Return to Aybak

After the morning brief I tried to use the computers in the internet room, but they were all occupied, just like on the previous evening. I phoned the PO and asked when they were going to come and pick me up. They said that they would let me know. In the TOC they told me that some American special forces had been fighting with insurgents outside the city last night. Close air support had been called in. I remember hearing the planes when I went to bed. Nothing special was happening anymore, so I went to pack my bags and to have a nap. At noon the phone rang: the transport would leave immediatelly and would arrive in about an hour. I had lunch, got my personal equipment and informed the staff that I was about to leave. MOT's E and D arrived as planned, and we took a walk around the camp before we left for Aybak.

The ring road north-west from Pol-e Khumri climbs up to 1400 metres before descending to 990 metres in Aybak. We reached the level of the clouds and drove in the mist. In Aybak it rained a little but was still surprisingly warm, up to 17 degrees in the middle of the day. The commander of the Finnish contingent with his CPT were at the PO. They left and I began clearing my desk of all the administrative and other business that had accumulated there during almost three weeks. At our briefing the CO told us to everyone's surprise that he was going to quit Afghanistan and go back to Finland for personal reasons. That means that I will be acting as the officer in command at PO Aybak for the remainder of the rotation. This was quite a surprise and leaves many open questions. But surprises are one thing that one should get used to in Afghanistan. In the evening a washed laundry, went to the sauna and straight to bed.