Tragedy of the Commons
Imagine blowing up a school. Then, a few years later building walls around it. Some time after that you occupy the area, and use the bricks from the rubble of the school to build yourself a porch in front of your tent. The act is about as human of an act as I can imagine. Because, I believe, we have an innate sense that we aren't playing a zero sum game at all. That the sum is somewhere in the negatives and that means there has to be losers. And damn it if that loser is us.
On the other hand, it is a nice porch for Afghanistan. I also built a bench and a rack for my machine guns. I say my machine guns because I had to sign them out, and am now the proud custodian/operator/whatever of 90,000 dollars of US equipment. I was surprised how well the carpentry came out, especially since I didn't bother to measure anything. Next step, Im engraving my unit's designation into a rock using nails and a hammer. That'll take a while.
This place is almost like prison. The same bad food every day. No sex. Days go by with no end in sight. Actually, since we have guns and do get to go out, it has more of a western frontier feel to it. Surrounded, sort of, by people who would kill us if they could. We call them Hajjis, they call us kafirs. Literally a game of pilgrims and infidels. They have no problem hiding bombs that'd kill us. We have no problem calling down the wrath of god in the form of mortars and hellfires and automatic fire (oh my!). And they're dumb(ish), falling into patterns we readily exploit. Shoot one and leave him for the dogs to chew on (some dogs here weigh about 220 pounds), then record that spot as an indirect fire target and wait for his friends to pick him up. More fun for us. They're trying to stand up to us and are finding out how bad of an idea that is. They really should quit, but they wont.
So please send in the blankets with the smallpox.
On the other hand, it is a nice porch for Afghanistan. I also built a bench and a rack for my machine guns. I say my machine guns because I had to sign them out, and am now the proud custodian/operator/whatever of 90,000 dollars of US equipment. I was surprised how well the carpentry came out, especially since I didn't bother to measure anything. Next step, Im engraving my unit's designation into a rock using nails and a hammer. That'll take a while.
This place is almost like prison. The same bad food every day. No sex. Days go by with no end in sight. Actually, since we have guns and do get to go out, it has more of a western frontier feel to it. Surrounded, sort of, by people who would kill us if they could. We call them Hajjis, they call us kafirs. Literally a game of pilgrims and infidels. They have no problem hiding bombs that'd kill us. We have no problem calling down the wrath of god in the form of mortars and hellfires and automatic fire (oh my!). And they're dumb(ish), falling into patterns we readily exploit. Shoot one and leave him for the dogs to chew on (some dogs here weigh about 220 pounds), then record that spot as an indirect fire target and wait for his friends to pick him up. More fun for us. They're trying to stand up to us and are finding out how bad of an idea that is. They really should quit, but they wont.
So please send in the blankets with the smallpox.