Background: I have a cousin, Rick, age 62. He and his two older brothers are strapping hulks--totally opposite me. He grew up on "the farm" which his dad ran for my grandmother. Rick learned mechanics and electricity and construction from the get-go. He never went to college, is average in intellect, but is a whiz-bang in the aftformentioned fields. I am so envious of his abilities.

He still lives in the farm house my great great grandfather built (1910) and has a grass sod operation. But that's beside the point.

Somehow, a year ago, he was offered an electrical contracting job with the government to go to Afghanistan. For $300,000 a year, tax free, he decided he'd do it. He began last February. He immediately had his passport and all his money and credit cards stolen--before he even got there (in Dubai?)!

After that was all straightened out, he went to work, stationed at Bagram AFB. He came home for R&R in August, returned for 3 months, and was sent back home. Why? He got the right hand "shakes". The doctors there couldn't diagnose the reason, but suspected either nerves or Parkinson's.

I stopped in on him two days ago and spent a good hour talkng with him. He's to see a specialist this coming week, but he suspects it's the war (not to mention his stressfull trip start) that has triggered his shakes. He came within several feet of being killed or wounded by an incoming explosive. He had to work with someone he detested (and everybody likes Rick and v.v.). He was bored and probably homesick for his wife, kids, and grandkids. It all adds up to a stressful reaction to the environment.

Actually, here's my main point. He had insight to the inner workings of the Army (etc.) and the US government. He says what we are fed in the states is nothing like what is really happening "on the front". We are being told that we're "moving out" of Afghanistan beginning next year. He says "no way". What Rick was doing was helping build PERMANENT structures, not portable ones-- that we are there to stay indefinitely.

According to Rick, we have supplies and equipment stored that will last forever! Trucks and armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition, all just sitting there being unused. What he and his civilian companions were getting paid was "ridiculous", in his words--especially for the small amount of work they had to do. The natives are hostile and spiteful, resentful of our presence, despite the message we get in America.

So my suspicians are confirmed. The whole thing is a calamity. It's a waste of money, resources, and most of all, men and women. It's money down a rat hole. It may cost my cousin his good health, maybe premature death. At this point, I'm not proud to call myself an American. It is shameful.