Yesterday afternoon a contractor accidentally struck a water main and we lost water for several hours. Not wanting to wrangle a porta-john in the dark, I stopped at TGI Friday’s on the Boardwalk on the way to dinner to use their restroom. I was surprised when I walked in because it really does look like the TGI Friday restaurants in the states (except most everyone was in uniform). I haven’t eaten there yet. The DFACs, while not very good, are free and I just can’t see spending the money. The best thing about eating out is that you don’t have to plan, shop, cook or clean-up. The same is true for the DFACs too.
It was just my boss and I at dinner. It was descent. Tacos… Kandahar style. A taco shell, ground meat, pizza sauce and feta cheese. The DFAC was fairly busy so seating was at a premium. Three US Army soldiers joined us and we had a wonderful conversation. They work Civil Affairs. (Civil Affairs specialists identify critical requirements needed by local citizens in combat or crisis situations. They also locate civil resources to support military operations, mitigate non-combatant injury or incident, minimize civilian interference with military operations, facilitate humanitarian assistance activities, and establish and maintain communication with civilian aid agencies and organizations.) For the last several months these three guys have been in an area where the literacy rate was only about 2% (compared to the country average of 28%). They talked about schools that they would clear and improve only to go back to find them destroyed and IEDs planted. We could tell that they were drained and ready to go home. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to work with such an uneducated population. These three guys were young, polite and articulate. They were careful not to say anything too negative about their experience but they were candid about how, from their perspective, challenging the future appears.
The dinner conversation was so interesting that we choose to stay and talk instead of rushing back. Last night was another Military Professional Development presentation. This time the Canadians were the guest speakers, and they brought an up-armored Land Assault Vehicle (LAV). Not wanting to walk into the briefing late, we choose to hang out with the two Canadian Soldier who were outside with the vehicle. Even though we missed the “official” briefing, we got a private briefing of our own. One fact that I found fascinating is that they have an initial enlistment of five years but then they reenlist for 20. Canada also recently changed retirement from 20 years to 25 years of service. In the US we reenlist for 4-6 years and can get out at any time; retirement is still 20 years.
The Canadians were great and I got to climb all over the LAV. I could tell these infantry soldiers loved their job. Climbing on the LAV was like climbing on a jungle gym. I had just assumed that there would be little ladders but nope. There were a few handles to grab as you scale up the side but to get into the seats you have to drop in the holes from the top. There isn’t any spare space. The driver’s spot is a little hole with slits to see out with the help of cameras. It was fascinating to crawl around.
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