The Terp

Well, it's been a while. See the problem is that I get so caught up in the day to day routine out here that I forget to post. oops. All kinds of interesting things happen out here, well, interesting, stupid, scary sometimes. I just forget to write them down. So here's today's story, actually it's not from today, it was a while ago, shhh...


Across the alley from my room is the interpreters room(shortened to terp by the Army, since obviously interpreter is way to long of a word.) We interact occasionally, and since most of them speak a little English they lose a lot of the monkey like qualities that most of the locals possess. Actually typically the terps are more educated and intelligent, and process things a little more quickly then your average Afghan. They actually almost seem human.

At any rate there is this terp, we will call him 'J.' He's been trying to get a visa to go to the US for a while now. We started talking to him about it, and why he wanted to go, what he was going to do, etc. He gave all the typical responses of wanting to see what it was like, and that he enjoyed the culture and everything, but there was one disturbing portion of the conversation:

US: So, are you going to take your wife with you to the States?

J: No

US: Why not?

J: Because American women have a lot of freedom, I don't want my wife to see that. If she see it, she will want the same thing. It's easier to keep her under control this way.

I think the worst part about it was the fact that he delivered it in such a matter-of-fact way. It didn't even phase him that he was purposely controlling another human being. It didn't even phase him. But, then again, it's part of their culture. Disgusted yet? Stay tuned, you will be...