CNN Reporter witnesses solemn 'ramp ceremony'

[Robb]

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/23/cnn-reporter-witnesses-rare-ramp-ceremony/?hpt=Sbin">CNN Reporter witnesses solemn 'ramp ceremony'

When you’re embedded with the military in a place like Afghanistan, you can spend a lot of time waiting.

And so it was last Thursday. We had been embedded with U.S. and Canadian forces inside Kandahar City for a week, and we were awaiting a military flight back to Kabul.

Our transport – a C-130 Hercules – was still two hours away from arriving, so we settled in at the rather basic “departure lounge” at the huge Kandahar Air Force base – known to the military as simply "KAF."

After 45 minutes or so, we noticed soldiers drifting from the waiting area to the outside gate, standing there, looking out.

I wandered over, curious about what was unfolding. A giant transport jet (I think it was a Galaxy C-5) was parked on the apron, with an MRAP armored vehicle parked nearby. Speakers and a podium were set up near the jet.....

I think we can all agree we'd rather there weren't any more of these. Good piece of on-the-spot reporting.