Local Guardsmen support plan to send more troops to Afghanistan

<p>After almost a year in Afghanistan, returning Army National Guardsmen on Tuesday agreed that President Obama’s reported plan to send more troops there is a good idea.</p><p>“I think it’s great news. I think it’s a wise decision. They’re definitely needed,” said Sgt. Aaron Isom, with the Petaluma-based 235th Engineer Company.</p><p>Isom, a senior medic for the company who lives in San Francisco, said expanding the U.S. military presence will increase security within Afghanistan and allow freedom of movement within the country.</p><p>Right now, he said, there are just enough troops to “protect assets and for limited offensive operations.”</p><p>With more troops, like the approximate 30,000 that aides say Obama intends to deploy, “it will allow us to take it to the Taliban and Al Qaeda and make a difference to the country,” Isom said.</p><p>There are currently 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan.</p><p>“I think it’s a good idea,” Sgt. Garth Talbott, 29, of Chico said of a troop surge. He said he normally refrains from commenting on specifics of military operations, but “it seems like it would improve security.”</p><p>Like most of the returning Guardsmen, Talbott was involved in the dangerous job of clearing roadside bombs planted by the enemy.</p><p>“More troops on the ground would actually help,” said Staff Sgt. Adam Ingram, 34, of Redding.</p><p>“More boots, more eyes on the ground means more interaction with the local populace,” he said.</p><p>Cpl. James Foster, 24, of Petaluma, also was buoyed by the news that additional troops are expected to be sent to Afghanistan.</p><p>“That’s fantastic. They need it,” he said.</p><p>But he was skeptical of how much difference the 30,000 or so troops would make. Only 5,000 of those might actually see combat and the rest would likely act as support, he predicted.</p><p>“There will only be handful to fight,” Foster said.</p><p>Ryan Bush, who served in Afghanistan in 2006-07, was in Petaluma to greet his fellow returning Guardsmen on Tuesday. A 2003 graduate of Piner High School, Bush was a lead .50 caliber gunner on a Humvee involved with clearing explosives. He was planning to return to Afghanistan for a second tour of duty, but was sidelined by injuries.</p><p>When he served under President Bush’s administration, Afghanistan was called “the forgotten war,” he recalled.</p><p>“When I was there, I felt completely outnumbered and outmanned,” he said.</p><p>Today, he welcomes the prospect of more troops in Afghanistan. He said the effort in Afghanistan “is the war worth fighting. That’s where 9/11 came from,” referring to Osama Bin Laden and the terrorists behind the attack on the World Trade Center.</p><p>Bush believes there has been progress in Afghanistan, as measured by more women going to school there.</p><p>“The Taliban threatened to cut off their noses and ears if they go to school,” he said.</p><p>He believes more troops will help.</p><p>“It feels like we’re making a difference, slowly but surely,” he said. “Hopefully after we train the Afghan National Army a little more, they can take care of their own country.”</p>