One of several heart-warming accounts of Rory Stewart’s random encounters with British soldiers in Afghanistan.

They always show him and his dog kindness, providing momentary reprieve from remoteness; see the bag of home comfort food they also shared.

According to Stewart, the local villagers liked the soldiers, although the headman of Barra Khana, Bismillah, expresses mild bewilderment at some of their strange habits.  

‘British soldiers have chests as broad as horses. We wish there were more of them to keep the peace. Every morning they hook their feet over the bumper of their jeep, put their hands on the ground and push themselves up and down on their hands two hundred times without stopping.  I don’t know why.’

Source: Rory Stewart, The Places in Between (London: Picador, 2014), p. 204

Photo credit: ArmyAmber at pixabay