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Fuel for fighting

Everyone loves things that reminds them of home, and more so for food. Whether it is candy bars or a special apple pie like granny used to make or maybe a fast food restaurant in a foreign country.

Everyone loves things that reminds them of home, and more so for food. Whether it is candy bars or a special apple pie like granny used to make or maybe a fast food restaurant in a foreign country. It is comforting to see and taste such things and it always makes you feel better no matter what the situation.

So last week when the top NATO commander in Afghanistan decided that places like Subway, Pizza Hut and Burger King were to be shut down, there were the obvious rumblings from enlisted personnel.

But why on earth would you shut down these restaurants, which are housed on the military base?

Is the army getting too fat to fight the war on terror?

Are the soldiers getting diabetes from eating too much fast food?

Are they sneaking Italian meatballs into their packs and shooting them at the enemy?

No!

According to A Canadian Press story, it seems U.S. General Stanley McChrystal reviewed the amenities at Kandahar and Bagram airfields and "concluded the fast food joints posed a distraction from the task at hand."

Seems a little silly doesn't it.

Having someone reflect the rays of the sun into your eyes while you are trying to shoot at the enemy is a little distracting, or someone walking past the Humvee in a polkadot burka may be a little distracting, but eating a six-inch sub or a nice hot slice of pizza just doesn't seem to have the same distraction factor.

However, if the soldiers eat enough of it they may get too fat to carry out their duties properly. But that could be said for the mess hall food. If you eat enough of anything you will gain weight.

On the other hand, it begs the question as to how this compares to soldiers in the trenches in WW1 and WW2. They didn't have these luxuries to help keep them going.

What these restaurants - and that includes Tim Hortons which we know is over there with the Canadian troops - do is help soldiers keep their sanity in a horrible time and a horrible place. Every day comes with it the possibility of being maimed or killed and a little distraction, when you are not out in the field, can be a good thing.

How distracted does this general think the soldiers will be.

"Hold on a minute private, I can't try to disarm the bomb tied to your back right now, I hear Timmys has brought back the Roll Up The Rim 'cos and all I go the last time was a doughnut. Here hold onto my piers I will be back in about 20 minutes. Do you want anything?"

What these places do is help keep the morale up a bit. They help you think of home and family and why you are there. Soldiers are well-trained both mentally and physically and it would take a lot more than a Whopper and fries to distract them "from the task at hand."

Yes, it may make the soldiers a bit fatter, but it may also keep their minds off the crap they have to deal with every day - but distracting from the task of fighting a war - somehow I don't think so.