A Tale of Two Wars

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I plagiarized that one from a great novel; but it's a superb opening to illustrate the difference between the war that we fight as ETTs and the war the Combined Joint Task Force- Phoenix (CJTF-P) fights. CJTF-P is the headquarters for the ETTs here in Afghanistan. I could understand a marked difference between conventional coalition forces and ETTs; but there's such a huge dichotomy from us and our headquarters.

The difference came to light recently when we received some replacements through Camp Phoenix.. We were briefing them on our day to day activities and they were telling us about what they were told at Phoenix. What they were told was shocking and if you followed their guidance it would ensure that you were universally disliked by the ANA and would accomplish nothing here.

First, was Chai. They were told not to ever drink Chai with the ANA due to contaminated water and the possibility that you'd be poisoned. This is an idiotic statement. Chai is the social glue that holds things together here. When you meet someone you have Chai, if you disagree with someone you have Chai, you do anything here you have Chai."
Afghanistan Shrugged