Results tagged “4 Mercian” from Birmingham Mail - Band of Brothers

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

Day 1 and the start of the RSOI (Reception Staging Onward Integration) package that is mandatory for all British troops arriving in theatre. "Death by Powerpoint" was the order of the day and it covered everything from enemy activity & tactics, briefs on our equipment, weapons and vehicles etc. to personal health & hygiene and STD prevention.

The evening was the first chance we had to check the internet for emails and facebook updates etc... (as almost everyone now uses the site to stay in contact with one another) and phone home using the 30 minutes per week of allocated call time. After speaking to Steph and briefly to the folks we made a b-line for the naffi and had a coke outside whilst taking in the surroundings.

You can acknowledge immediately that Bastion has been a British affair from day 1 and the similarities with the Americanised boardwalk of Kandahar Air Force Base cease at the Pizza Hut adjacent to the Naffi. The cookhouses are also very British however the 'scoff' (food) is a great deal better than the standard UK equivalent. The one thing that is instantly recognisable is the fact that the place is huge and is just going to keep getting bigger. With Bastion 1 almost pushed to capacity, Bastion 2 almost complete, Bastion 3 under construction and Camp Tombstone (for Afghan National Army troops) adjacent, our tasking as the force protection company will no doubt cover an immense area of operations.

Mothering Sunday was spent zeroing personal weapons on the ranges just outside of the wire. It was the first time everyone started to appreciate the terrain and environment as being stuck out in the middle of the desert with its hot, dry, sandy and dusty conditions bearing down is hard enough (even in late March) carrying no equipment at all not to mention hauling body armour, webbing, daysack (backpack containing supplies, ammunition and a minimum of 4 litres of water) your helmet and rifle around as well.

We spent 24 hours in KAF prior to our final flight.

Then after a few hours of much needed kip, we were eating lunch in the camp's British cookhouse.
Walking around KAF is somewhat mesmerizing as you take in the multinational diversity of the base.
Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Estonians, French, the Dutch, the list goes on, Kandahar is certainly a large and busy base, buzzing with coalition forces.

Evening meal in the American cookhouse was one of the best Army meals I have had then after a short walk browsing the boardwalk (an assortment of American built amenities for troops on "down-time", Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, a barbers and various other outlets & facilities) we headed back to the transit accommodation to get ready for our flight.

I got showered and started to walk back when suddenly I heard a whistling sound followed by a loud explosion (which was far too close for comfort) and then the sound of the camps IDF (indirect fire) alarm signalling that the base had been hit by either a rocket or mortar attack.

I ran back to our accommodation in my flip flops and combat trousers (fortunately I wasn't in just a towel!) to find the guys all lying on the floor in their body armour and helmets and I proceeded to quickly follow suit.

After a short "soak" period the commotion cleared and the "all clear" alarm sounded. Later we heard the unfortunate casualties were 6 Pilipino contractors, 1 of which died in the attack.
The good news is that an Apache Attack Helicopter was in the air within seconds after the strike and dealt with the insurgents, however for me and some of the guys it definitely brought home the realities of the theatre in which we had been asked to serve.

After that people got ready and we left to board the "Herc" for our connecting flight to the main staging centre and base for British troops on the ground in Afghanistan; Camp Bastion, Helmand Province.

NEXT... Arriving at Bastion

Finally the day had arrived - we were going to Afghanistan. A culmination of 9 weeks training started at the dawn of the new year and finished just before we were due to fly.

Both physically and mentally demanding, as an infantry company tasked with securing Camp Bastion and the surrounding area, we needed to be trained and proficient in the most basic of infantry and soldiering skills and our training package delivered this.

As well as being trained in a variety weapons systems available to the modern British Army (GPMG, Minimi, 50 cal.) members of the company were also trained to drive various vehicles (WIMIK, Snatch, Vector) which we will be using on operations.
Add to this a week of mandatory "All Ranks Briefings" in Dover and the mandatory 2 weeks at RTMC (Reserves training and Mobilization Centre) in Nottingham, a week-long team medic cadre, live firing exercises and a final confirmation exercise to ensure all the training and knowledge gleaned had been retained, you may appreciate we have been quite busy.

After a final weekend spent in between my girlfriends and parents houses, I waved goodbye to Steph and left for Swynnerton Training area for the final time to regroup with the rest of Normandy Company, 4 Mercian in preparation for the journey to RAF Brize Norton and ultimately Afghanistan.

Its hard saying goodbye to loved ones as anyone who is or has served in the forces will know and all my fellow fusiliers from Barrows Lane, Sheldon share the same dilemma however it is even worse for some as some will be leaving families of their own. Ade Booker, Dale Burgess, Chris Burden, Matt Ruff, John "Big Mitch" Mitchell and Tom "Ozzy" Osbourne all have children at home and the 6 month separation will no doubt be just as hard if not harder for them.

The Tri-star from Brize Norton like many military flights was inevitably delayed, we were told due to problems with the hydraulics.
Albeit behind schedule we took off and less than 7 hours later were donning body armour and helmets for our descent into Kandahar Air Field, in Afghanistan, ready for our connecting flight to Camp Bastion

NEXT - Drama in Afghanistan