Spoken from the Front (31 page)

A Poem
by Private Tom Dawkes

It all began on a hot summer's night
In the country of Afghanistan,
With the Battalion of stars
Called 1 WFR
To go and defeat the Taliban.

The weeks went on and morale was high,
The Taliban didn't know what hit them.
After laying down rounds
And taking compounds,
Nothing in the world could stop us.

Then one fateful day we lost good men –
This was such a loss,
From dusk till dawn,
Everyone mourned
For the brave men that died that day.

The fighting got intense so the enemy fled
As we started to advance.
We pushed on and on
Till the enemy was gone
And there we started to nest.

For every soldier out there fighting
Is doing it to stay alive.
They all want to go home
Where they are not alone,
To be back and to see their families.

We have suffered enough,
Everyone wants revenge,
So when we attack
The enemy crack
Under a force that's not to be messed with.

The battalion is hard, the battalion is tough,
The battalion is also soft,
So when our men die
All the men cry
But at the end of the day we keep soldiering on.

This is for all the brave men
Of 1 WFR,
Who have shared their love
And spilt their blood.
This is the life of all companies.

RIP all men who have died for a cause not of their own but to
protect the lives of those around them.

Warrant Officer Class 2 Pete Lewis, The Mercian Regiment

We were on an op in which we had established ourselves in
the Fan. It was a massive piece of high ground in the Green
Zone that dominated the area around it. It had taken us about
eight hours to secure the area. There was sporadic small-arms
fire all the way through but we took no casualties. We spent
the night on the top of the Fan in compounds. But we had
orders to move on at 0600 the next morning.

I was fucked because we'd been up for about thirty-six
hours. I started to get my head down. I can remember a
Claymore [anti-personnel mine] being deployed. I got up and
said: 'What the fuck is going on?' There were only two guys
on sentry and they had seen movement so they let the
Claymore go – but there was no fire following it from
them [the Taliban], and there was no fire following it from
us.

The next time I got woken up was after the resupply [vehicle]
had left. On the way down the hill, there is a sharp turn before you get to
the canal. Unfortunately they took the corner too sharply during the night
and rolled the Pinz [Pinzgauer, an armoured vehicle] into the water. I went
down on the quad bike with Sergeant Moran while the doc had run off to get
the Vikings. When I got there [the scene of the accident], there was Private
[Brian] Tunnicliffe [Tunni] on the bank. I checked his pulse. He was dead.
Minty [Colour Sergeant Phillip Newman] was trapped in the Pinz, which was
submerged upside down. There were only two of us on the ground at this stage.
I got on the net [radio] and said: 'I need reinforcements.' A platoon [eventually]
came down. But I couldn't get into the Pinz. Tried both doors, but couldn't
get in. Whether it was the pressure of the water or something else, I don't
know. But the Pinz was upside down in deep water. I went in with full kit
to start with. I had Osprey body armour, a rifle and everything. But then
I took them off and put them on the bank. I thought: Shall I swim into the
back? But then I thought: No. If I get caught up, I'm fucked. The doc came
down with Pip, the company medic. There were four of us, but there was no
way we could move the Pinz.

When the vehicle overturned, there were three in the back
and two in the front. Tunni somehow got out at the front [but
was killed]. Whether he jumped before it rolled and landed
on its roof, I don't know. And a couple had come out of the
back door and they were fine, but in shock. Eventually,
the Vikings came down and pulled it out of the water. We
got Minty out. He was dead as well. I thought at this
stage: For fuck's sake! I had known Tunni, who had been
driving the Pinz, all his army career. Minty was TA and
had been attached to us all of the tour. Later, I went round the
platoons individually and said: 'Have you heard that Tunni
and Minty have gone? But you've got to focus on today,
fellas.'

All in all, the tour saw a lot of hardship, a lot of good times.
There were a few low points in it but throughout the tour the
men were awesome. I took a company of boys and men out
there, but I only brought men back. Some of them are little
bastards but, out there, they were brilliant. I couldn't have
asked for a better company in any respect.

In October 2007, 52 Infantry Brigade replaced 12 Mechanized
Brigade as part of Operation Herrick 7. The entire force
totalled about 7,200 servicemen and women. During this
period, the fighting continued to be intensive and the
International Assistance Security Force (ISAF) struggled to
consolidate President Hamid Karzai's control of Afghanistan.

