Camp Marmal, Afghanistan, Dec. 20, 2012: A Tiger attack helicopter readies for take-off Thursday at Camp Marmal, near Mazar-e Sharif. The German army sent four Tigers to Afghanistan. The delivery represented the first attack helicopter deployment in the history of the German army and had been a long time in the making, with pilots training for nearly two years for the mission amid delays and political wrangling.

Read Stars and Stripes’ coverage of the historic deployment here.