Now it was time to leave Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. My girlfriend was the love of my life. Of course, she ended up becoming my wife, but at the time we didn’t foresee that. The year was 2005. I had extended to stay in Ashgabat but at the time Helsinki needed me more. Again, I was issued orders, and off I went to Helsinki, Finland, Scandinavia. I was a seasoned MSG watchstander by now and also a Sergeant. I had more time on MSG duty than everyone at my next duty station. In fact, I was going to Helsinki to be the Assistant Detachment Commander or A slash. The Detachment was also bigger. It had a total of 10 Marines and 1 Detachment Commander.
I arrived and immediately got to work. The country was beautiful. It was also cold, even in summer. I arrived in June 2005 and I remember thinking that it was pretty chilly. I really had no time to worry about the weather. My partying days were over. I was dead set on getting the detachment into shape.
Along the way, I truly missed my girlfriend, Kristina. I had lost contact with her and my friend in Turkmenistan was searching for her. After about 3 months, he found her. I’ll never forget how happy I was. But that is a story for another day. We then did all the work to get married and bring her to the States.
The embassy personnel and the unit were no tight at all. That is what happens when you are in a first-world country. Everyone is off doing their own thing. There are buses and trolleys and Marines can use those freely. There is no need to depend on the Marine vehicle. I didn’t enjoy this post that much. Maybe because I was an adult or it was a first world country. Whatever the case, it wasn’t my cup of tea. I will definitely go into more detail over the course of the series. Stay tuned!
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