IStock Photo 2265622 © Rockfinder

I have no idea if the stream of words I am going to put down is going to make sense. It partially stems from an abnormally long stretch of missions with no action, resulting in many hours spent discussing every topic under the sun in an attempt to keep ourselves awake and alert. As an officer I am bound by my position to never express a political opinion outside that of the US Army's public affairs message, especially around my fellow Soldiers. As a college major in Political Science and International Relations I am schooled to think critically of the world and have time and again been assigned to articulate these thoughts on paper. Given my anonymity on this blog, I am free to express a few thoughts I have been having. This will possibly generate some bizarre responses in the comments section below.

A chief topic of controversy amongst Americans who have found themselves in the more rural parts of Afghanistan is the quickly approaching deadline set forth by President Obama to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan. Contrary to popular belief in the States, most Afghans do not want us to pull out completely from Afghanistan. For them, violence is a way of life. Us leaving does not change the dangers they face. Most of the deaths are caused by Afghan on Afghan violence. People will still die a violent death every day with or without a NATO occupation.

For the people of Afghanistan, the war is good for their economy. We fund construction projects and provide the security to ward off the bullying Taliban, but I am not here to trumpet the good we are trying to do in Afghanistan. The reality is we are very much trying to leave and we know we are going to have to pass off the workload if that is going to happen. This is where the Afghan Army comes in.

Many Afghan men join the Afghan National Army (ANA) because it provides a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and money enough to support a family if needed. The ANA is another constant source of aggravation for me. I have been ordered to partner with them for many joint patrols. For us a joint patrol means linking up with the ANA and developing a scheme of maneuver built around a task with a purpose to shape operations in a given sector. For the ANA a joint patrol means smoke two joints and do the exact same patrol every day.

If they drive or walk to the same places every day at the same time in the same manner, they develop a pattern. This has created a tacit agreement with the Taliban wherein the Taliban knows to avoid certain districts during certain times of day. The Taliban gets to go about its business, the ANA gets to go home alive, the war continues, and everyone still has a job. That is not to say the entire ANA is like this, and they do certainly get into their fair share of fights with the Taliban, but unless the ANA shoulders the lion’s share of the war effort, the Taliban cancer is never going to completely recede into the annals of military history.

The accusing finger of war profiteering is not only being pointed at the Afghans, who are only guilty of making the best of a bad situation. In my occasional visits to some of the larger, more built up bases that are the logistical hubs of the war effort I am awestruck at the number of civilians I see. They do everything from build housing to serve coffee to clean latrines. They set up Internet and cell phones and air conditioning and laundry services and they make an obscene amount of money. I will not name these companies here, but many are linked to a former vice president of the United States.

A small army of third country nationals (TCNs) have been imported for menial labor on the larger bases because locals cannot be granted access for security reasons. Upper management are Westerners bedecked in polo shirts, sun hats, khaki pants, and always sporting desert tan combat boots, which seem to be in fashion. They cruise the base in diesel powered Toyota SUVs and roll down their windows just long enough to bark orders at their employees before the precious artificially cooled air escapes.

It is hard to not become disgusted completely. Maybe I am completely disgusted and I'm just in denial. I think about how I was disgusted when I was a sophomore in high school gym class, being told to file into the auditorium just in time to watch the twin towers of the World Trade Center disintegrate into rubble. At the time I was sitting with one of my best friends, a man who would later go on to serve two combat tours in Iraq as a Marine Infantryman. He is now completely—neigh obsessively—disgusted with the materialism of American society. He watched more than one friend die in combat while the rest of America watched television, a talking box that obsesses over celebrity scandal and overpaid professional athletes.

I use those feelings I felt that Tuesday morning as motivation and purpose for being here. I could honestly care less if the people of Afghanistan want to live in the semi-post Stone Age. They kill each other and settle the dispute by paying a dozen goats to the bereaved family. They marginalize their women to the point of keeping them around for the sole purpose of breeding. They do not know what deodorant or a toothbrush are. They never sit down, they squat. I don't get the squatting thing, how they can casually keep that position for ever without teetering over or their knees hurting. I understand all of these things are norms in their culture and we must seem as alien to them as they are to us, and I in no way want to change how their society functions. I only have a problem when they fly planes into our buildings. That's just not cool. Am I a hateful warmonger for feeling this way? I don't think so.

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