The High Cost Of European Peacekeeping In Chad
June 6, 2008: Putting European troops into landlocked Chad for peacekeeping duty is turning out to be very expensive. Current estimates are that it will cost over $300,000 a year to keep one soldier in Chad. The European peacekeepers don't have much in the way of helicopters or armored vehicles. Thus the big expense is air transport. Delivering goods by truck is expensive as well, because of the scarcity of good roads, and long distances from ports. While air freight cost five times as much, this avoids the bandits and risks of breakdowns that trucks must endure. Even a lot of the food for famine relief and refugees is flown in.
The troops are living pretty rough because of the transportation difficulties, and this doesn't help morale much. Many will only serve a few months in Chad, before returning home for some rest and recuperation.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/articles/20080606.aspx
Provost
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States 1924-1929
