To Be or Not To Be - The Sandbox
- Thread starter Sapper41
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[Done]
What difference really? It could be called the "Hell Hole", "The Ghan", "Shytesville", a whole list of really derogatory terms or something more 'familiar'. Most of us have a real hard problem trying to see what your point really is and whether it really has any relevance. It really is quite trite.
I suppose you had a problem during that war we called the 'Cold War' with names like "Across the Pond", "Land of the Round Door Knobs", "Long Weekend", etc.......
What difference really? It could be called the "Hell Hole", "The Ghan", "Shytesville", a whole list of really derogatory terms or something more 'familiar'. Most of us have a real hard problem trying to see what your point really is and whether it really has any relevance. It really is quite trite.
I suppose you had a problem during that war we called the 'Cold War' with names like "Across the Pond", "Land of the Round Door Knobs", "Long Weekend", etc.......
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Actually our planes fly into the "box." "Box" signifying an area within specific geographical boundaries. In this case, there happens to be lots of sand there thus the coining of the term "sandbox."
Alert on the other hand could be construed as the "Icebox."
My .02
Edit: Just removed the quote!! Hey that works!!
Alert on the other hand could be construed as the "Icebox."
My .02
Edit: Just removed the quote!! Hey that works!!
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It's silly, yes, but hardly "dehumanizing". :
And it's a far improvement over what we were calling it about month 3.
And it's a far improvement over what we were calling it about month 3.
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I agree with Gas Masked Crusader-
When I was on Op Apollo, the geographical area within which we were considered to be "operational" (as opposed to transiting to and from Victoria), was known as "the Box".
I suppose that it logically follows that Afghanistan would be considered the "sandier" end of the overall box, by way of differentiating from the sea going operations. Hence the name- sandbox.
Sapper41- I fail to see what is derogatory about that. Am I missing something here?
When I was on Op Apollo, the geographical area within which we were considered to be "operational" (as opposed to transiting to and from Victoria), was known as "the Box".
I suppose that it logically follows that Afghanistan would be considered the "sandier" end of the overall box, by way of differentiating from the sea going operations. Hence the name- sandbox.
Sapper41- I fail to see what is derogatory about that. Am I missing something here?
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Gas Masked Crusader-
Good possibility that we have crossed paths. I have career attention deficit disorder and have been posted to most of the same Bases that you have...that and it is a pretty small military
Good possibility that we have crossed paths. I have career attention deficit disorder and have been posted to most of the same Bases that you have...that and it is a pretty small military
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"Sandbox" has been in very common use for a long time - at least as long as the US has been conducting operations in the CENTCOM AOR. I've heard it from US Marines, British infantry, all sorts of US Army soldiers, private contractors, C-17 and C-130 aircrew and Canadians on every tour I've been involved with in that theatre - both when deployed and when mounting operations. (Americans also use "down range" when not in the "sandbox" - as in "I'm going down range" to mean "I'm going to Afghanistan/Iraq" - with all the connotations that phrase brings).
If you find it derogatory, that's your business, but I suspect it's a bit late to be trying to stamp it out.
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Well, I was there as a civilian, from time-to-time from 1975-77, and the abbreviation was (as my comments show) "Afstan".
Short and with no baggage of any sort that I can see. Unlike "A-stan" which can lead to unfortunate inferences. Plus, though "Sandbox" may be sort of relevant to Kandahar and west to Herat, it is not relevant to more northerly or easterly parts of the country.
Loved Shagai Fort, "Home of the Khyber Rifles".
Mark
Ottawa
Short and with no baggage of any sort that I can see. Unlike "A-stan" which can lead to unfortunate inferences. Plus, though "Sandbox" may be sort of relevant to Kandahar and west to Herat, it is not relevant to more northerly or easterly parts of the country.
Loved Shagai Fort, "Home of the Khyber Rifles".
Mark
Ottawa
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I sometimes use the three-letter identifier, AFG. As others have noted, however, I fail to see how the "sandbox" is offensive/insulting/dehumanizing... ???
G2G
p.s. there is lots of sand everywhere. Baghram is pretty North, and I found it just as dusty/sandy as down in Khandahar.
G2G
p.s. there is lots of sand everywhere. Baghram is pretty North, and I found it just as dusty/sandy as down in Khandahar.
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I'm a civvy, never been there.
If them that's been there, them that carry scars from there, and them that's left friends behind there, can live with the name, I sure can.
If them that's been there, them that carry scars from there, and them that's left friends behind there, can live with the name, I sure can.
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Infidel-6 said:
We started to call Afghanistan that by week 2
Now Sapper....are you serious?
There are plenty of worse names for that country being used by the troops that are in country right now....want us to start using them?
Every soldier I talked to while I was in either Kabul or Kandahar called it that.....you seem to be the only one here with a problem with it.
Get over it.
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