GRATITUDE AND GOOD-BYE - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates thanks soldiers for their service and bids them farewell at a forward operating base in Afghanistan, June 6, 2011. DOD photo by Cherie CullenCoins And Thanks: Gates Bids Farewell To The Troops -- New York Times
KABUL – The American flag was at half-staff Tuesday as the motorcade of bulletproof S.U.V.s and armored war wagons pulled out of the military headquarters at Camp Eggers carrying Robert M. Gates to his Air Force command plane and a flight out of Afghanistan, ending his final trip here as defense secretary.
The flag was a public sign of mourning for three American troops killed just days before by an improvised roadway bomb. It also could be seen as a small symbol of the larger sacrifice offered by all the American military personnel sent here and to Iraq during the four and a half years since Mr. Gates was appointed defense secretary by former President George W. Bush, and kept on by President Obama.
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