Kandahar – a multinational camp the size of a small city which houses about 30,000 civilian and military personnel. It is never quiet, constantly buzzing with people working round the clock and aircraft taking to the skies every minute of the day and night.
But even here there’s a time for silence and a time to pause for thought. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, British, Canadian and American personnel stopped what they were doing.
They remembered the fallen from the Great War. They remembered the fallen from more recent conflicts. And for those serving in Afghanistan, this was a particularly poignant time. Many have lost friends and colleagues, and most face the dangers of war on a daily basis.
Whatever the recent controversy and discussions surrounding the wearing of the poppy; there is no doubt that the principles and values behind the symbol are alive and well in today’s Armed Forces.