A while back the Ambassador of Colombia to Brussels had sent a letter requesting that we provide some briefings for officers from the Escuela superior de Guerra de Colombia. I was passed the tasker and began to organize everything into place. I was sitting in my office awaiting their call, even though its late June it was overcast, rainy, and 17 degrees. My phone rings, its one of the speakers I’ve got planned, he’s called to say the Colombians are at the gate and that security has no idea who they are.
Running down with the secretary we arrive at the gate where firstly we cannot find the Colombians, they had apparently taken refuge from the rotten weather inside their van. I call up a senior fellow in security and am sufficiently stressed to use my French without the usual self-consciousness of how bad my accent must sound. Having cleared the issue the Colombians are passed through security and brought to the conference room.
The presentation goes smoothly, all the usual messages and so its maybe just a little dull. I had arranged one of the speakers, a Colonel from Spain, to deliver his speech in Spanish which they seemed more responsive to. At the end of the brief a Colombian Navy Captain thanked us on behalf of the Country, the President, themselves, etc, and presented some medals to the speakers, engraved with their Colombian Army’s coat of arms.
I escort the embassy’s Counselor and the delegation, half a dozen Colonels and a one star general, back to the main gate as it starts to rain, welcoming them to Brussels in June. At the gate the Navy Captain also hands me a medal and thanks me for my help, I shake their hands and see them off, happy to have my first IR trinket.
No comments:
Post a Comment