LEAGUER LIFE

By Cpl McQueen
5 July 2010

When thinking of Afghanistan I am sure that a lot of things come to mind. One of the most under-rated and yet most profound aspects of this country is the opportunity to experience leaguer life. As most of us know the leaguer can be an enjoyable environment that helps to break up the doldrums of ongoing operations, usually set in the middle of nowhere with lots of heat and dust. However people seldom think of all the other opportunities that leaguer life has to offer.

One of the perks of leaguer life is the opportunity to observe nature. For example Tpr Adrian Droogers recently had an incredible opportunity to study the grazing habits of a goat, watching this particular animal for an extended period of time. Other animals that have been known to frequent these locations include camels and jackals. The first being far more enjoyable. However, you must not forget the little guys that stop in to say hello. There are numerous camel spiders, scorpions and millipedes aka killapedes that frequent these locations. The killapede is aptly named for its perfect score of 10 and 0 in king of the ring where it’s spared against numerous opponents of the first two families. These events had to be canceled unfortunately because they were unlicensed and the gaming commissioner did not approve.

Leaguer life has an excellent maid service as well, provided for you free of charge by Mother Nature herself. You may ask, “How is this possible?” Well at least once a day, if not more, a small twister similar to what lifted Dorothy’s house away sweeps through the leaguer and courteously leaves behind a fresh clean layer of dirt over absolutely everything. Thank fully our good friends at Johnson and Johnson have us covered as there is a large supply of baby wipes available to help keep us all “minty fresh”.

Finally, leaguer life offers you the opportunity to experience some of the most phenomenal views. The mountains at sunset become backlit by a vivid array of colors, which silhouettes the features and creates an incredible picture. As well earlier this year, when the poppies were in bloom, you could experience striking contrast of purple and pink flowers amongst long fields of grapes and a plant known to frequent the “BC” interior. Now, all of this must be taken into account with the ever-present backdrop of brownish reddish dust. It is everywhere all the time and makes for quite the canvas. All in all, leaguer life has plenty to offer any individual I guess you just have to know where to look.