Halloween comes to Faryab, Afghanistan

[The Straight Story]

Halloween comes to Faryab, Afghanistan

COP GORMACH, Afghanistan -- Batman turned the corner first, nearly slipping on the loose, gray gravel. Next came Wolverine, in bright yellow and blue. Then King Leonidas, red cape flaring, followed by the villain known as Scorpion.

A squad from comic books, movies, and video games, their costumes electric, unexpected, in the dead brown hills of Faryab province, hours and miles from anything.

It was Halloween, and even here, on a small American outpost where the brightest things are often defensive flares fired by passing aircraft, you can find soldiers who won't let remoteness stop a good time.

"Trick or treat!" shouted Leonidas, Spartan king from the film 'The 300.' "Who's got some candy?"

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