Afghani kids are like kids everywhere else. Their chores differ though. The kids near the base sheppard sheep, goats and cows. We see them outside the wire every day on our way along the perimeter road. They are out now because the grass is growing and the animals have food. The other day as we drove along three small boys ran toward the fence and threw rocks toward the road. They weren’t even close to hitting our car and I found my reaction interesting. I watched them and thought, wow boys are the same everywhere! They must have been 10 or 11 years old at most. It’s about the same thing I did at that age.
We receive lots of snacks and candy in care packages all the time. All manner of stuff shows up. More than normal recently as Easter was approaching. My friend had thrown some packs of gum to the kids over the wire before. With the new candy he de
cided we needed to share the wealth. Now on a pretty regular basis we drive by the wire and toss over whole bags of hard candy, chocolate Easter eggs, Peeps, etc. We joke that throwing them Easter treats will turn them into Christians! The kids look like Olympic sprinters racing for the loot. They do share, which is good. Just so no one thinks we are completely twisted and before you ask, yes we are careful NOT to throw the candy into the minefields! It’s really not a laughing matter (then again all life really is a laughing matter!). There are still numerous mine fields both on and off the base. The locals live right next to them. A local company is clearing a large field next to the base for a commercial project. It’s nearly done and now the locals can graze their livestock there as well. I wish we had more interaction, but there’s always the razor wire between us.
We were at a facility off base the other day and one of our business partners mentioned to his boss that the windshield on their truck had a hole in it. The guy who brought it up is ex-military, as many of the contractors are. Apparently they were driving between Kabul and Bagram and had pulled over for a convoy going the opposite way. One of the MRAP Gunners threw a rock at the truck and missed. Then another MRAP gunner was more accurate. This guy was good natured about it, I would have been furious. He told me that when he was here doing patrols (with the Army) he had to keep his guys from throwing half full Gatorade bottles at kids to watch them fight over them. These things piss me off. Here we are, way too long in this mess because we screwed away the initiative years ago. Here we are in a country where cultural awareness and make or break the effort. Here we are and our soldiers are acting like 10 year old boys. It’s high time we grew up if we expect this to end well!!!
Oh, before I forget, when we drive the perimeter road past the local kids, no more rocks are being thrown our way, but we do get waved at a lot now.
We receive lots of snacks and candy in care packages all the time. All manner of stuff shows up. More than normal recently as Easter was approaching. My friend had thrown some packs of gum to the kids over the wire before. With the new candy he de
cided we needed to share the wealth. Now on a pretty regular basis we drive by the wire and toss over whole bags of hard candy, chocolate Easter eggs, Peeps, etc. We joke that throwing them Easter treats will turn them into Christians! The kids look like Olympic sprinters racing for the loot. They do share, which is good. Just so no one thinks we are completely twisted and before you ask, yes we are careful NOT to throw the candy into the minefields! It’s really not a laughing matter (then again all life really is a laughing matter!). There are still numerous mine fields both on and off the base. The locals live right next to them. A local company is clearing a large field next to the base for a commercial project. It’s nearly done and now the locals can graze their livestock there as well. I wish we had more interaction, but there’s always the razor wire between us.We were at a facility off base the other day and one of our business partners mentioned to his boss that the windshield on their truck had a hole in it. The guy who brought it up is ex-military, as many of the contractors are. Apparently they were driving between Kabul and Bagram and had pulled over for a convoy going the opposite way. One of the MRAP Gunners threw a rock at the truck and missed. Then another MRAP gunner was more accurate. This guy was good natured about it, I would have been furious. He told me that when he was here doing patrols (with the Army) he had to keep his guys from throwing half full Gatorade bottles at kids to watch them fight over them. These things piss me off. Here we are, way too long in this mess because we screwed away the initiative years ago. Here we are in a country where cultural awareness and make or break the effort. Here we are and our soldiers are acting like 10 year old boys. It’s high time we grew up if we expect this to end well!!!
Oh, before I forget, when we drive the perimeter road past the local kids, no more rocks are being thrown our way, but we do get waved at a lot now.
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