The Afghan Gas Initiative

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The Battle Rattle blog over at Military Times broke a potentially explosive story about a Marine Corps ban on farts in Afghanistan.

Apparently, the smell of Marine farts offends the Afghan people and a burst of cultural sensitivity led the brass to institute the gas ban. Battle Rattle gets right to the essence of the problem for Marines:

They’re not supposed to cuss because it could be misunderstood (that one goes out the window a lot). And they stay away from talking about politics, religion or girls because those topics could escalate into major disagreements (they can’t communicate anyway because of the language barrier).

But farting?  That’s practically a sport.  Ok, it’s not soccer, but a good contest could open the door for cross-cultural exchanges, jokes and other gallows humor.


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