If this truck could talk...
I don't think we are much different than other countries who have fought their battles on others' lands - we leave a trail of junk, anthropologic droppings which point to our existence during the warring period.
Many of us comment to ourselves as we see new barracks being built, "what will this place be like twenty years from now when we have left Afghanistan?" (God willing.) "Will the Taliban or their successors be sleeping in my barracks room?" "Who will be using the brand new hospital which we will be moving into imminently?" I suppose if this is the legacy we leave, it's a lot more than a "trail of junk." But will it remain that way? - that is the question. Or will it someday become a source of revenue for some enterprising Afghan who figures out how to dig up the copper piping and wire to sell on the black market.
There is war detritus all around us. Across the flightline there is a nipple-shaped object that rises out of the natural contour of the mountain range - clearly a man-made structure comprised of mud and stone. The rumor is that it is one of Alexander's fortresses left here centuries ago. Hard to prove, but it's a great story.
A few weeks ago I ran around the flightline, a nine mile jaunt, during which we saw a half rainbow rising out of the Taliban-infested mountain range. Ironic and incongruous, I thought. We also spotted the wreck of an old Russian jet plane, presumably a MiG. More appropriate, I thought.
Wreck of a Russian MiG
This past week I noticed more junk at the other end of the runway - old police cars and troop carriers. There was also an old combi-van that looked like a surfer hippie mobile. If only that hulk could talk, I thought to myself. What stories would it tell?
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