Soldiers battle boredom in Afghan valley

[unhappycamper]

rom left, Staff Sgt. John Fin, Spc. Michael Hardy, Pfc. Quentin States and Sgt. Wesley Faudree of Task Force Saber play cards while passing time in the Gowardesh Valley.


Soldiers battle boredom in Afghan valley
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, May 4, 2008

GOWARDESH VALLEY, Afghanistan — Time has a quality all its own in this remote valley in eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province.

If you take away the U.S. soldiers and their weapons, the occasional Toyota Hi-Lux truck, the concrete bridge down the river and the cigarettes and candy at the roadside stands, very little would seem to have changed the last several hundred years.

A house built of flat river rocks and mud bricks is across the road, tucked between the river and a small field of green wheat. There’s no electricity, no running water, no modern conveniences for miles.

At night, the sky is so clear and dark that you can see satellites moving among the stars.

Dawn comes just after 4 a.m. Old men and young boys move cattle and goats into the hills soon after, just as they’ve done for ages.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54538



[uhc comment: Same as it ever was.