From the Front: 05/21/2010

In today's From the Front: (Click on link to read stories highlighted below) This post is courtesy of The Thunder Run

Dispatches:
Army Live: Strengthening Relationships
C.J. Chivers: Revisiting Combat Outpost Reilly
Rod Nordland: A Quiet, Tense Night for a First Patrol
Major Mark Suddaby: Chocolate and pens: meeting the locals
Lieutenant Colonel G M Strickland: Royal Gurkha Rifles build on Coldstream Guards’ success in southern Helmand
Lance Corporal James Atkin: Hard, sad, emotional and expensive times in Afghanistan
Lance Corporal John Zoumides: Training the Afghan National Army in basic medical drills
IraqPundit: Signs of Agreement?
Bill Roggio: Afghan forces capture northern shadow governor
A Handful of Dust: An AHOD Primer
Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: Musharraf to return to Pakistan and politics
AirForceWife: Male to Female Militarese
Marine Wife: Murphy, you've gone too far this time!
The Unknown Soldiers: The war at home
The Unknown Soldiers: Why we write
Noah Shachtman: House Panel Puts the Brakes on ‘Human Terrain’ (Updated)
The Captain's Journal: U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Patrolling With No Rounds Chambered in Weapons?
Jules Crittenden: Favor Returned
Kings of War: The $64,000 Question: What if COIN doesn’t work?

News from the Home Front:
Another round in the hex chromium war
Hexavalent chromium suit against KBR by Oregon National Guard goes forward in Portland
House Panel Displeased With Human Terrain System

News from the Front:
Iraq:
Iraqis demand answers in deaths of 6 detainees who died during transport
Maliki Attends Iraq Leaders' Lunch, Allawi Abroad
Iraqi Politicians Break Bread, but Not the Standoff
Afghanistan:
Canada's route out of Afghanistan will be bumpy
Wreckage of missing Afghan plane found
Taliban Attack Afghan Police Base Camp: Officials
Forces in Afghanistan Capture Taliban Commanders
Afghan officials met insurgent representatives in Maldives
U.S. Rolls Up Red Carpet for Karzai Rival
Toll in Kabul Suicide Attack Included U.S. and Canadian Officers
Suspected Taliban Blow Up "U.S. Spies" In Pakistan
Pakistan Widens Online Ban to Include YouTube
IJC Operational Update, May 21
No survivors as bodies found in Afghan plane crash
German President Koehler makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
US rifles not suited to warfare in Afghan hills

The Thunder Run's From the Front is a daily series that highlights news and personal dispatched from the front and the home front.