Spoken from the Front (30 page)

However, the OC then informed us that C Company had
two men killed and one badly injured; B Company also
had two seriously injured in a separate incident. At the
moment, we don't know who they are but it's likely I will
know them. Another very sad day, and to what end? A lot of
people are wondering: is it worth it?

The op ended in disaster, and became the worst day yet in
many ways. All was going to plan until a large contact kicked
off. It was almost like an ambush. Fortunately for us, my
troop was a few hundred metres to the east of the main body.

Over the next few hours, the company tried to extract out
of the contact. There were a lot of casualties and Pte Botha
was missing in no man's land, and couldn't be extracted
because of the enemy. My group engaged one compound
with an anti-tank missile, killing enemy in there. But, other
than that, we weren't involved in the main fight. It was so
frustrating and so terrible listening on the radio to the events
unfolding. I could hear the screaming and anguish in
people's voices. It was horrible. We eventually caught up and
moved forward to provide extra ammo and become the
reserve, but we were needed to secure the extraction route.
Eventually, jets dropped 4 500lb bombs on to enemy positions
only 50 metres away from us. It was surreal; it felt like the
world was blowing up. That caused a lot of damage and
knocked unconscious Pte Stacey, when part of the wall he
was hiding behind landed on him.

I could write about this for pages, but it was hard enough
opening the journal. Sgt Brelsford and Pte [Johan] Botha were
dead and seven others injured, some very seriously. I'll write
more when I can but, to be honest, I don't think I want to just
yet. Seeing all the young soldiers and even sgts and the OC
after led me to tears with them. It was such a blow for every-one
and it will take some getting over. What a waste of life.

McNab:
I know only too well from experience how sad it is to lose
a friend and comrade, and the effect it has on the other men so I
wasn't surprised that Captain Adam Chapman was reluctant to write
in his diary about the events of 7/8 September. Operation Pechtaw had
involved A (Grenadier) Company Group, 2 Battalion The Mercian
Regiment. On the night of 7 September, Captain Simon Cupples, the
officer commanding of 1 Platoon, had been ordered to clear two key
objectives. On reaching the second, the lead section was engaged
simultaneously from three enemy machine-gun positions, the closest
being no more than twenty-five metres away. It was a massive and
well-planned ambush believed to involve some thirty Taliban. There
were immediate casualties. Cupples, his men and everyone on the op
had to take life-or-death decisions quickly and show their mettle time
and time again. Warrant Officer Class 2 Pete Lewis takes up the story.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Pete Lewis, The Mercian Regiment

The big one was in Garmsir. This was the day before we
handed back to the Grenadier Guards. If you added the
contacts up, the boys had probably been in 200-plus contacts
by this stage [on the single tour]. And that was deploying
every weapon system we had. Casualty-wise, until then we
had had a few shrapnel wounds from RPGs, but that was it:
nothing worse.

September 7 was the last company op we did down in
Garmsir. We were pushing further south than anyone had
been on that tour. I left at 1800 hours to put the first checkpoints
in for the blokes to come through me. The boys started
coming at last light, which was about 1930 hours. It was a
funny day as well because it was quiet around camp.
Everybody knew that we were going to get some action that
night. Even though we had not pushed that far south, we had
recced a lot of places we were going. We were probably going
no more than 1,800 metres south and then we were going to
swing along and go down to CP [Command Post] Balaclava
and clear some of the compounds that we got counterattacked
from on a daily basis.

I counted the company through at JTAC Hill. Less my tac
[tactical support group], there were ninety-four on the
ground that night. I was in a Viking as my casevac vehicle. At
about 2320 the first contact came. That basically was [an
attack on] a point section going around. They got hit by
small-arms fire. That's where we took casualties. That night
we had two dead, six gunshot wounds, and a lot of minor
casualties. I was with the doc: he was in one Viking and I was
in the other. I can remember going forward in the Vikings. It
just seemed to take for ever to get there. I picked up the first
casualty who had a gunshot to the leg. He must have got that
in the volley of fire that came through on the back of the
initial contact so I chucked him in the back where there was a
medic team.

