It could be the happy moments, like news of the 24 babies born here or last weekend's wedding. Or maybe it's talk of the trauma among evacuees or the Afghans picking through clothes on folding tables after losing absolutely everything.

But there's a sense that life's events, in all of their complexity, are simply unfolding for the over 9,300 Afghan evacuees who have come to call this US military base in New Jersey home over the past month or so - and who may be here for...