 |
| |
 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Sent: 29 September 2003 08:16
To: David Clark; Jen Clark
Subject: EYEORE
If you believe in Karma, you will know that you screwed up royally in life if you come back as a donkey in
Kabul. I think that Eyeore's look must have been based on a Kabul donkey.
Things are still going well here. We have one channel on TV (CBC), which is one more than last week.
Thanks so much for your packages. They are greatly appreciated!
I thought that I would give you an outline of my routine.
0600 - get up
0600 to 0700 - running on even days, running and weight training on odd
0700 to 0800 - shower, breakfast
0800 to 1200 - work
1200 to 1300 - lunch
1300 to 1800 - work
1800 to 1900 - supper
1900 to 2200 - either CP duty or hang out in the mess playing XBOX.
2300 - go to bed
We are now in our permanent Weatherhaven. We are closer to the local mosque, so I hear the call to
prayer at 0450 hrs. The evening call is somewhat haunting. It is a useful reminder that we are in
Afghanistan, and not some base in Canada.
I have hosted several movie nights, with Gladiator being the most popular (military theme, but not too
heavy (if you can believe it)). Both Lord of the Rings movies were also well attended.
Say hello to everyone for me!
Iain
From: Iain Clark
Sent: 28 September 2003
To: David Clark; Jen Clark
Subject: THE BELL CURVE
My Contemporary Political Theory professor would have liked Afghanistan. He told us that the IQ of the
population can be represented graphically, with the results looking like a bell curve (a few not so bright,
equally few very bright, the rest in the middle). He stated that in the old days, everyone could find
meaningful employment to suit their skill set. Gradually, however, technology has cut away at the
employment demand, starting at the far left of the bell curve. Thus, manual farm labour and ditch digging
have all turned from labour intensive jobs employing many, into machine driven activities employing a few.
Those people in society who are now out of work must be given cheap beer and Maple Leafs games to
watch in order to stay out of trouble. That was the theory.
Here in Afghanistan, pretty much anything is done by hand. When a trench needs dug for a water line on
camp, a gang of yellow helmets comes and works at it. Back in Canada, we’d use a backhoe or something
else. The hand method is slower, but they get there! My professor would be pleased!
p.s. I have no idea about the IQ of the yellow helmets. For all I know they are Political Science PhD’s!
Iain
From: Iain Clark
Sent: 23 September 2003
To: David Clark; Jen Clark
Subject: ON THE ROAD
Had another interesting experience on the road today. I was in the observer hatch of a Coyote, and we on
our way back to our camp. There was an Iltis behind us, and we were traveling as a little convoy. To my
left at 10 o’clock I noticed that a kid (about 10 yrs old), had pulled out a gun and was pointing it at us. I
brought my rifle over, but I waited for a moment before doing anything else. He was about 40 m away,
and that would be a difficult pistol shot for him to make against a moving target. Upon further examination,
I figured that the gun was a replica, and that the kid was now laughing. I pointed at him with an index
finger and shook my head. I don’t think he realized the danger of his situation. Everyone has guns here,
but they are never pointed at us. The whole event took about three seconds.
Things are still good here. We watched The Two Towers last night in the mess. I’ll probably put
Gladiator on tonight. The letters were well received by the RCR majors.
Take care,
Iain
| | | | | | | | |