In today’s From the Front: (Click on link to read stories highlighted below) This post is courtesy of The Thunder Run Dispatches: A Handful of Dust: When Humvees Still Aren’t Big Enough Old Blue: Answer To A Comment On “RC South” Andrew Lubin: Patrol Base McElhinney # 1 Andrew Lubin: Patrol Base McElhinney # 2 Huma Imtiaz: Illusions in Punjab Maj. Gen. Gordon Messenger RM.: Hope in Helmand CAPT. JOSEPH HIMPELMANN: Changing the Rules Battle Rattle: Back in the office and putting it in perspective Citizen Soldier: I HOPE YOU MISSED ME IraqPundit: For the Sake of Killing IraqPundit: Hell or Home? Kit Up!: Oshkosh M-ATV Saves Lives The Kitchen Dispatch: The Chaplain Picks Up The Letters, Part II Bill Roggio: Al Qaeda commander killed in US strike in North Waziristan Our Army Life: Deployment 2010: Wolfpack Prepares For Deployment To Afghanistan Red Bull Rising: A Letter to Lena Michael Hancock: Unconscionable Story Christian Bleuer: Formula for Success in Afghanistan Terry Glavin: “Enlightenment, you know? All that beauty.” Unambiguously Ambidextrous: Taliban Step Up Attacks On Civilians The Kitchen Dispatch: War: The Lumbering Guest On My Sofa Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: U.K. Afghan death toll reaches 300 The Captain’s Journal: Rules of Engagement too Prohibitive to Achieve Sustained Tactical Success Jules Crittenden: Ding Dong Ditch Neptunus Lex: Tipping Point Some Soldier’s Mom: The Grind & the Grindstone Mail Call!: A local Fallen Hero makes his final journey home News from the Home Front: WikiLeaks Preparing to Release Video of Alleged U.S. ‘Massacre’ in Afghanistan 25 Saudi Guantanamo Prisoners Return to Militancy Al-Qaida Warns of New Attacks Deadlier Than Before News from the Front: Iraq: Journalist who hurled shoes at President Bush says stunt had been carefully planned Suicide bombs kill 33 in Iraq, officials say Twin suicide car bombings in central Baghdad kill 26 Top cleric warns Iraq leaders as deal hopes dim Former Iraqi prime minister accuses government figures of plotting to kill him Baghdad Nights Glitter, Behind Shatterproof Glass Protest in Basra over sporadic electricity, lack of potable water leaves 1 dead Turkey’s PM Erdogan vows to ‘annihilate’ PKK rebels Turkey Troops, Kurdish Rebels Clash Near Iraq Border Twin suicide blasts outside Baghdad bank kill 27 Afghanistan: U.S. eager to replicate Afghan villagers’ successful revolt against Taliban US takes gentle approach in Kandahar Firm Once Known as Blackwater Gets Afghan Contract With US Help, Miners Dig In at Former Taliban Base NATO Says 4 Troops Die in Afghan Helicopter Crash 2 Blasts Rock S. Afghanistan in Weekend Violence Afghan Civilians Said to Be Killed in an Airstrike Bomb Kills 3 Near a Bank in Southern Afghanistan Working to Help a Haven for Afghan Women Blossom Soldiers race against political clock in Afghanistan U.S. Hopes Afghan Councils Will Weaken Taliban Afghan forces’ apathy starts to wear on U.S. platoon in Kandahar Afghanistan violence is soaring, U.N. says Afghanistan fighting brings on ‘weariness’ Gates touts progress in Afghanistan Gates: War in Afghanistan is a ‘Tough Pull’ Taliban suspects released after Afghan jirga deal 18 militants, two soldiers killed in Pakistan Afghan anti-graft body lists asset of Karzai Afghan filmmakers defy Taliban, one bad movie at a time Roadside bomb targets NATO forces in northern Afghan province US criticized for purchase of Russian copters for Afghan air corps Roadside bombs injure six German soldiers in Afghanistan US hesitant about endorsing LSE report on ISI-Afghan Taliban links Anti-Taliban tribal militias not paying off for the US as expected UN pulls foreign staff out of Afghanistan amid rising violence The Thunder Run’s From the Front is a daily series that highlights news and personal dispatches from the front and the home front.