After spending a very comfortable night at FOB Salerno, the MVC woke up bright and early ready to continue our journey. We boarded a Casa 212 and headed for Bagram Air Field, our last stop on our tour of Afghanistan. As soon as we got off the plane we met a group of fellow Minnesotans. It is nice to know that the famous “Minnesota Nice” doesn’t stop when you leave Minnesota, or even the country!
Today we got to broadcast on Freedom Radio, which is part of the AFN (Armed Forces Network). This was exciting for us because we got the chance to thank all of the men and women serving our country; even the ones we didn’t get a chance to meet. After that we made a visit to the Hospital on base. We toured the hospital and met many people along the way. Not only did we get to meet the nurses, doctors and other staff members, but we even got to meet some patients. This was a nice opportunity to brighten the spirits of those soldiers who were sick or wounded.
After all of our appearances for the day were over, we had time to prepare for our performance. We anticipated a large crowd and were definitely not disappointed. We arrived a half-hour before the show and were surprised to find a line of people waiting to get inside. This made us even more excited for our final performance of the tour. The show could not have gone better! The positive response from the soldiers made it easy for us to really get connected and have fun! At the end of the performance there was a line all the way around the room of soldiers waiting to meet us, get autographs and take pictures. Even after an hour long show we were overjoyed to meet each and every one and wish them the best of luck on the rest of their deployment. Tomorrow we are leaving Afghanistan after meeting many courageous troops; we cannot thank them enough for their service to our country. We are also very thankful to have had this opportunity; it has been a life changing experience that will certainly never be forgotten.