Welcoming Party

 As we landed in Shinwar, adoring throngs crowded around the helicopters to welcome us.  Or not.  The kids were mildly interested in the helicopter, but not enough to either throw rocks at us, which has happened to me in Kandahar, or run up for candy, because (1) they now know the soldiers no longer give out candy, or (2) our dental health awareness campaign is making great strides.  Actually, the reason they cut off the candy distribution was because there incidents of kids getting too close to the vehicles and getting run over.
  The closest living being to our landing site were the cows.  They weren't exactly hostile, but the numerous cow patties scattered precisely where we had to walk made pretty clear what they thought of us.