When travelling furhter West at some point a group of recrutes were about to travel with us (and on, to Izmir, which is about the other side of the country). The Turkish authorities seem to to this a lot, if you speak with a guy in Istanbul he'll have spent part of his service in Diyarbakir or Mardin, and the Mardin people are stationed in Istanbul or Edirne. So saying goodbye is really something.