On June 10 the soldiers serving with the seventh rotation of the HDF National Support Element – Afghanistan (NTM-A) and those posted to individual positions lit candles at Mazar-e Sharif to pay tribute to the memory of those Hungarian soldiers who lost their lives on that day.

On June 10, 2008, 30-year-old SFC Gyula Kovács, (posthumous lieutenant) lost his life while trying to disarm an improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghlan Province. He was the first victim of the HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Three years later, on the same day, the 44-year old doctor of the contingent, Capt. Csaba Borbély lost his life with tragic suddenness; he was taken ill in the morning hours (Hungarian time) and was transported to the US combat outpost at Khilagay, where he received professional treatment but the medical team was unable to save his life.

(Capt. Andrea Nagy Kleinné)