The Hungarian soldiers completing their tour of duty were bidden farewell at a medal parade in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. Over the last more than six months, most soldiers serving in individual positions have worked in an international environment rather than with Hungarian colleagues.

Many Hungarian soldiers posted to individual positions have served with the ISAF Regional Command North (ISAF RC-N), and recently handed over their tasks to their colleagues arriving from Hungary. At the medal parade, ISAF RC-N commander Maj.-Gen. Jörg Vollmer praised the Hungarian troops’ high professional standards and their effective participation in the joint work of 18 nations.

The Hungarian Senior National Representative, Brig.-Gen. Ferenc Korom also said farewell to the theatre of war. He served as Chief of Staff RC-N in the recent period. The present one has been the general’s seventh mission, and several members of the Hungarian contingent have already served in Afghanistan before. Nevertheless, the tasks cannot be carried out as a matter of routine, and the everyday challenges of the individual positions require everyone to stand by all the time.

For example, instead of having a 40-hour working week, the normal daily working hours for soldiers serving in individual positions – apart from those serving multiple shifts – run from 8 am. to 8 pm., and the rest is standby duty. They have two off-duty mornings per week as resting time. The service period places a burden on those filling individual positions, but during this time they can gain lots of professional experience and become very confident speakers of English.

(1st Lt. Renáta Révész)