An occasional series of chats with one of our troops.
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Staff Sgt. Paul Safford
Hometown: Omaha/ Age: 43 / Iowa Army National Guard, Charlie Troop, 1-113th Cavalry Squadron
Staff Sgt. Paul Safford of Omaha, at Combat Outpost Pushtayshark near Bagram Air Field. Safford is part of the 1-113th Cavalry Squadron of the Iowa National Guard. (Photo by Alyssa Schukar/The World-Herald)
Q: What’s life like deployed to Afghanistan?
A: It’s not like in the movies or the advertisements. You’re not kicking in doors. Basically you just have to learn how to work with the local populace.
Q: What do you do to pass the time here?
A: We trade off movies. I’m always in somebody’s room saying, ‘What movies you got?’ You can watch television, sleep or exercise, get in shape. It’s not like you can go to the mall.
Q: You guys seem to eat pretty well here.
A: We have real good cooks. We’re not suffering, let’s put it that way.
