The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

46 SEPTEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Life on a secure compound in a war zone is somewhat surreal. BY B I L L BENT FEATURE SERVING AT EMBASSY KABUL Bill Bent, an FSO serving in Afghanistan, is a former member of the FSJ Editorial Board and the AFSA Governing Board. T rying to capture what it is like living and working as a diplomat in Afghani- stan is a bit like the Indian parable of the blind men and the elephant. In the story, each blind man feeling different parts of the elephant has a different view on how to describe it. Their indi- vidual impressions, while true, are not entirely so, at least not in the sense of describing the elephant in its totality. Similarly, one’s impres- sions and experiences of Afghanistan depend on what one has touched or, more accurately, what has touched each unique individual. My thoughts may, therefore, be different than the impressions others have come away with; but there are certain experiences common to all. The critical security threat colors everything here, govern- ing how we live, work and play. The adage, that soldiering is 99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer terror, applies equally well to diplomatic service here. The weekly Selectone security tests and the periodic “duck and cover” drills become routine background noise, and it is easy to become complacent. But