After breakfast yesterday morning, we headed on to Green Beans for my daily … what, the espresso machine is broken? No MOAC? I have to drink regular friggin’ coffee? What is this, a combat zone or … oh, right, it is. Silly me.
Oh, the privations we must endure in this hellish moonscape. Why, just two nights ago, at Surf & Turf night, I had a Sergeant Major insist – INSIST, I tell you – that a have an ear of corn. He was not to be denied, and so I dutifully said, “Yes, Sergeant Major,” and accept the offered corn.
There was a USO Tour on base yesterday, with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show among the celebrities. It was kind of confusing. The USO folks only advertised for a meet & greet, with nothing said about any kind of performance. But we went out there anyhow. Then turned around when we saw the line leading to the tent was probably at least a half mile long. So while I missed Jon Stewart, I at least got the consolation prize of the Saturday Night Herf. I polished off a delectable Illusione 4/2g, and treated Spence-oire to one as well. We did it despite the wind, which never relented.
So here it is Sunday night. I’m counting the days left (13 days until my flight to Qatar, by the way), and perusing the NY Times online. The end of a tour is when you look back and hope you accomplished something worthwhile. And while I think I had a positive effect on our efforts here, I also sometime get hit upside the head by something that makes me what Whiskey Tango Foxtrot we’re here for.
Case in point – a story from the Sunday Times about a pair of star-crossed Afghani lovers (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/world/asia/31herat.html?emc=eta1). They had the temerity to meet at work, fall in love and plan to marry … despite the fact that their respective parents had already arranged them both to marry someone else. The girl’s father wanted the teens killed … by the government!! Her uncle, according to the Times, “visited her in jail to say she had shamed the family, and promised that they would kill her once she was released.”
This medieval mentality, coupled with the pervasive patriarchal societal norms, is IMHO the biggest stumbling block to ever seeing Afghanistan become a real, functioning nation-state. That mindset pervades vast swaths of the population, sustains the warlords, plays to the Taliban’s extremism, and threatens the education and advancement of at least half of society. It's stories like that, stories which are not uncommon, that sometimes make me think the answer to this problem lies in thermonuclear weapons.
Can you tell I'm getting short?
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