas, everyone. And to one special soldier, come home safely. Carter loves you.

Featured Image: The National Guard/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons