Timmys opened in Kandahar on Canada Day 2006:
Tim Hortons brings a taste of home to troops in Kandahar
First outlet opens at a deployed mission
OTTAWA - Troops serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan, received a taste of home Canada Day morning when the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) officially opened the first Tim Hortons outlet at a deployed mission.
At 10 a.m. Kandahar time, (1:30 a.m. EST), men and women of the Canadian Forces, along with military from other nations, joined CFPSA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Major-General Doug Langton, Commander of Task Force Afghanistan (TFA) Brigadier-General David Fraser, and Tim Hortons Director of Business Development Doug Anthony on the Boardwalk at Kandahar Air Field (KAF) for the official opening ceremony.
Gathered around the 40-foot trailer for the ribbon cutting, troops were treated to words of encouragement, appreciation, and Canada Day wishes while enjoying coffee and donuts.
"This is about serving you as you continue to do the outstanding job Canada asks of you," MGen Langton said to the soldiers. "We hope this little piece of home will make your lives in Afghanistan just a little bit easier.".. (Tim Hortons)
A very interesting first person account by Jennifer Jones, who worked at the KAF Timmys (a job I seriously considered applying for!!!) :
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Not an average job
[...]
This is no ordinary Tim Horton's. I work on the Kandahar military base in Afghanistan.
The store is roughly in the middle of the base. In the centre is a large sand-and-gravel field where the Americans play football and the Brits play cricket. There’s a ball hockey rink right outside our store where we watch the Canadian troops play enthusiastic games of hockey in the sweltering heat. Other food outlets and stores line two sides of the boardwalk in the sand.
The store is actually a trailer and in the mornings, with six people behind the counter, it’s a busy place. We rush about in a practiced ballet of coffee and doughnuts, calling out orders and dodging the bakers as they come to fill up the showcase. Sometimes I marvel that we don’t crash into one another.
The usual
We can often tell what someone will order just by looking at the uniform. The Canadian troops usually just want a double-double, known as a NATO Standard over here. Sometimes we tempt them into an apple fritter.
The Americans prefer honey dips with a regular coffee, whereas the Brits can’t turn down a Boston cream or a Canadian maple. They’re also partial to French vanilla cappuccinos. When the cappuccino machine is temporarily out of service, we almost have a mutiny on our hands.
‘We’re prone to rocket attacks’
Of course, we’re the only Tim Horton's where the majority of customers come in fully armed. But by now I’m used to the sight of a soldier with a rifle in one hand and a coffee in the other. We’re also prone to rocket attacks on the base, and when the alarm sounds, we have to get all the customers out of the store and sit in the back until the all clear sounds. There’s a heavy thud, a feeling of impact and then the eerie wail of an old air-raid siren. That’s the signal to get to a bunker, or to the back of the store, if I’m working...
This is a MUST READ - honest! Go here.
The end of an era for Timmys in Kandahar.
