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How do you get your adrenaline fix?

AAAum

By AAAum,
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LakeGeneve Newbie

LakeGeneve

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When I lived on Camp Phoenix on the outskirts of Kabul, I used to drive down Jalalabad Road to downtown Kabul to buy a bottle or two of Jack Daniels.

Jalalabad Road has at least 3 suicide bombers a week. Not to mention the driving there is worse than any other place I've been in the World. Worse than New Delhi, Cairo, Paris or Panama. Kabul gets hit at least 3 times a week with suicide bombers and people were being kidnapped right off the street at the time.

That was good for a bit of an adrenaline rush.

I, once, witnessed President Karzai body guard fire off a shot at the car in front of me because he was following too close. Not that uncommon of a happenstance in the Afghan capital.

I normally do not do this but the stupid ignorance displayed in this post really requires some response.

So your idea of fun and adrenaline, similar to many infantile and immature military/security types who work in The Stan or Iraq, is to actually unnecessarily expose yourselve to danger and possible threats?!? Somehow the thought of driving high speed down Jalalabad road with the possibility of a suicide bomb attack provides a big rush for you?

I hope this is not reflective of your motivation for being in Afghanistan. Suicide bombings and kidnappings should not be carelessly characterised as if it is all some game from which you can choose to interact with at some bored whim. For ordinary Afghans it is no game. 90% of them exposed to worse insecurity would give a limb to have the options you do. The option to leave, the option to be protected in you camp or compound. To retreat from the daily uncertainty.

You can leave once your adrenaline fix wanes or you get bored! Afghans cannot. Once the excitment of suicide bombings, kidnappings and shooting wears thin for you, you can head home and tell your friends how dangerous it all was. Or try to pic up some chicks talking about 'the horror, the horror' of it all.

The tradegy of even a remote possibility of a suicide bomb is not something to treat without all but the upmost seriousness. Seemingly you have never had to deal with the after affects of such an incident there. Any security manager of an organisation working in Afghanistan reading your post would easily take the view that your attitude is lacking in respect for the seriousness of the situation; and would know that one day you will expose yourself, or colleagues, to unneccesary dangers.

I wonder if you also find the high incidence ofwomen in Herat killing themselves by self immoliation as an adrenaline kick for you as well?

That you should probably go home to watch your war movies and visit the "The true east. Not the dirty and violent Islamic Middle East." (Quote from your blog). Your analysis of what is going on in the Stan and the islamic world is pretty superficial and worthy of a FOX News grab. I am no expert but that much is obvious. An atlas might help you as a starter.

Please reflect on what you wrote, a good look around you and the position of choice that you have. In all truth I wish you and your colleagues a safe stint.

I've been traveling in the Middle East and Central Asia since '97. I've got a decent understanding of the regions and their inhabitants. More so than I have time to write about here on in my blog. That said, I'll never be an Afghan. I'll never be a Muslim. I'll never be stuck in one of those countries. So I'll never have a true and full understanding. I get a sense of it when I talk to folks who wish that they could leave. When I talk to friends who are stuck here and do not have the choice to leave.....

A quick peruse of the diatribe and rantings on your blog which, for example, lumps all peoples of the middle east together in a negative light belies your assertion that you have an idea of the complex diversity in that part of the world. I find it difficult to harmonise the racism and ignorance expressed on your blog, with someone who is widely travelled for over a decade in the area.

My motivations for being here have nothing to do with what I wrote on this thread. It was fun for me to drive around Kabul and on Jalalabad Road. I can't help it that those taliban, al Qaeda and other Wahhabi mad men want to make life terrible for their fellow Musilms. .....

The thread query is what gives you gives you an adrenaline rush.

You wrote about driving down Jalalabad road for some booze, the fact that there are regular suicide bombings on that road and in Kabul in general along with kidnappings. (though your duplication of 3 bombings a week doesn't make sense). "That was good for a bit of an adrenaline rush." Then you talk about Kazai's guard shooting at a vehicle. And now you say it was fun to drive in Kabul. It is not to say that this motivates you for being there but you obviously like the thrill of the threat.

