Rain (31 page)

GMLRS
.
Guided multiple launch rocket system
. Unit on a tracked chassis loaded with twelve rockets with a range of seventy kilometres. Based in Camp
Bastion
they provided cover for most of the British bases in Helmand Province.

GPMG
.
General purpose machine gun
. Belt-fed
7.62 mm
calibre machine gun carried by infantry or mounted on vehicles. Easy to assemble and clean, accurate, with a good and intimidating rate of fire, it gained iconic status among troops.

GPS
.
Global positioning system
. Devices used to pinpoint to the nearest metre the location of either oneself or a contact or an
IED
. Every officer in Afghanistan wore one on his wrist and would have a spare, if not two, in his kit.

Green zone.
The fertile area of dense vegetation and crops that hugs any river or canal in Helmand Province. Elaborate irrigation systems enable water to reach fields sometimes several miles from a waterway. Beyond this zone is desert. Most of the Helmandi population live and work in the green zone, and therefore most of the fighting took place there.

Ground sign
. Clue giving away the presence of an IED, such as disturbed or sunken earth, or soil of a different shade to that around it. Some soldiers became astonishingly good at finding devices through a sixth-sense-like awareness of ground signs.

GSW
.
Gunshot wound
.

H-Hour
. In military operations the time that troops are to cross the line of departure. Expanded now to refer to the start of any significant action.

Harbour
. The night-time location of a group of soldiers, not permanent but organized with sentries, a central administrative point and intended to provide a degree of comfort and rest.

HE
.
High explosive
.

Headley Court
. Hospital in Surrey where British casualties from Afghanistan went to rehabilitate and receive advanced physiotherapy after having had their wounds initially treated and operated on at
Selly Oak
.

Heli
.
Helicopter
.

Hemcon
.
Haemorrhage control bandage
. Applied to stop severely bleeding arterial wounds. Very effective.

Hesco
. Hesco bastions are used to create defensive walls in a very short time and at low expense. Every single
ISAF
base in Helmand was either built purely from them (why Camp
Bastion
is so called) or was in a pre-existing
Compound
heavily augmented by them. Made of sackcloth surrounded by a wire lattice cage, with the right digging equipment they are easy to erect and fill with sand or stone, and provide a thick bulletproof wall in hours.

Highway One
. Name of the road that circles Afghanistan, one of the only metalled roads in Helmand Province.

HLS
.
Helicopter landing site
.

IC
.
Intercom
. The internal radio of an individual vehicle which can not be listened to by others. Conversation on the IC is accordingly less structured and pays no attention to
VP
.

ICOM scanning
. The practice of listening into the Taliban’s insecure walkie-talkie communications to get intelligence about their plans and tactics. The Taliban however soon discovered that
ISAF
could do this, and so would send false messages. On
some occasions they would hurl abuse, which the interpreter would then pass on.

IED
.
Improvised explosive device
.

Illum
. Pronounced ‘illume’. Illumination shells fired from a mortar or a
105
to light up a battlefield at night.

ISAF
.
International Security Assistance Force
. The collective name for the NATO mission countries in Afghanistan, ISAF troops could be British, American, Canadian, Danish or any of the other nationalities that made up the coalition.

Jack
. Selfish, letting others down when they need your help. So to ‘jack on your mates’ could be to withhold food from them if you had spare and they didn’t, or to not tell other troops about dangers in an area. ‘Having a jack brew’ was to have a cup of coffee but not make one for anybody else.

Javelin
. Man-portable anti-tank missile that also proved effective at destroying Taliban fire positions and bunkers.

KAF
.
Kandahar Air Field
. A huge, mostly American camp in southern Afghanistan, around the airfield on the outskirts of the country’s second city.

KIA
.
Killed in action
.

Kinetic
. Used to describe a period of heavy fighting.

Lasing
. The practice of using the laser range finder on the
Rarden
cannon to get the distance to a target.

LASM
.
Light anti-structures missile
. Lighter and less accurate than the
Javelin
and requiring no special training to use, this shoulder-launched missile also proved effective at destroying bunkers.

Leatherneck
. American base adjacent to Camp
Bastion
.

Legacy mines
. Name given to the tens of thousands of Russian landmines left behind from the 1970s and 80s. They were particularly feared as to be killed by one would be the legacy of someone else’s war. As a rule high ground was avoided due to
the Russians having liberally scattered these weapons around in such spots. Often dug up by the Taliban and re-used.

Link
. Belt of bullets, usually
7.62 mm
for a
Gimpy
.

Loadie
. The RAF crewman on a helicopter who mans the machine gun and helps troops and supplies on and off.

LOD
.
Line of departure
.

Loggy
. Affectionate term for a soldier of the Royal Logistic Corps.

Lynx
. Helicopter used by the RAF for reconnaissance and for carrying small groups of soldiers.

