Hungarian Celebration at Shindand
Szöveg: SFC Attila Toncseff | 2013. augusztus 30. 9:28The contingent of the Hungarian Defence Forces serving at Shindand Air Base in Herat Province, Afghanistan, has been performing its duties professionally since August 2011. The soldiers of the Mi–17 Air Advisory Team (AAT) are drawn from the HDF 86th Szolnok Helicopter Base – currently the sixth rotation is training and mentoring the rotary-wing and ground crews of the Afghan Air Force. Naturally, they also celebrate August 20, Hungary’s national day. (Reporting from the spot.)
We had compiled the list of ingredients and submitted our requests two weeks before the start of the cooking. The local American NCO logistician procured everything we needed. We managed to get hold of some firewood, so the only important remaining issue was to find a kettle of proper size. Fortunately, we were able to solve this problem too. Our commander assumed the role of head chef.
Then came the big day. Early on, our team started making preparations by peeling onions and chopping green peppers, and then we established the fire site too. Everybody contributed to the cooking – some put wood on the fire, others peeled the potatoes, and a few of us prepared the meat…
Apart from the supper, we gave a short presentation so that our foreign colleagues become even more familiar with Hungary. In what followed, we served the meal, and by the time everybody was served their portion, the first ones had started queuing up again. To us, the true praise was their words of appreciation.
