I'm not a soldier, but you don't need to be to go outside the wire as an airman! I've been to Edinburgh, Dwyer, Price, Nad-e Ali, KAF, Graceland, Lash, Kabul and Bastion. I've seen the atrocities commited by the Taliban first hand - as I mentioned battery acid in the faces of young girls no older than my daughters, unable to get to water to wash it off and now scarred for life. I've seen them murder and maim local populace that we have patched up in our field hospitals having got caught in the middle of the fighting.
I would say we have been successful, measuring success in COIN and anti-terrorism is a bit like measuring the success of Flight Safety - you only really know if it would have been successful with hindsight! However, we're hardly being overun with Islamic terrorism at home are we? Is that the measure of success?
I have lost many good mates from jaunts to the Middle East and whilst I miss them very much, I would not, or I doubt they would, have changed my/their level of participation one bit. So I ask you to respect this when you claim that our efforts and sacrifices are a 'waste' - I find some of the above totally disrespectful.
iRaven