Rescued from page 2!
You are tasked with setting up a Forward Base for resupplying the ISAF Brit contingent in Kabul. Do you choose...
a) Bahrain
b) Dubai
c) Muscat
d) Karachi, Pakistan. In a derelict 'hotel' where the e-coli (raw sewage) count in the water is 1000 times the permitted level and you are advised to keep your eyes shut in the shower...which fills up with the contents of your toilet when you flush. Where malaria and dysentry are rife. Where suicide bombers are active and have publicly annonunced your presence as their main target, but go for the softer target of some French ex-pats. Where the security guards are paid about a quid a day, supplemented by money from blackmail, drugs and prostitution...and are insufficiently trained to be allowed live ammo. Where home made mortar bombs fly over the site when you are sat in the pool (the only saving grace)...until the pool man accidentally back flushes the filter contents back into the pool, making it unfit for use. Using an airfield which flight path takes you close to a large refugee camp full of, wait for it, Afghanistanis who have fled over the border. Where the airport security guards relentlessly question you about your take off time, POB, destination etc. (very suspicious) Where your destination base, Kabul, is safer than your operating base. Where you have to wear long trousers to avoid offending the locals..whereas they think nothing of crapping in the streets. Where your Belgian, Greek and Portugese colleages are on $50 a day UN pay and you are on a few quid LSSA and a phonecard. (And the Greeks aren't flying having been shot at)
And where the overall cost of your stay is more than that at a), b) or c)