An Up-Close Look at the Wrong End of War in Afghanistan --- The idea for my embed in Afghanistan this summer came from a breakfast meeting in April. I was part of a group of reporters who sat down with British army Brig. Gen. Stuart Skeates, the deputy commander for a U.S. Marine unit that had just returned from a deployment to the notoriously violent Helmand Province. When asked about the most important work facing the coalition as it prepares to leave Afghanistan, he was adamant and clear: training the Afghans to evacuate their wounded. -- "I can't emphasize enough how important it is to get these right," he said plainly, adding that work is now "the absolute exclusive focus" of the region in which from which he had just returned. - More, Paul D. Shinkman, usnews, at: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/31/embedded-in-afghanistan-an-up-close-look-at-the-wrong-end-of-war