Back in Camp Northern Lights

I woke up even earlier than yesterday and I still felt a bit sick. It was too early for breakfast and I couldn't have eaten a bite even if it hadn't been. I just had a Fanta and climbed into the car. The sun was barely over the horizon as we left for Mazar-e-Sharif and Camp Northern Lights. The point of this trip was to attend some additional training and to join the Change of Command Parade of the Finnish Contingent. At the same time, there was a bunch of things to take care of at HQ. Revising the PO cash to the Paymaster, getting vaccinations, getting hard copies of the local employees employment contracts, making arrangements for the upcoming backbrief with operations - not to mention all the things to get from IKEA (that's what the Swedish main supply storage is called), such as washing powder, door handles, duct tape, drill bits, etc.


It's difficult to take pictures that do the landscape justice...


...especially through dirty armoured glass with a pocket camera from a moving car!

The briefings were boring, as they were mostly repetition of what we'd been taught earlier. By lunchtime I was feeling slightly better, however, and managed to eat some soup. The day was more than reasonably hot. Settling matters with the Swedish National Support Element and the Paymaster took almost two hours, but I finally walked away with a reciept for 15000 USD and almost 13000 $ in cash in my backpack. It's the Swedish contingent that handles most of the financial matters in PRT MeS. At the Suomi-house, there were feedback forms for the rotation training in the area of operations. My feedback was mostly negative, and I think that my comrades' feedback will be on the same note. There were also application forms for the next rotation, which must be handed in 15. October at the latest. When I inquired about whether it was better to apply to the next rotation and then cancel, or not to apply, I was told that it's definitely better to apply. Service in Afghanistan can be terminated quite quickly if necessary. Nobody needs to be here against their will.