Return to Afghanistan and mono memories

I had a scary recollection today.  I was speaking with a colleague today who I served with out in Afghanistan and we were both a little surprised to realise that it was two years since we arrived there for a six month tour of duty.

In the time I have been back, apart from the odd quick scan through the images, I have not really given them too much thought.

As we get closer to the end of combat operations I am regularly surprised by the lack of understanding of the job our soldier s are doing out there and in some cases, blatant conspiracy fantasies seem to be circulating.  It seems to me that there are people who are happy and willing to exploit ignorance.

I have mixed feelings about my time in Afghanistan.  I won’t pretend that I bounced around the green zone of Helmand with a bayonet between my teeth and two GPMG’s, one under each arm killing insurgents without fear.  In fact quite the contrary, each and every time we went out on any patrol, I felt fear, the healthy kind, the kind that keeps you alert.

The people of Afghanistan are much like we are in many ways.  They eat, sleep, laugh, cry.  They have the same basic needs we do but have less to work with and because they do not experience our western ways are mostly happy with their existence.  I won’t pretend they don’t want their security, they do as do we.

It always amazes me how we (human beings) struggle to understand different cultures though.  Let’s face it there is a north – south divide in the UK and lets not get started on our nearest neighbours, the French! 😉

Anyway, looking back through the Afghan archive, memories came back and they are different from the experiences at the time, for there is no fear now, the memory of that has faded, now I focus on the experience.  Much of the emotion has gone.  The images bring back shadows and nothing much more.  I suppose this is the same as the nerves I felt and I remember feeling on my wedding day, but now when I see the photos, they don’t remind me of that fear, just the day.  Natural I suppose.

I enjoyed my time in Afghanistan, I saw things I never thought I would.  It made me appreciate more what we have more. It did me some good.