You Could Die Any Day. Andreas Meyer

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       41. The blue heart of Feyzabad

       42. Lunch with „Schoko“

       43. A reunion with Nabil, Sultan, Soraya

       44. Attack on German armed forces in Takhar province

       45. Father`s Day run at Camp Feyzabad

       46. Departure

       47. Back home

       48. Eqilogue

       49. Attachment 1 Rank groups from army

       50. Attachment 2 Mongolian ranks

       51. Attachment 3 Breakdown of a guide

       52. Attachment 4 Classification of NATO classes

       53. Attachment 4 Translation from German to Dari

       54. Attachment 5 in alphabetic order

       55. Attachment 6 List of figures

       Thanks to:

      For the patient support in the implementation of this book, I thank my friend Jana Wochnik-Sachtleben, who has lectured the text, and recorded my audio book, as well as Ms. Miriam Hadji for the design of the impressive book cover, and the translators Maren Krüger, Kerry S and Alexander Langer.

      I warmly thank my comrade and friend Nabil Azizi for the translation into Dari language.

      I also especially thank my partner, "Thessi", for her constant support the whole time.

      I would also like to thank the following former senior officers and civilians as well as all my former comrades who dealt with me directly and indirectly in the missions:

      Brigadier A., Airborne Brigade 25,

      Colonel B., former company commander paratrooper battalion 253, Nagold,

      Brigadier General R., former commander of the Center for Operational Information in Mayen, Peter Scholl-Latour, German-French journalist and publicist from Bad Honnef,

      Batuz, an American artist, philosopher and cultural activist,

      and my closest comrades in the time of the missions (2005, 2010, 2011), Rainer M., Thomas K., Tino M., Marcel G., Soraya A., Sultan A., Nabil A., Alexander B., Marc -Andre S., Tobias M., Stephan M., Christian W.

       Pretext:

      These words are mine, a report from a staff sergeant of the reserve, who retired from active service in the German Army in 1990, but after a six-year break decided to live a life in uniform again and volunteered as a reservist for three missions in Afghanistan.

      Previously, I had been soldier for eight years, but what I had learned those days was nothing to put into practice at that time, because back then there was no mandate for foreign missions for the Bundeswehr.

      Then, after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, USA, on September 11, 2001, the circumstances changed.

      From this point on, the Bundeswehr also participated in the foreign missions of the NATO troops. In December 2014, the ISAF mission ended in Afghanistan and a new advisory and training mission began.

      During the period from 2001 to the end of 2014, a total of 3,687 soldiers, including 54 German soldiers, lost their lives. All were comrades, some of them were my friends.

      This is my - and their - story.

       Prologue

      September 11 2001 I sat at a desk of a logistics company I was employed at as fire warden and coordinator for medical assistance since I left the Bundeswehr from active duty. I was responsible for the preventive fire security and all related aspects within the company. I liked my job. Being the one responsible for the security of my colleagues and having the possibility to be proactive always gave me a good feeling. Since I am a challenge loving person I was really satisfied with my tasks.

      This morning though, my whole well settled life was about change in a dramatic way. A change that effected many more people around the globe.

      A colleague of mine shouted over to me, I should open the website of CNN. Something about a plane had hit a sky scraper. Moments later I was following the live broadcast from the accident site staring at the horrific inferno of what once used to be the World Trade Center. I could not beliving my own eyes when the second jet flew into the other tower of the WTC.

      In the first moment everything looked so staged. Like it was just not real. Like a really really bad movie. But it was real. And the consequences of this new reality were about to affect not only the world in general but also my very own personal life. I was about to face the terror from eye to eye. Not in the states but in Afghanistan.

      I rejoined the Bundeswehr and became a soldier once again.

      Map of Afghanistan

       1 January 2005

      10th of January 2005 I received a call from the company sergeant ("Spieß") of my former unit, the 294th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. He was looking for a logistics assistant for the upcoming overseas mission. The destination: KUNDUZ, Afghanistan. I was quite surprised. But being a member of the reserve with still valid certification for this kind of position I had no doubt that I was going to support and accompany any battalion they would assign me to. At that time, I had a good job. I had responsibilities. But nothing could stop me from going with them. It´s one of these things you become a soldier for. Yes, of course I had been in the Army for 8 long years already. But it was nothing compared to what was about to come. Those years we´ve only been to countless exercises. All with the same scenarios. All about the same enemy. The enemy those days: "The East". In that past, counterterrorism and asymmetric warfare, at least in Germany, were not even close to become a term the army would focus on. You had 2 nations or blocks in conflict. Blue and red. Blue = good. Red = evil. After 9/11 the whole role of the Bundeswehr and its enemies had changed rapidly.

      After the phone conversation with my "Spieß" I went straight to my boss asking him for approval to join the Bundeswehr for active duty to go on mission. He was far away from being amazed by my idea, but after a long discussion about a man´s values and appealing to his idealism he finally agreed. After taking care of all administrative things with my employer and covering all needed aspects with my family I confirmed my participation in the upcoming mission. The preparations for my first mission began.

      Those days I felt like I would finally do something meaningful for those people who had known only three things in the last year: war, suffering and oppression, caused by the same inhuman creatures who attacked the way of life of the western world. There are so many thoughts running through your head while preparing for a mission. You need some time to get their true meaning. To СКАЧАТЬ