Adios and Thanks

USAF airmen deployed to Transit Center at Manas in Kyrgyzstan conducted a ceremony earlier this month to thank members of the Spanish detachment at Manas as they departed the facility, where the detachment began operations in 2002 and continued in 2004 after a deployment to Kuwait. The ceremony also served as an opportunity to honor the 21 Spanish servicemembers deployed to Manas who died in a plane crash in 2003. The Mizar detachment commander, Maj. Miguel Oliver, said it had been “a pleasure and honor to have worked alongside the United States Air Force.” Oliver noted that his team had to leave because it couldn’t reach an agreement with the Kyrgyz government and said they would continue to aid operations in Southwest Asia from a forward support base, but “it will not be the same without the support of the Americans.” (Manas report by SSgt. Olufemi Owolabi)