Questions

Two ex-Marine officers ask some questions about what they saw in Afghanistan:

• non-alcoholic beer shipped around the world into Afghanistan? 
• The civilian contractors who slept all day in their hootches and ignored the war going on around them? 
• The ostentatious Post Exchange at the Marine Corps's headquarters in Helmand Province, with its aisles lined by televisions, air conditioners, and stereos?
• the money-losing commissaries back in the United States, a system of grocery stores receiving $1.5 billion in federal subsidies every year?
• the Semper Fit girls in Camp Lejeune, who acted like personal trainers but seemed like little more than beneficiaries of a welfare program for Marine dependents?
• Meals at the dining facilities in Afghanistan cost more than $25 per plate. 
• Back in America, many of our computers still had floppy drives. 
• the murky process of weapons procurement and acquisition, in which no-bid contracts have become all too common. 
• Why was it that we had money for such frivolities, but sometimes not the slings for our rifles? 
• Why was it that every contractor we talked to bragged about his six-figure income? 
• Why was it that the new two-story chow hall had a Mongolian barbecue, but there were never enough spots to attend humvee training?