Force protection

The title of our task as Camp Bastion Force Protection Company gives a good combat indicator to the type of duties we would be carrying out.

Charged with protecting the camp and perimeter, patrolling the surrounding areas, providing cover for incoming aircraft, manning the front gate, acting as quick reaction force and accompanying the incident response team aboard a Chinook to various places over Helmand province to collect the wounded, these tasks vary on weekly rotations.

My 8 man section started working first on QRF. Led by Corporal Bird (Birdy) with Lance Corporal Jones (known by all as ginge) as 2ic (second in command) we are made up of soldiers from across 4 Mercian with 1 attachment.

Ginge and I are the only ones in our section from A Coy Fusiliers, Sheldon, whereas Birdy, Privates Savage (Sav), James (Jamo), Wright (Wrighty) all hail from B Coy based in Widness. Private Jowett comes from F Coy, Burton and we have a regular reservist driver Private Philpott, who comes from Kent and is ex-RLC (Royal Logistics Corps).

As the RIP (Relief in Progress) was still underway when we began our tasking, mornings started around 0430hrs in preparation for clearing the ranges and providing cover for the 100's of troops passing through the mandatory range package of the RSOI.

We would pick up a dog handler and sniffer dog then accompany the troops and ensure the ranges were checked for any possible roadside bombs or un-exploded ordanance that may have been left the previous night by any enemy forces under the cover of darkness.

Once all the ranges were cleared we would either be put on standby to be called out to any disturbances / incidents around the camp or re-tasked to provide cover or support to anyone that may need it.

Other tasks we have carried out to date include escorting prisoners off the camp and dropping them outside the front gate, setting up road blocks and escorting engineers outside of camp to survey the area in preparation for the building of a new, high-tech $40 million MEP.

The latter duty was especially interesting for me personally as on 'civie street' I am a surveyor and have carried out the same task on many a building site across the Midlands.

It seemed strange at the time to be doing the task in a war zone, providing top cover for the surveyors in a Snatch Land Rover wearing Osprey body armour, helmet and carrying my minimi fully automatic machine gun in blistering 40 degree heat.

Next - a firefight with the Taliban