Five Romanian servicemen, veterans who were wounded in theaters of operations, make a five-day visit Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of the program Memory Recovery dedicated to soldiers who were in a critical condition at the time of their medical evacuation.

Sergeant Major Mihai-Ion Toma, Sergeant Cristian-Gabriel Hanganu, Sergeant Constantin Buturuga and 3rd Class Corporals Florin Drehluta and Emanuel-Cornel Berdei, active duty military personnel in the defence ministry, were part of the 280th Capitan Valter Maracineanu Mechanized Brigade and the 30th Dragoslavele Mountain Brigade, respectively. At present, the first unit mentioned above is deployed in the theater of operations while the latter prepares for a six-month mission in Afghanistan.

The five veterans will have psychological counselling for the duration of the visit and will meet their comrades deployed there, will watch their daily activities, will visit the ROL III type hospital in Kandahar and will return home aware and proud that they have finally carried out their mission.

Now at its second edition, the program is organized by the Directorate for Military Personnel Wellfare of the defence ministry with the support of the Defence Staff. During the first edition of the program there were nine wounded soldiers who traveled to the theater of operations. The participation in the program is voluntary but has to be approved by the psychological assistance structures.

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At present, 920 Romanian servicemen are involved in international missions, 600 of which are in Afghanistan.

Over the last 20 years, 29 Romanian servicemen fell on duty in the theaters of operations, while about 180 others were wounded during these missions.

The Press Office