Pocono News Section

8th year in Afghanistan

8th year in Afghanistan - Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 6:07PM EST

Wednesday, Oct 7, 2009 @ 06:07pm EDT

Eight years to the date.

That's how long the united states military has fought in Afghanistan .

One slogan of the U. S. Marines is "First to Fight"

Today, we talked with two marines who did just that in some of the biggest wars in history.

They didn't hide their opinions on the current situation in Afghanistan .

Frank Tyson and Albert Gibbs of Scranton are ready for their fellow marines to come home.

Tyson said, "Right now the talk amongst the veterans it's just going on to long, they want to see this thing overseas soon as possible."

Gibbs said, "They can still feel the outcome of this war with these marines and the army dying almost for nothing."

Both men are retired marines who know a thing or two about war.

Gibbs was on the ground in Vietnam , Tyson fought the front lines of World War Two , Korea and Vietnam .

They aren't exactly celebrating the Afghanistan war's 8th anniversary.

"I don't think they're fighting the war right, same as I don't think they did it when i was in Vietnam ," said Gibbs.

"It's true that eight years is an awful long time, not much has been accomplished as we can see. We just hope the state department can do a better job of handing the job over to the leaders of these countries,” said Tyson.

The White House is now considering approving a new troop build up.

That's putting a strain on folks right here in our neighborhoods.

As the war continues in Afghanistan more and more of our service men and women right here in northeastern Pennsylvania are being sent overseas sometimes for their second or third deployments."

Gibbs and Tyson says that's part of the job, but both say continued support of servicemen in Afghanistan is their current tour of duty.

"You have to support the troops. If you don't support the troops, you're lost," said Gibbs.

"Absolutely. You can't blame the men over there for anything because that's their job," said Tyson.