A Young Marine’s Dream Job

Fascinating article that leaves me with a welter of conflicting impressions.

• that these 2 young Americans are brave men, full of what an old friend of mine used to refer to as "piss and vinegar"
• that these 2 young Americans are also (if we take their words at face value) having the time of their lives, as if they're living some kind of life-sized, ultra-real video game, or are holed up in a big hunting-blind from which they can go out to track down the local "game" - except that this "game" shoots back. Or, is this their way of compensating in a very dangerous situation
  
• that these 2 young Americans, whom Chivers obviously much admires, are (I must remember) the face of the enemy in the eyes of many (most, perhaps) of the locals, who (as Chivers himself notes) are mosque-going believers in God (just as these young Marines may be church-goers back home) and likely see killing or expelling these young Americans as occupiers of their home villages and lands (and, maybe, country) - just as we might if we were in their shoes.