5 more days of "American Food"

In his eminent brilliance, Gen Mcrystal has decided having access to civilian food, such as Pizza Hut, Subway, etc is demoralizing to soldiers on bases that do not have those options. The fact that soldiers from the small COB's and outposts make trips back to the big FOB's so they can get a taste of home and relax for a few days is not important. In the interest of equality, they must all be closed. As of May 1st, there will be no more Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King, or Popeyes on American bases in Afghanistan. I have little doubt that all of the soldiers will be thanking him for his wisdom after the 4th month of eating the same old chow hall food with no break from the monotony.

One of the few redeeming qualities of KAF is the variety of living on a NATO base. As the titular head of NATO forces, the generals order should have applied here as well, but fortunately the other countries gave him the finger. Pizza Hut and friends will be gone, but KAF will continue to have it's French cafe, Dutch restaurant, Italian Pizzeria, Lebanese gyro stand, English bagel and sandwich shop, and our "British" TGI Fridays. US soldiers will continue to be able to spend a few rest days on KAF and get a break from the monotonous chow halls.

I guess I need to make sure to grab a Pizza Hut while I still can. Bah humbug.

Bad News

Michael Yon, an independent author and one of the very few individual voices in Iraq and Afghanistan is being asked to leave, again, by the US military.

More info:http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage?ref=nf

Murphy's April Fools

I somehow survived yet another April Fool's day in our mad race around the sun. April Fool's day is intended to be a day of pranks, joking and good humor, mostly. This year there was not a joke or prank to be had, just Murphy in full form. I spent the day racing between crises of down systems and communications failures of epic proportions. Our vehicle was almost towed, but in a moment of kindness my co-worker was bestowed with a warning instead of the dreaded ticket. I'm not sure I could even put some of the communications failures into words.

Chain of command takes on whole new levels of meaning when dealing with NATO bureaucracy. In a few more days, I'm sure there will be a few things we can laugh at. In the end we can take thanks in that no harm was done and no lives were lost or damaged.

After almost four years in Iraq and Afghanistan, probably the strangest thing is that from this near perspective, yesterday feels almost like just another day at the office. It's another insight into the common expressions out here of "living the dream" and "just another day in paradise." You just have to smile and soldier on.