One of the platoon sergeants on the ground was Sergeant
[Craig] Brelsford. That was the last time I spoke to him
because he got shot that night. I said: 'Brels, are you all right?'

And he said: 'Yes. I've got a casualty.'

And I said: 'How the fuck have you got a casualty already?
You're not in the fire-fight yet.'

He says: 'He has just picked a stray round up there.'

So I chucked him in the back. Brels pushed on forward,
while I got back into the Viking and trundled forward again

The area around Garmsir is just a maze of ditches, canals
and the like. So it just sort of took for ever getting there in a
Viking, weaving around. When I got there, the point section
was pretty much out of ammunition. I spoke to the platoon
sergeant. At that stage, we had got all the casualties back but
we still had a man missing, who was Private [Johan] Botha. I
did a quick ammo resupply and started banging the
casualties in the back [of the Viking] to the doc. At that stage,
I had no dead. I had three T3s [walking-wounded casualties]
and two T2s [seriously injured casualties] and a couple of
guys in shock. The second part of the casevac were two
Vikings down at CP Balaclava, with my colour sergeant
Duggie Thomson ['Tomo'] and another team of medics in the
back. I had two full Vikings [of injured] so I got on the net and
told the boss I was going to take them back. It had sort of
calmed down at that stage – it was probably about 2 a.m. I
had a couple of unconscious casualties. The one we thought
we were going to lose was Private [Sam] Cooper, who got
shot in the back of the head even though he had got his helmet
on. We also had Private Luke Cole, who got shot in the
stomach and the leg. It was my snap decision on the ground
to go back with the casualties, six of them, in two full
Vikings.

The boys were still taking incoming during this as well. So
another two Vikings came down with a second ammo resupply.
What made it worse for me was that it wasn't a
massively ambient night. I don't know what smoke the old
Taliban were using but it was like a fucking Chinese firecracker.
There was just thick black smoke and you could see
fuck-all. So it was strange. At that stage [after getting back to
the main base – FOB Delhi, Garmsir], I waited for the IRT
[incident response team] to come. I remained in comms with
the OC on the ground. But by now Brels had gone forward
again to try to locate Botha and he had got shot in the neck. I
can remember the message coming across from Tomo now. It
was: 'The situation in my wagon has changed so I'm staying.'
I picked up straight away that somebody had died. At this
stage, I didn't know it was Brels. He was one of the platoon
sergeants. He was a really good guy. He went out to try and
locate Botha, who was still missing. It would be typical of any
of the platoon sergeants but Brels got tasked with that and he
went forward with it. At that stage, it was three or four in the
morning before first light came. The boss [Major Jamie
Nowell] made the conscious decision to come back to
Garmsir and re-org.

McNab:
With one dead, one missing and four injured, the situation
could hardly have been worse for the men of 1 Platoon. Captain
Simon Cupples and his men had already risked their lives time and
again to go into the 'killing zone' under fire to extract the casualties.
At one stage, Cupples himself had crawled to within fifteen metres
of the enemy to place himself in front of one of his wounded men.
From there, he co-ordinated first aid, fire support and forced the
enemy back using his own SA80 rifle. But at the re-organization, it
was clear that Private Johan Botha was still missing. That meant
only one thing. The battle-weary men from 2 Battalion The Mercian
Regiment would have to go out again to retrieve him. It is rule
number one on the ground: nobody leaves a British serviceman –
dead or alive – to the mercy of the Taliban.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Pete Lewis, The Mercian Regiment

The boys had just been out fighting for eight hours, but there
was no lack of volunteers [to go out and get Private Botha].
We all knew that if he fell into Taliban hands and was still
alive – it wasn't worth thinking about. If we had not got
Botha back that night, the company would be broken [in
spirit] for the rest of the two months there. So, just before first
light, we moved out.

