Haiti vs. Afghanistan

I have really serious issues with natural disasters.  I am Catholic and have gone to church (mostly) my whole life and should have some sort of faith at this point but I gotta say, natural disasters are like sweeping the rug of faith right from under my feet.  After the tsunami in the Pacific a few years back I was done.  So done.  No god could ever ever ever in a million years allow for such devastation to hurt so many people.  It just can't work like that.  Even the lovlier than lovely Jehovah's witnesses that came and sat on the porch all summer long trying to explain that incident away couldn't make it work.  And those people, those people have and answer for everything.  Just ask them. 

So way back in the day when Gunnar was active duty Army and I was in grade school or something, he did a mission or two in Haiti.  I couldn't tell you what the purpose was or anything like that and if I could talk to him on the phone ever I'd ask for the details.  Well, the 82nd Airborne, out of the one and only Fort Bragg, is heading to Haiti today (or yesterday or something like that) and I can't even explain how much I wish Gunnar was going with them!  I guess it's the 17th Cavalry or some other brigade or battalion or whatever but wouldn't it be so great if they could get out of Afghanistan and go somewhere and be useful?  I mean, the vast majority of Afghans that Gunnar has encountered certainly don't want our military there.  And then there's Haiti that is completely devastated and need every ounce of help they can get.  I just wish our Army could go where they are needed, wanted and appreciated.  It's a noble and worthy reason to be there.  I really hope the guys that are heading there can help get things cleaned up and organized. 

I hear lots and lots of stories about what's it's really like in Afghanistan when I do get to talk to Gunnar.  It's far worse than any news report that I've heard so far.  People there live in awful conditions - barely fit for humans.  There are so very many non-government organizations, coalition forces, armies from other countries, government agencies all trying to educate Afghans, improve the quality of life in some way, build roads and bridges etc.  And then it gets blown up and everyone starts over.  What in the world are we still trying to do there?  It's ridiculous!  It makes me lose faith in so many things.