31 Mar 2011

Fare thee well, Friends

P374

Part of the rich tapestry we call life, here inside the wire in Kabul, is the ever changing military population. Every so many months the faces change, the personalities differ, even the nationalities of the soldiers are replaced. It's a weird period to experience and invariably good people get replaced with bad and vice versa. It really is a sea of ever shifting sand.

This evening saw the farewell of the last 2 Germans to serve with my section. It's sad in many ways as they were first class chaps. Their return to Germany was ordered almost out of the blue as together with the remainder of this small detachment they only had a week to pack pack and pack ready for withdrawal.

We said farewell to them with very little ceremony BUT with a small, intimate Afghan meal which was shared with some of our Afghan colleagues. I think it was a personal and heartfelt send off indeed!

Our Technician, Rene, is looking to come back to the section as a civilian and our chief (Sebastian) I am planning on meeting in München in September, to experience the Oktoberfest !!!

You know, you never really make friends in this line of work, rather acquaintances. The friendship part comes after the first après tour meeting.

So, I am looking forward to something enjoyable in the not too distant future!

Thanks colleagues for a great time shared together :)