And greetings from beautiful Kandahar , arm pit of the fourth world. I am doing well and missing most of what living in a civilized society brings to the table.
Got to take my first trip into Indian country yesterday , and as primitive as things are on base ( we are still living in tents ) , it is down right cosmopolitan compared to outside the wire. Just to get off base requires an armed escort ( 2 Humvee's ) and when we stopped just short of the gate and I watched our G.I. escorts lock and load every weapon in reach......it was a humbling reminder of just where I am at. To get to our job site for the day , we passed some bombed out buildings that used to be Soviet enlisted barracks.....after that they were occupied by Taliban forces ( who were evicted in the harshest way imaginable ) and is now occupied by squatters. The many children who live there came running out to greet us , and were all smiling and waving....giving the thumbs up. And living in poverty and squallor like I have only seen in other war zones. Kids are kids , the world over....but to see these smiles was the true emotional double edged sword. It is hard to imagine what life gives them to smile about , but their happiness was plain to see. I am not shitting when I refer to this place as fourth world.....I am not trying to demean anyone , but it is primitive beyond what I had imagined.
Most of the locals I have dealt with , hell , all of them have been friendly.
But some of them were trying to sell me stuff at a local bazaar , and their motivation could be suspect.
But I am having all the adventure I had hoped for and I am just getting rolling......there will be some helicopter rides into some regions that are less friendly than here and some of the worst Mother Nature can toss at me in the way of climate and environment. This makes me appreciate what I have a fuck of a lot more than I used to.
O.K. , gotta sleep now.
Be cool,
J.S.
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Originally Posted by Trixie
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