Posted on 03/26/2010 10:40:31 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus
OTTAWA -- Canada’s Tim Hortons coffee shop at Kandahar Airfield will remain open despite a shutdown of Pizza Hut, Burger King and other U.S. outlets deemed too luxurious by top American commanders of NATO troops.
“Kandahar Airfield Tim Hortons is an initiative to support our men and women in uniform for serving in Afghanistan,” Defence Department spokeswoman Megan MacLean said. “There are no plans to close the Tim Hortons.”
Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who leads the International Security Assistance Force, has ordered most fast-food outlets on the boardwalk inside the airfield base shuttered.
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael T. Hall revealed the plan in a post on an ISAF blog last month.
“Many of you have heard that there are plans to shut down some of the ‘amenities’ throughout Afghanistan,” he wrote. “This is not rumour. It is fact. This is a war zone -- not an amusement park.”
Sgt. Maj. Hall said he and Gen. McChrystal had been looking for ways to do things more efficiently and to optimize ISAF resources from the moment they arrived in Afghanistan last summer. Gen. McChrystal is overseeing the surge in U.S. troops and resources over coming months.
“One of the ways we’re going to do that -- in order to accommodate the troop increase and get re-focused on the mission at hand -- is to cut back on some of the non-essentials. That includes some of the morale, welfare and recreation facilities throughout Afghanistan. In the coming weeks and months, concessions such as Orange Julius, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and Military Car Sales will close their doors.”
He said commanders across the battlefield are implementing additional cutbacks while still providing services within individual nations’ interests and regulations.
The Tim Hortons is located next to the American concessions, many of which will be closed. Operated from a 12-metre trailer, Canadian military support staff manages Tim’s and profits go to health and welfare programs for Canadian Forces members.
He said Green Beans Coffee would remain at bases across Afghanistan, and bazaars and businesses which employ Afghans and feed the local economy will still continue to operate.
Sgt. Maj. Hall also said there would be fewer first-run movie showings and a reduced amount of canned and bottled goods coming into the country.
“What it comes down to is focus, and to using the resources we have in the most efficient and effective ways possible. Supplying non-essential luxuries to big bases like Bagram and Kandahar makes it harder to get essential items to combat outposts and forward operating bases, where troops who are in the fight each day need to be resupplied with ammunition, food and water.”
Or until we surrender to Islam.
Your message is the reason that this makes me so angry. Anyone that wants to deny whatever amenities we can offer our soldiers is to me the enemy. Thank you for what you are doing!
In my first post on this thread I asked an important question . . . doesn't the removal of these fast food amenities from Afghanistan on the grounds that "this isn't an amusement park" imply that it WAS an amusement park for the last 8+ years?
I was out at FOB Connor in 2001... loved it.
I agree with both of you. We should do what we can to make life more pleasant for those who are serving.
Like I said . . . then let's send over their families, their cars, and their wide-screen TVs while we're at it. Maybe some Bud Light and crystal meth too, eh?
It is a logistics issue, we cannot get all of the stuff we need over there now. Everything is being flown in since the county is land-locked. Plus the Paki’s have shut down one land supply line and the Russians have shut down the other. It is all about the airframes and the lack there of, we have been burning them up over the last 9 years.
No it implies that the guy who said that having these things is like having an amusement park is an idiot.
If the point of this is to free up logistics so we can send more to the guys in the field, then that's great.
If the purpose of this is to free up some money to give to ACORN, then I'll be pissed.
I'm guessing it's more likely to be the latter.
I don't know if the above is bullshit, but from the father of a Marine at a base so far our in the boonies that there were weeks in between helicopter deliveries I might agree with it.
I'm not one to say if your kid has it and mine does not then your kid shouldn't either. I'm just saying if transports full of Pizza Hut supplies are taking up space that could have transported packages that at one point took two months to get to Northwest Afghanistan then screw the Pizza Hut crap.
You argument is ridiculous. Those comforts aren’t feasible. They are removing comforts that ARE feasible. If you want to argue your point, do it with some logic.
It really doesn’t take any effort. LOL
“Bet they didn’t take a poll on this.”
There is a poll running right now! At AARP’s home page! My sister sent me the link.
Same reason you have CIA satellites looking for "proof" of global warming.
ML/NJ
>>That includes some of the morale, welfare and recreation facilities throughout Afghanistan
Seems stupid. A cutback in some may be OK, but why so drastic.
Well, Obama, despite the buildup, has already stated his desire to begin pulling troops out by July 2011.
P.S. Hockey (or any other competitive sport) is a lot more “like war” than you think — which is why every imperialist nation in modern history has built and maintained a very strong culture tied to competitive sports.
Yeah cause hockey players are putting their lives on the line everyday for our freedoms.
I doubt that Zero would even try an MRE like the troops have to subsist on. No Good B-——D!
Note http://www.outback.com/companyinfo/thanksforgiving.aspx
Outback Restaurants: Operation Homefront
Back up our service people!
Maybe I'm just a fool, but I find the notion of shipping Burger King and Starbucks supplies into a war zone a complete farce.
Is this the same country where George Washington rallied ragged troops without proper footwear to defeat the British at Valley Forge?
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