A Helmand Christmas: turkey, Santa hats and staying focused
As a holiday treat at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shawqat, breakfast is served half an hour late and those not on duty can have a lie-in. The perhaps unintended result is that the first thing I hear when I wake is the muezzin calling from the neighbouring Afghan National Army camp. I’m not the only one woken by the lingering call and there’s suddenly some rival singing from the next-door tent as a Guardsman greets the morning by impersonating Slade — “It’s Christmas!”
