 In order to break the dullness of the same MREs day in and day out, the Marines and sailors of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, cooked local food while conducting combat operations in remote areas of Afghanistan. Afghan food consists of rice, potatoes, onions, that was basically it. Sometimes we'll get chickens, cooked chicken, and sometimes it's like one time we cooked the goat. We learned how to cook this food by a first turpent down in PB Watson, Sangam Valley. The Marines bought all the ingredients needed to cook their food from the local population while conducting routine patrols. Usually they'll go to report with those locals and they would trust us more and they knew us more. We had basically a connection with the shop owners and all the locals around that hanged out the shop. The Marines of Charlie 1-8 look forward to their homemade dinners they had almost every night. Usually like after a couple days, I get tired of eating a lot of MREs so we just decided one day I'll cook and boost everybody's morale. I think it did definitely help boost morale, they enjoyed it, they would ask me every time you're going to cook tonight, there was usually no leftovers left. With simple ingredients and a little skill, the Marines of Charlie 1-8 are sure to never be bored with their meals while on long operations. Kupu Ed Gallo, Ghostown Valley, Afghanistan.