The main combat power on Operation Herrick 7 was provided
by 40 Commando Royal Marines, The Household
Cavalry, 1 Battalion The Coldstream Guards, 2 Battalion The
Royal Regiment of Scotland, 2 Battalion The Yorkshire
Regiment (formerly The Green Howards), 1 Battalion The
Royal Gurkha Rifles and 3 Battalion The Rifles. They were
supported by 36 Engineer Regiment and 5 Regiment Royal
Artillery. The RAF 15 Regiment Field Squadron and 7 Force
Protection Wing protected Camp Bastion and Kandahar, and
RAF Chinooks and Hercules provided air transport. Harriers
from the Naval Strike Wing and the Apaches of the Army Air
Corps gave air support.

Captain Adam Chapman, The Mercian Regiment

It's been over a month since I last wrote as I've only just
returned to Camp Bastion after the operation as we ended up
spending an extra two weeks on the ground. I didn't bring
my journal as we deployed with as little kit as possible
because of the weight. Hence we ended up being very
uncomfortable for 4 weeks without life's little comforts. But
at least we're all back now and I'm flying back [home] in 2
days. I can't wait. It's weird thinking back to the beginning of
May and now: a lot has happened.

The last four weeks have been no different in the number
of incidents. The op seemed jinxed from the start and this
feeling continued throughout with vehicles breaking down
and other minor incidents. To be honest, I think everyone was
apprehensive as it was the last big op before going home.

I had my 27th birthday out in the desert. I spent most of the
day in the lead Viking of a convoy, hoping not to hit a mine
or IED. I wasn't actually that concerned, strangely, which is
probably a little worrying. Fortunately, all was quiet and I
celebrated my ageing with a small bottle of port [illegally]
and an equally dwarfish cake. I had to leave all my other
birthday goodies back in camp.

The next day was the first proper day of the operation with
the battle group, inserting a fire-support group on a small hill
to over-watch the Green Zone. My troop were providing
some security to the Royal Engineers, who were clearing the
area of mines. Unfortunately, one of their soldiers stepped on
a mine and it blew his leg off below the knee. He was treated
on the spot by a couple of my soldiers and extracted back to
[Camp] Bastion without much fuss. When I saw him there
was very little blood and it seemed unreal. I felt hardly
anything, just: 'Poor bastard. That's his life altered for good.'
And we just got on with it.

McNab:
The wife of Warrant Officer Class 2 Pete Lewis, 2 Battalion
The Mercian Regiment, kept a diary during his time away in
Afghanistan. An edited version of Fiona Lewis's diary appeared in
the
Daily Mirror
. While he was away, he missed his thirty-eighth
birthday, his daughter Rachel's fourth birthday and the death of his
sister Vivienne, aged fifty, from lung cancer. This was Fiona Lewis's
diary entry from 24 October 2007, the day he returned home: 'Pete's
coming home today. Rebecca and Rachel have matching new outfits
and I've spent ages getting ready. I'm as nervous as a teenager on
a first date. We all wolf-whistle as our men march back in their
combats. It's hard to concentrate on the speeches when all I want to
do is run over and grab Pete. He looks thinner, tanned and
shattered. But so relieved. Only thirty-six hours ago he was out
fighting Taliban. Rebecca and Rachel run to him first, and he scoops
them up into his arms. Then we have a hug – I don't want to let go.
I'm crying again, this time with joy. I feel like the luckiest woman
in the world – but so sad for the wives who can never hug their husbands
again. Back home, I make a special dinner while the girls
jump all over Pete. When they've gone to bed we sit on the sofa, Pete
with a Jack Daniel's and Coke, just chatting, chilling, cuddling.
Early night.'

McNab:
The Taliban has a permanent presence in most of
Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into the
group's hands, according to a report from a Brussels international
think tank. The Senlis Council claimed that the insurgents
controlled 'vast swathes of unchallenged territory' and were gaining
'more and more political legitimacy in the minds of the Afghan
people'. It said that the Nato force in the country needed to be
doubled to 80,000 front-line soldiers who should be allowed to pursue
militants into Pakistan. The 110-page report said that its
research found the Taliban controlled 54 per cent of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence dismissed the report, saying: 'The Taliban
does not pose a credible threat to the democratic Afghan
government.'

Captain Dave Rigg, MC, The Royal Engineers

It was a brilliant day. Mum, Dad and Anna – my girlfriend –
came to Buckingham Palace with me so I could be presented
with the MC [for bravery at Jugroom Fort]. I received it from
the Queen. Everyone asks me what we talked about, but I'm
ashamed to say that – in the excitement of it all – my
recollection of what she said is a little vague. I was surprised
at how nerve-racking the presentation was. For a little old
lady, she has a huge amount of presence.

