[imagesource: Twitter / @NotableHistory]

US troops, as well as other foreign troops, are packing up their things and leaving Afghanistan.

While they’re probably just concerned with packing their clothes and personal items, the German military is worried about how to pack up something entirely different.

Beer.

65 000 cans of beer, which has collected at a base in Mazar-e-Sharif.

As per Task & Purpose, since US troops are banned from drinking the ale during the final stage of the withdrawal, the German military gets to keep it all to themselves.

Since it’s too much for the German service members alone, they have been racking their brains to figure out what to do with all of it.

It would be a hell of a lot easier if the American troops could party with them for one last time, but alas, they are not allowed:

While German troops are allowed to drink two cans of beer a day, General Order Number 1D paragraph 2a(1) prohibits US service members in Afghanistan and Iraq from drinking alcohol under most circumstances, according to CENTCOM.

Besides beer, the German army also has about 340 bottles of wine and sparkling wine that its troops in Afghanistan are banned from drinking before they leave the country.

So what are they to do with all that juice?

Well, it seems to be a rather uncomfortable idea to let it all waste away in Afghanistan, so the German military is organising to send it back home:

The German military decided to hire a civilian contractor to haul the fermented freight back to the land of hops and grain because destroying the booze would damage the environment and local Afghans are not allowed to drink alcohol, the Associated Press reported.

A German military spokesman told Task & Purpose that he could not say how long it will take for the civilian contractor to haul all of the alcohol back to Germany.

All that booze sure is fit for an American fraternity meets Oktoberfest party hybrid, but it looks like everyone will have to do it when they’re no longer in service.

I am sure a lot of South Africans can sympathise with the inconveniences of an alcohol ban.

Thanks, Evan

[source:taskandpurpose]