Walking "home" from work at night, I always have to be careful. You never know what obstacles that you might find on your way to the room. I noticed that they were digging holes along the way to my room when I left this morning!
It seems like this place is constantly under construction. They hire locals to do construction work on the roads and buildings. They dig ditches for pipes. They weld and grind and cut the metal that's everywhere.
Each day is something new. The noise can be horrendously loud, with jackhammers "Pop Pop Popping" all day long. They do most of their digging the old fashioned way, with picks and shovels. It's impressive how deep and far they can dig in a day.
Yet for all their industry and hard work, there is a different standard for completion here. Some folks call it "Afghan good enough." They know that the project won't be done to our high standards, but something will be done, the locals will stay busy and be paid, and we'll continue to maintain the base. If something breaks in a few weeks, they'll be digging it back up again.
If nothing else, it means a little bit of job security for the workers... Just watch your step!
1 comment:
Did you ever watch M*A*S*H? This reminds me, somehow, of Frank, building a sort of "foxhole" in case of air raid, and BJ filled it with water, then sounded the air raid alarm.
Not sure why, it just reminded me of that.
Post a Comment