Transfer of Authority

Today was the TA (transfer of authority) parade for the DCO PRT MeS (deputy commander of the provincial reconstruction team Mazar-e Sharif), or the CO of FINCON (commanding officer of the Finnish contingent), which are one and the same person. At 0830 there was a rehearsal, and at 1050 all units were assembled on the parade ground at the flagpoles. That was also the end of the second period of the ice-hockey game between Finland and Sweden in the Olympic Games in Vancouver, but by that time Sweden was ahead with 2 goals, so it was just as well to have a parade. Then there was a lunch with Carelian stew and ice-cream.

We had ordered a periodical maintenance for two of our vehicles, but one of them was not going to be ready until at about 1500, so to save some time, we left for Camp Marmal with two vehicles to get some items from the stores, and one additional vehicle. When we were done at Marmal and headed back to CNL, the new Mercedes' turbo didn't work. Upon arrival we handed it in for maintenance and hoped that the problem wasn't anything serious. It shouldn't have been, as the new car really was new: it has only 7000 kms on the clock. While I was waiting for dinner (hamburgers and French fries), I noticed that the sauna had already been heated. I had 30 minutes with nothing special to do, so I went in and relaxed.

The new car's problem was fortunately easy to fix, so we got to leave for Aybak on the same day. The road was again full of lorries and trucks, of which a dozen were broken down along the way. At exactly 2100 Lion, Piggy, Bunny and Lizard (that's our vehicles) arrived safely in Aybak. MOT E and guests from Stockholm, G2 and G5 had arrived earlier in the afternoon.