Are Marines Giving Up too Much in Afghanistan?
If ever Marines earned the right to speak their minds about the war, it is a group of four men who were all gravely wounded by roadside bombs in Afghanistan, reports CBS News National Security correspondent David Martin
"We're the ones paying the price, and we're telling you it's worthwhile," said Sgt. Johnny Jones. "We are the price. The price is right here. That's where it's at."
CBS News was there in Southern Afghanistan when Sgt. Jones got hit and was rushed to a helicopter on a stretcher.
"The first thing I saw was my legs and I knew they were gone," said Sergeant Jones.
He was part of a team that had cleared nearly 50 roadside bombs in five days. But the Taliban were watching and learning.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
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"We're sweeping the ground," said Sergeant Jones. "Eventually they figure out that's to find metal, so they come up with components that are non-metallic."
"For what they have, they're very smart and they can make some very high-tech or low-tech stuff that we just can't find," said Lance Corporal Mike Martinez.
Lance Corporal Martinez was a dog handler playing a deadly game of hide and seek against the Taliban.
"Everything is on their terms and how they want to do everything," said Lance Corporal Martinez.
"People who haven't been there don't understand it, but you get in there and talk to the villagers, you see progress and a day-in and day-out basis," said Captain Timothy Cooper. "It's getting better."
Captain Cooper was thrown 180 feet when his vehicle hit a mine, leaving his legs mangled and paralyzed. For him and the others, this is how the progress is measured:
People came over to their side.
"It takes courage to come up and talk to me and tell me about IEDs when they know they're putting their own family at risk by doing that," said Sergeant Jones.
"We'll burn down your hose," said Captain Cooper. "We'll kill your livestock. We'll kill your family."
It's a grunt's eye view of a war which has changed dramatically since it began.
"My first tour was strictly, strictly combat," said Sergeant Major Raymond Mackay. "Search out and close with and destroy the enemy."
Sergeant Major Mackay was one of the first marines into Afghanistan in 2001.
"The second time over there I realized that not everybody's the enemy," said Sergeant Major Mackay. "They're good people, the Afghans. They want to make a living on their terms, not the Taliban's, not our terms. But their terms."
But is opening a market in Southern Afghanistan worth this?
Most people who would look at four men in the prime of their lives, not one with a good leg, and say, "Is the U.S. asking too much of our Marines?"
All four men disagree.
"If I could go back I would," said Sergeant Major Mackay. "I'd go back in a heartbeat."
Their only doubt about the price they paid - and continue to pay each day is this:
"Are we going to let it be in vain? Just pick up and leave? Let the country go back to where it was before or worse? Or are we going to stick it out?" asked Captain Cooper.
Four wounded marines are not the final word on whether the U.S. can succeed in Afghanistan. But one thing's for certain: If the U.S. fails, it won't be because they weren't tough enough.
