Excerpt from a Soldiers blog:

The rains have taken the summer off again, and the desert winds are no escape from this relentless heat. Skirmishes are daily and our attention to roadside detail has been more than stressful lately. Our crew is now weary of the local challenges. And when help does come; in the form of a local figure head to mend the region, the official is usually targeted by radicals and our job becomes tougher. Communication from the top says our efforts are creating stability but all we see are the slums and the impoverished being taken advantage off, not a good way to bring diplomacy and democracy into a country in my opinion. If there is anything that I have learned about humanity while over here is that the world citizens want peace and this faction of society that wants chaos couldn’t exist without it. Us being here is just fueling this extremism fire.