I hesitated about a nanosecond before I decided that working with Scott and the National Guard was utterly the ethical thing to do. And I think Kevin should get a few more facts before passing judgement (he was hedging but it's obvious where his judgement lay). It was not a combat unit; it was an agricultural group from Oklahoma, composed of low-income farm people and some ag experts. Most of them were pretty scared about going to Afghanistan. They were in a 4-month training here in the States before heading to remote villages to work with local farmers to help them develop alternatives to opium-growing. It was an amazing bunch, and I felt honored to work with them. They were some of the most gentle, respectful people I've met. The end of the course, where they sat with the 4 Hopi students in the class and asked how they could do better with people from another culture, and really listened to the answers, brought tears to everyone's eyes.
We would have been foolish to pass up the chance to bring a permaculture perspective to one small segment of the army. We can turn away out of idealism or a sense of moral superiority, and pretend that ignoring them and not interacting with them is some sort of solution. But in what possible way would that help anything? Teaching them has some chance of doing good. Getting on a high moral horse doesn't.
Toby
http://patternliteracy.com
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