The task force that came in [to support the Mercians] went
and held some of the buildings we had been holding that
night, just outside the contact. And then we went forward in
a series of six Vikings. The majority of the Vikings had a
commander who had been on the ground that night. In the
front of my Viking was Mr [Captain Simon] Cupples, who
had already located the body at night but had been unable to
get it back. I had a snatch squad of myself, the doc, and men
out of Botha's section. There were just six of us in the back [of
the Viking].

We went forward. I can remember saying: 'Fellas, if the shit
hits the fan out there, we've got enough fire support from the
Vikings. So just listen to QBOs [quick battle orders] on
the ground, and we'll get Botha and back in.' We located the
body straight away as we went forward. Daylight had broken.
I got out of the vehicle and had a quick look around. The
ground looked so easy and flat in the daylight compared to that
night when we'd been there. Botha was there on the ground.
We picked him up, took him in the back. We were still hoping
he was alive. The doc checked his vitals [signs of life] but he
said, 'No.'

I got on the net and said: 'Look. There's a T4 [a dead
serviceman].' It sort of hit the boys in the back [of the Viking]
hard because they were his best mates. And it was they who
had wanted to come in the pick-up squad. A couple of the
younger boys started crying, and I said: 'Look, fellas. You've
just got to get on with it.' Then I covered Botha in a poncho.

But that was a rough night, all right. Initially, we thought
we were going to lose Coops [Private Sam Cooper] as well,
but he's walking again now even though he's still not 100 per
cent. [Private Luke] Cole is doing very well too. A lot of boys
earned some good medals that night, but it doesn't make it
any easier.

Captain Adam Chapman, The Mercian Regiment

The repatriation ceremony [for Sergeant Brelsford, Private
Botha and two other soldiers killed in separate incidents] was
obviously quite an emotional event. It was difficult seeing the
four ambulances arrive with four coffins. It was quite a sight.
The padre and the commanding officer said a few words
before the plane arrived to take them home. We had the
honour to march on to the parade with A Company, which
was a nice touch. People are still mourning and it will take a
long time to get over it, but I've seen a lot more smiles and
heard a lot more laughter from the boys. But it will be hard
for them to go out and fight again.

The last few days have been busy, however, as we're
preparing to deploy again at short notice. We're taking part in
a massive operation to clear an area of the Green Zone called
Zumbelay, which is a Taliban stronghold. If this wasn't
difficult enough, we still know very little about the how,
when, where, etc., which is not exactly ideal!

We will be on the ground for some time and it promises to
be difficult. We've had to strip down what we can take;
there's no room for comfort. I'm not even taking a sleeping-bag
or this journal because of the extra weight, so my next
entry may be some time away.

My birthday is in four days' time and I'll be away. So I've
opened all the cards and parcels I've received. I've received
lots of food and goodies, but unfortunately I've got no room
to take it away with me: except for a small bottle of port and
some sweets (I've got to have a treat on my birthday, really).
I'm looking forward to going out on this op but it promises to
be very demanding and difficult. So it's tainted with
apprehension – only time will tell.

Private Tom Dawkes, The Mercian Regiment

I've always liked writing poetry – ever since I was a kid.
Whenever I have nothing to do, I've always liked to write
poems and short stories. I like reading poetry too – mainly
Shakespeare. I particularly like
A Midsummer Night's Dream
,
Macbeth
and
Hamlet
. But I don't really read war poetry. Then
when I was in Afghanistan I wrote my girlfriend a poem –
and, of course, all the lads got hold of it. Some of them gave
me a bit of stick, but I just ignored it. Then a few of them
asked me to write a poem for their girlfriends and loved ones
– and so I did. I wrote different poems depending on what
they wanted in it. Then eventually they got me to write one
for the magazine. I write my poems in the evening – usually
when I'm lying on my bed. I usually just write them in a pad
using a pencil. Everyone's around me – I don't need peace
and quiet. I write poetry most nights, but not all the time. If
I'm depressed or angry, I'm more likely to write my thoughts
down. Even if I spend just ten or fifteen minutes writing
poetry, it makes me feel calmer and happier.