We are ending fast food joints in Afghanistan, for the most part:
Fast food joints where soldiers wolf down burgers and pizza will soon be a thing of the past at bases in Afghanistan, as the U.S. military reminds soldiers they are at war and not in "an amusement park."
In the sprawling military base at Kandahar, the fast food outlets facing the axe include Burger King, Pizza Hut, and the U.S. chain restaurant T.G.I. Friday's that features a bar with alcohol-free margaritas and other drinks -- all set along the bustling "Boardwalk" area of the base.
On any given day, the giant square-shaped walkway features the surreal sight of soldiers sipping gourmet coffee and eating chocolate pastries with guns slung across their shoulders, while Canadians play ice hockey at a nearby rink and fighter jets thunder overhead.
The U.S. military says its beef with the burger joints is that they take up valuable resources like water, power, flight and convoy space and that cutting back on non-essentials is key to running an efficient military operation.
"This is a war zone -- not an amusement park," Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall wrote in a blog earlier this year.
"Supplying nonessential luxuries to big bases like Bagram and Kandahar makes it harder to get essential items to combat outposts and forward operating bases, where troops who are in the fight each day need resupply with ammunition, food and water."
Warning that concessions like Orange Julius, Dairy Queen and Military Car Sales were also on the exit list, Hall said less-obvious changes were coming too -- including fewer canned and bottled goods coming into the country as well as fewer first-run movie showings and some entertainment programs.
I understand that we can't short-change ammo, fuel, and basic warfighting supplies so Dairy Queen can serve ice cream to troops, but don't go thinking that this is anything but a necessary evil. Those so-called luxuries are vital to battling the onset of PTSD among our troops over there. But with many more troops in Afghanistan and the inability of our logistics people to expand the tenuous supply lines enough to continue business as usual, cutting the "amusement park" amenities may be necessary but it is not ideal.
I could understand saving access to such luxuries to those combat troops who spend much of their time outside the wire, and limiting access of rear echelon troops to those luxuries, but cutting them altogether? That's a bad idea.
We will see more PTSD cases coming out of Afghanistan as a result of this policy.