Mastiff
. Vehicle ushered into service with a degree of urgency during the Iraq War to combat the
IED
threat in Basra. It also proved brilliant in Afghanistan, and was for a few years about the only vehicle in which troops were likely to be safe in an
IED
strike due to its V-shaped hull and thick armour. It was often driveable even after one of its six wheels had been blown off. Armed with either a
.50 cal
or a
GMG
, it became the workhorse of the army’s operations as a fire-support platform, protected mobility, or as a logistics vehicle.

MC
.
Military Cross
. Awarded for individual acts of especial bravery in the face of the enemy.

MERT
.
Medical emergency response team
. Team of doctors and paramedics, usually carried in a
Chinook
, which treated casualties during the journey from the
HLS
to the hospital at Camp
Bastion
. Feats of astonishing surgery were conducted by such teams, often under fire.

MiD
.
Mention in Dispatches
. Award for bravery in the field signified not by a medal but by a little oak leaf worn on a campaign ribbon.

MIST
. Four-line card filled out and sent with the
9-liner
to arrange a casualty’s evacuation.
M
stands for
mechanism of injury
–
IED
,
GSW
, fall, etc.
I
denotes
injury type
– double amputation, bullet wound to the arm, broken collarbone, etc.
S
is for
signs
– heart rate, breathing, whether the casualty is in shock, etc.
T
stands for
treatment given
– tourniquets, morphine,
FFD
, etc.

Murder hole
. Aperture bored into a
Compound
wall just big enough to shoot through, thereby offering a sniper protection and concealment.

Naafi
.
Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes
. Soldiers’ shop, café or bar on a base or in a barracks.

ND
.
Negligent discharge
. The unintentional firing of a weapon by its user. This is a grave sin punishable by the loss of up to a month’s wages and one that can destroy a soldier’s reputation. Soldiers are terrified of being killed not by enemy fire but by the mistake or slackness of one of their own friends.

Net
. The radio channel being used to communicate.

OC
.
Officer commanding
. The officer in charge of any group of soldiers smaller than a battle group, such as a company or a platoon. The officer in charge of a battle group is known as the commanding officer.

O Group.
See
Orders Group
.

OMLT
.
Operational mentoring and liaison team
. Pronounced ‘omelette’. Small groups of British soldiers embedded with the
ANA
, responsible for the coordination of their operations with
ISAF
forces. A demanding and challenging role guaranteed to give excitement and plenty of action.

Op Bronze
. Slang for trying to get a suntan. ‘I’m just deploying on Op Bronze’ meant one was off to sunbathe for a few hours.

Op Cat Flap
. Escaping from a party without being detected.

Op Herrick
. The code name of the British operation in Afghanistan. There was an iteration every six months: summer 2006 was Herrick 4, winter 2006/2007 Herrick 5 and so on.

Op Minimize
. Procedure initiated in the event of a fatality or very serious injury and applied to all troops on
Op Herrick
. To ensure that the family of the victim discovered the news
through official channels and not through rumour generated through emails or phone calls, all compassionate communication with the UK was suspended until the casualty’s family had been notified.

Ops room
.
Operations room
. The place in battle group or squadron headquarters from where operations were run. In
BGHQ
this could contain up to twenty people, and was always teeming with activity. Only for a few hours at night would it ever be quiet.

Ops/Int
. Operations and intelligence officers, both senior captains. The two closest advisers to a commanding officer, responsible for drafting his plans of attack and the picture of enemy forces respectively. Perhaps the two busiest people in
BGHQ
.

Opsec
.
Operational security
. The attempt, often forlorn in Afghanistan, to keep details of operations secret.

Orders Group/O Group
. Formal process following a rigorous format by which a plan is verbally delivered to soldiers to be acted upon.

Osprey
. Body armour worn by UK soldiers in Afghanistan, replacing the earlier
CBA
. Two heavy ceramic plates one each on the chest and back.

PB
.
Patrol base
. A base smaller than a
FOB
accommodating groups of soldiers ranging in size from a company down to a platoon. Anything smaller was usually designated a checkpoint.

PID
.
Positive identification
. To identify someone not only as an enemy fighter but as one with the intent to attack friendly troops. Only once a target had been PID’d as being such could they be engaged.

Pink mist
. The immediate aftermath of a head shot, when the brains and blood of the deceased spray out from the exit wound to create a fine mist.

POTL
.
Post-operational tour leave
. Pronounced ‘pottle’. Leave after a tour to Afghanistan, lasting about five weeks.

PTSD
.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
.

QRF
.
Quick reaction force
. Group of soldiers kept in a
FOB
or
PB
on standby to help other troops already on the ground should they suddenly need help.

R & R
.
Rest and recreation
. Two-week break in the middle of a tour when soldiers could return to the UK.

Rad Op
.
Radio operator
.

Rarden
. The main armament of a
Scimitar
, firing
30 mil
shells either automatically or in single shots. An excellent weapon with great range and accuracy, in the hands of a skilled gunner it could hit targets up to three kilometres away.

Rear idler
. Part of the running gear of the track on a
CVR(T)
.

Rear party
. Elements of a unit deployed overseas remaining in the UK for administrative functions.

Rebomb
. To reload with ammunition.