afganastain is much safer than iraq, there are so few of fighters in afganastain that they probably only double the UN forces there. also troop conditions are fairly good IMO, we live in luxury over here so no food for a good 8 hours seems like a lot but for them its a short time between meals, people have been constantly engaged in firefights for upwards of 2 days.
even if there was time to sleep soilders never really get "real" sleep when there depolyed. but its fairly rare to run into a firefight in afganastain.
the main reason it looks like all this "carnage" is taking place is becuase the only time something is reported is when something bad happens, never when nothing goes on, which is good