The Merry Pranksters Who Hacked the Afghan War

[oly14]

One of my camp mates sent me this link this morning. It's a bit long but you'll get the relevance early.

http://www.psmag.com/culture/the-merry- ... war-60873/

[Ugly Dougly]

And that was how I met Dr. Dave: a former U.S. Army drill instructor, self-avowed “hippie doctor,” PhD neuroscientist, technotopian idealist, dedicated Burner, dabbler in psychedelics, insatiable meddler, and (weirdest of all) defense contractor. Unlike the guys who had come to the war mainly for the hazard pay, Warner seemed genuinely bent on something far grander—redeeming the debacle of Afghanistan through the gospel of open information.

I know that guy:

[some seeing eye]

I remember meeting a gentleman a few years ago one night on a small art car, 2002 or 3. This was back in the days when men and hot girls were admitted equally to art cars. He proceeded to tell the story of his work in Afghanistan. He was a leader of a small special forces unit. They had gone native, big beards and local clothes. They would sneak into Talaban camps when everyone was asleep in the middle of the night and do things like cut the tent ropes, then just disappear, just to fuck with them. Some new upper command came in and made the team wear uniforms and shave. So he just quit. He hadn't been out long and landed at Burning Man. He was a little tweaky, but was really excited about the idea of buying some land in Nevada nearby in the mountains to stage his Burning Man visits. Build a small community of like-minded burners. He also had somewhat of a survivalist streak with a vision of underground bunkers. It was a fascinating conversation. He would have probably made a great candidate for Burners Without Borders and DPW. Hope he was able to realize his dream.

Thanks for the article Oly.

#conversationsatburningman

[H.G.Crosby]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Earth_Battalion

[PhoenixFemmeFatale]

Interesting.