One of the coolest things about being here at Camp Cupcake is the diversity of the population. Some places around here (e.g. Camp Eggers) are rather homogenous US Army outposts, but the HQ has more nations represented than I can even count (I think it's 50 or 51).
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| Troops at the NATO Medal Parade |
It's not just German, French and English troops - in ice cream terms, those would be the chocolate, vanilla and strawberry options (German Chocolate, French Vanilla... guess that makes the Italians Strawberry?). We've also got a lot of Romanians, Macedonians, Turks, Malasians, - that's more like Chunky Monkey, Dublin Mudslide, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch and Cherry Garcia - in no particular order.
Add to that the Indian civilians who work at the DFAC and it's quite a mix. The DFAC guys from India (and it's all guys, except for the female Australian Warrant Officer who runs the place) get so excited when I say namaste to them. I'm also learning an Indian language called Telugu, in 30-second lessons, three times a day, as I chat with the guy who sits at the DFAC entrance desk. I can say how are you: bhaggannara - and I am fine: bhaggananu. I am very very good is "challa challa bhaggananu."
I also learned a Czech proverb today - a million things can kill a donkey. I don't know quite what that means, but I'm sure it's deep.
Anyway, it's impressive how well everyone gets along so well in such a heterogeneous environment. It didn't really strike me as all that unusual at first, given my background as both an American and a military guy. For most of my life I've lived, studied and worked with a diverse cast of characters, of all colors and creeds. But the more I hear about the intense tribalism in Afghanistan, the more I think about the racial tensions in so many parts of the world, the more remarkable and admirable this HQ seems.
Sure, I occasionally hear someone say things like "Those guys are incredibly Italian," or "Hide the good cookies so the Germans don't come eat them all," so it's not like we're ignorant of differences between us. But one of the coolest things going on around here is the simple fact that we work together as well so well.
1 comment:
Wonderful posting, Dan! You are surely your father's son! He totally made an airport worker's day at National airport last week when he greeted him in his native language (farsi,i think) That guy smiled from ear-to-ear and was totally thrilled. It sure makes a difference when we take a moment to acknowledge a person like that.
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