Donate to Afghanistan Combat Outpost Keating: Soldier Need Your Help

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

Fort Carson, Colorado's 4th Brigade Combat Team is mourning the loss of 8 soldiers on Saturday, and a 9th today. While Detroiters are waiting in line to received monies from "Obama's stash," the soldier involved in this weekend's battle have lost everything but the clothing on their backs. The point of this post beyond the obvious, is to ask you to donate to Combat Outpost Keating (COP Keating). See a video below of COP Keating. See important 10-9-09 update below. COP Keating has been evacuated.

Combat Outpost Keating 

A soldier who was in the fight:

“most people back home don't even know, no one gives a shit”

This is our opportunity help.

Karen Russo of ABC News was the only reporter on the scene:

Flying into the besieged Afghan base during a nighttime firefight this weekend was a harrowing mix of overwhelming noise, stomach dropping maneuvers and shadows hurrying through the gloom.

When the chopper lifted off moments later with three wounded soldiers, it left behind others who wer wounded but refused to be MEDEVACED out of the combat zone so they could return to fight with their buddies.

From the Beaver County Times:

Around dawn Saturday, about 200 "local fighters" launched a coordinated attack, showering a joint U.S.-Afghan army outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. Taylor said insurgents fired from at least three sides _ including a local mosque they took over, buildings in the village, and high ground above the outpost.

Most U.S. installations in Iraq and Afghanistan are heavily guarded with rings of razor wire, huge sand-filled barriers, blast walls and security cameras. It is rare _ almost unheard of _ for insurgents to breach such defenses and get inside.

Around dawn Saturday, about 200 "local fighters" launched a coordinated attack, showering a joint U.S.-Afghan army outpost with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. Taylor said insurgents fired from at least three sides _ including a local mosque they took over, buildings in the village, and high ground above the outpost.

The American Legion's Burn Pit has the whole story, including the quote from the soldier at the top of this post. Please read it. Michell Malkin is also reporting, linking sources and asking for donations.

Here is where I made my credit card donation through the American Legion. Here is the url:

https://www.members.legion.org/CGI-BIN/lansaweb?webapp=TALDONATE+webrtn=WR_AFG+ml=LANSA:XHTML+part=tal

Just click the "Donate" button. Or...

Donate by check - and be sure to specify COP Keating Relief Fund.

To buy items and mail them, send to:

CSM Robert Wilson
TF Mountain Warrior
FOB Bostick
APO AE 09354

Read Malkin's profile of the men lost. She has done it right. These soldiers are sons, husbands, fathers, friends. Read about each one of the Fort Carson heroes and follow the links from Michelle Malkin.

Don't forget to visit American Legion's Burn Pit where you will see a map of the area and another video.

The video below is from Summer 2009 by Britain's Channel 4 News photographer Stuart Webb. The information is specifically about Compost Outpost Keating. At about 5:40 in, you'll hear a soldier say that they saw three men in the hills earlier, but because of the rules of engagement, soldiers could take no action, although the weapons could have been hidden. Please note that the statement at the end of the video, about Obama attempting to shore up support for Afghanistan, was last summer. That was then, it is not the case now.

Please donate, if you can, to the COP Keating Relief Fund.

Combat Outpost Keating

Update 10-9-09 - COP Keating evacuated

A caution about donations, in light of the following, we don't know how our donations will be apportioned. Surely they will get to a soldier in need, no matter his unit, but it is your decision to donate or not, now that we know the camp has been abandoned.

Breitbart has reported that Combat Outpost Keating has been evacuated and demolished by the U.S. Army. Outpost Fritsche were also abandoned this week.:

"We had been planning to realign our forces to better protect the population for months. These closings are part of that realignment," said an Army spokesperson Major T.G. Taylor."

Yeah - right. While our President flies to Copenhagen and mugs on TV about his Nobel Prize for making no peace, the Army goes about doing what it must do without Barack Obama's support.