You display an insensitivity to civilians who primarily suffer from insecurity and a lack of seriousness about the realities of working in a high security environment. Somehow it is all fun and a rush for you but after your little forays to get your fix you retreat to the santuary of the Camp or compound.

Obviously, the exposure to danger is what gives you the rush. Danger that you CHOOSE to needlessly expose yourself to! Danger which others don't have the option. Maybe if you had said something like; 'Given the high security environment and threat of bombings, it was always a bit of a rush to get safely back to our camp at night. To know that no afghans had been killed that day. To survive another day'.

BUT you didn't express such a sentiment - it was the opposite.

You also know that military convoys are a target so needless trips for some fools adrenline rush means you expose civilians to more danger. Basic security 101 is minimise your exposure to threats - your expressing the opposite. (And I won't mention the number of afghan civilians that are killed by ISAF or US convoys travelling at high speed)

As far as my need for an Atlas, you probably assumed that I was speaking of Afghanistan when I mentioned the Middle East. That would be your mistake.
No, not at all, I do believe that even the dumbest american soldier realises that Afghanistan is not in the middle east - well at least since 2001. It is just that you don't display much of a sophisticated ability in your extensive blogs to distinguish between various areas, peoples and regions of the middle east and central asia.
Lastly, I didn't say that I drove the road to get an adrenaline rush.
Really? You spoke about driving on Jalalabad road and Kabul and then stated;"That was good for a bit of an adrenaline rush." Is there some sort of kentucky boy logic at play which eludes my simple understanding of the english language?
I had to drive that road daily for work. Many people drive those roads daily going about their daily lives. Military folks, civilians. There are restaurants in downtown Kabul. There are a couple of bars and from time to time there are actually a disco club or two. NGO workers, Contractors, Military, State Department folks from all of the nations who are helping to rebuild Afghanistan frequent all of these places and make runs attempt to get out to obtain or find some semblance of normality amidst the chaos and insanity of life in Afghanistan..
Yes, I am aware of the important arterial route that Jalalabad road is and the heavy use it gets. I would assume you would be using it on a daily basis as well.

But you didn't start with the context or even mention the daily commute on the road. You spoke about going to get booze and then general driving in Kabul and ended with what an adrenaline rush is was for you.

So, I would say you can take all of your judgmental bull and shove it up your rear. If you haven't been here and lived in this mess. You have no right to judge it. If you have lived here then you coped in your way. Good for you.
Even if I had not worked there, an informed and interested person does has the right to judge stupidity when it is clearly expressed.

But having lived and worked there for 18 months, 4 years ago as a civilian (always unarmed) for an international organisation mandated to assist the then interim government and run elections; having had a car bomb go off outside our compound blowing out all the windows and sending body parts into the compound; having worked with hundreds of afghan staff; having travelled on Jalalabad road on a daily basis; having had 3 international colleagues from my office kidnapped for a month with regular publicised threats of their execution; having had to deal with rockets, bombs, shootings, security threats; having had staff and colleagues killed by extremists; having dealt with road convoy security planning; having had to deal with some stupid soldiers who really had no idea what was going on; and appreciating that I and my colleagues went through less than most afghans -

then I think I can pick a stupid thrill seeker who needlessly puts lives at risk!

Soldiers here are put at risk by the sheer stupidity and greed of Congress, NATO, ISAF, the old CFC-A, Karzai, Afghan Parliament, various warlords, the drug policies of the US and about a thousand other factors....

No soldiers are also put at risk by stupid, macho guys who think seeking danger is a big rush and needlessly expose themselves, and others, to dangerous situations.

Civilians are put at risk by the stupidity and ignorance of soldiers who don't appreciate the context of the place they are working in and have a gung ho, cavalier approach to security!

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AAAum Newbie

AAAum

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Bid hot guy @ TF auction...but i didnt go...better sleep my home :?

you better find a chance... well, i went TF party last Sat... for the first time... i got it... believe me :wink:

in relation to who exactly? Come on, name names... :)

won't tell... won't tell.... 5555

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