SOURCE: NPR (1-9-10) They're here to learn the consequences of
their actions. "Should we change another culture?" she asks the
class. "The reality is, the second you land on the ground with
100,000 troops eating and using the materials of the area,
you've changed the economy; you've changed the environment."
"It's not should we," she tells them, "it's what are we doing —
and is that what we want to be doing?" An anthropologist,
Holmes-Eber trains American warriors to be sensitive to other
cultures. She teaches operational culture at Marine Corps
University in Quantico, Va. It's her job to get soldiers to
think through how every move they make on the battlefield has a
consequence — not just for enemy forces, but for ordinary
people. If the Marines blow up a bridge, for example, then the
local people can't get over the river, either. "You've changed
the environment by knocking the bridge out," Holmes-Eber tells
her class. "That changes the economy, because the farmers can't
bring their fruit to market." The foo