The Foreign Service Journal, March 2007

I wake up in the morning based on the time of our first meeting or departure — sometimes as early as 5 a.m. — and go to bed between 9 and 11 p.m. (There is really nothing to do in the evening.) I have to say that this is the first time in my life that one of my considera- tions when getting dressed in the morning is whether my clothes could be easily spotted by snipers. Several times, my military friends have suggested that I not wear a brightly colored or patterned shirt that I had put on before going out on a mission with them. Every meal is served in the mess (dining hall). All the food is chosen and provided by the military, and it’s all cooked in some other country, then flown in and reheat- ed in our kitchen three times a day. It doesn’t help that meals are served only at specified times, and the menu is based on what day of the week it is (Tuesday lunch is turkey cutlets). One of my soldier friends here is count- ing the time left by the number of “Tuesday Pizza Nights” he has left (12, as of mid-January). Dinner is served from 5 to 7 p.m., cafeteria style. We use plastic forks and paper plates, and people come in and eat, watch football on TV (with the sound turned way up), and leave. This used to drive me crazy, after many years of elegant meals and lovely dinner parties. But at least now I have some buddies with whom I can sit and joke around for a few minutes. However, if none of them are around when I enter the dining hall, I take my meal back to my room and eat on the bed in front of the TV. In contrast to this, my State colleague at the Spanish- run PRT reports that the meals are so fantastic that if the base were overrun by insurgents, the Spanish soldiers would protect the cook first. They actually drink wine with lunch and enjoy aperitifs in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Back in Kabul There is no easy way to describe relations between our PRT and the embassy. For one thing, neither entity is monolithic; each institution’s role is complex, and each group of people reflects a mix of personalities and grap- ples with multiple issues and goals. Certainly I’ve found F O C U S M A R C H 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43