Strange Art

Friends,

Here's yet another thing that you wouldn't see in hometown USA. Well,maybe I would. I live in a very dynamic city. Here you go.

Strange art

I’ve mentioned that Soldiers arrive and depart Afghanistan regularly. You’ll see someone in the Chow hall for months then all of a sudden he’s gone. You never notice it right away, it usually takes a few days or a week, if you realize at all. One clue is the presence of totally new people – that signals a change in personnel. The same holds true for contractors.

On my base the percentage of Soldiers to contractors is about 60/40. Yeah, there are a lot of civilians around here. They, like the military, also rotate back home. The main contracting company here is FLUOR – it hires US civilians for the very critical jobs, Macedonians mostly for the laundry and chow hall and local Afghans for the most menial of labor. Some military positions are staffed by former Soldiers who are now civilians and contract with the government.

Layla noticed a new civilian in the chow hall the other day. You should’ve seen her excitement. She has a serious boyfriend – another member of our battalion who’s working on a different base, so I wondered why she was so fascinated by this new guy – knowing how dedicated she is to the bf. Well, when she finally pointed him out it was obvious. The guy had tattoos. Remember the update I sent about the tattoo trend in the Army? This guy redefines what it means to wear tattoos.

He has tattoos on his face. That’ right, I said his face. It’s beyond repulsive – it’s almost like some crazed character from a Hollywood horror movie. Tribal looking ink extends from the bridge of his nose to his ears, they’re shaped like tribal knives and are located right under his cheekbones. Similar tribal looking tattoos are on the front, back and sides of his neck – but they don’t connect, each is distinct. And don’t forget the tattoo on his chin, from which sprouts a 6” long braided beard. I can’t bring myself to look at his arms, hands or any other part, nor would I want to.

UPDATE w/in the UPDATE: I saw his arms today and as expected, ugly, dirty looking faded tattoos – not a sleeve per se, but hideous nonetheless.

Am I wrong to think this guy has “questionable” judgment? Is it unchristian to think he looks like the type who’d sacrifice kittens on headstone in a cemetery? Should I not be morbidly fascinated by his entire persona, wanting to hear how he speaks and what he says? The voices of different villains, each chilling and sinister come to mind whenever I see him, which isn’t often. Moreover, who the hell in their right mind would hire a guy like this? That perplexes me more than anything else. I mean, the word “Psycho” and a pistol tattoo on the neck can be discretely hidden by hair. Without a thick layer of pasty makeup and dim lighting there is no way to hide the obvious graffiti covering his skull.

I would think showing up to a job interview looking like an extra from Apocalypto or Lord of the Rings would be an automatic disqualifier. Yes, parts of Afghan society is Stone Age and some is Bronze Age, but we’re not here to scare democracy into them. Hopefully this guy isn’t required to leave base, because I don’t think Obama would want Tattoo representing our US contribution – and everything here is perception. Unfortunately, I think the damage is already done. Local Afghan workers come on base daily. Any of the chow hall workers has seen Freakazoid and no doubt has stared in disbelief. Afghans are blatant starrers. But back to the hiring manager….

WTF? Inkface must be a friend of the guy who hired him. How else does one explain the presence of a sideshow circus attraction in Afghanistan. It’s not like Barnum & Bailey are touring this shithole of a country. He must’ve been given a “pass” from the hiring manager and by the time he was at the processing center awaiting transfer to here it was too late to rethink or annul the decision. Makes me wonder why KBR lost the contract to FLUOR. KBR didn’t have people with tattooed faces on the payroll, at least not here. Is this really the best we have to offer?

Shaking my head

Tc