The investiture is a day that I will remember for the rest of
my life, but I regret that I was unable to share it with my
fellow 'volunteers'. I doubt that I will ever again experience
the selfless commitment to one's friends and duty that I saw
on that day.

Flight Sergeant Paul 'Gunny' Phillips, RAF

I can tell you about my worst day. We were out tasking at
about midday. We got a message to go and pick up some
walking wounded from a mine strike. This was up towards
the east of Musa Qa'leh. We had an empty cab and we spoke
to the ops back at [Camp] Bastion and said: 'Right, we have
not got any medics on board. How badly are they [the
wounded]?'

They said: 'It's a couple of T3s.'

So, it was walking wounded, minor injuries. The gen was
that it was a patrol that had gone out to the east of Musa
Qa'leh and they had had a mine strike. We said: 'Yes, we'll go
in and pick the guys up. Just make sure they're all bandaged
up and we'll put them in the cab and fly them back to
Bastion.' So they gave us the grid and we had an Apache
[attack helicopter] with us [as an escort]. So the
Apache scooted over, had a quick look around, saw where the
guys were. The guys on the ground marked the HLS
[helicopter landing site] with green smoke. So we landed on
the green smoke: it was on a little ridge. We were facing north
and we had Musa Qa'leh on the left-hand side and desert on
the right-hand side. I was on the right-hand side, near the
door. The patrol had parked their vehicles about 150 metres
behind the aircraft. I was standing watching the patrol
because there was a lull where nothing was happening. We
were saying: 'Where are these guys [the wounded]?'

One of these little Pinzgauers started driving towards us.
And I said: 'Guys. This must be them coming now.' There
was a little dip just before the Pinzgauer got to the aircraft,
about a hundred metres away. The Pinzgauer started to drive
down and suddenly it hit a mine: an anti-tank mine. I
watched the front end disintegrate and a corporal was
thrown a good fifty or sixty feet in the air. He was that close
that I could see his right leg had gone from the hip downwards.
He impacted the sand fairly heavily. The front of the
Pinzgauer was burning away. I could see the guys who had
fallen out of the back. A few of the ground troops started
running towards the wagon and then they realized, 'Oh, fuck.
It's another mine,' and they stopped.

The Apache then got a message to us saying: 'It is probably
best if you get out of there.' So we lifted and went and sat at
FOB Edinburgh and we had this big discussion within the
crew whether to go back in and try and help them again or
wait until the IRT [incident response team] got there. It was a
case of some of the guys wanted to go straight back in but I
said: 'Look, these guys have just had a major incident. Let
them sort themselves out, patch the guys up, re-org. They're
going to have to extract out of a potentially mined area anyway.
If we go back in, it's just going to cause noise, confusion,
a bit more panic. It's going to put pressure on them to try and
get the injured guys back to the aircraft. When they're ready,
they'll bell us up [on the radio] and ask us to come back in.'
While that was happening, they had already got a message
back to Bastion and the IRT aircraft actually went up because
they had got medics on board with the right kit. When they
went to pick these guys back up again, they said that the
corporal [from the Pinzgauer] was still alive on their way
back. I found that a bit of a surprise but unfortunately he
didn't make it back to Bastion.

And for two or three days after that I was probably the
lowest I've felt in my life. I'd seen a lot of casualties prior to
that event, but to actually see the event itself was incredibly
shocking. Not something I'm ever likely to forget. We had
one killed, and they picked up two T1s and two T2s. We
never went back [to the scene] because the casualties were
much more serious and we simply didn't have the medical
training or the equipment to deal with them.

If you're feeling low, the option is always there not to fly.
Nobody can force you to fly. If you fly when you're not firing
on all cylinders, you're more of a liability to the rest of the
crew than not being there at all. So, if you're that bad, nobody
will think any less of you. It's a very open and honest forum.
But then again you don't want to turn around and say, 'I'm
unfit to fly,' because it's almost like passing the buck to one of
your mates. Because someone else is going to have to fly
instead of you. So you don't want to let your mates down. So
I carried on then even though I wasn't feeling 100 per cent.
All in all, Afghanistan has been a huge culture shock. I tend
not to talk about my experiences outside the military
environment. My mother certainly doesn't know what I get
up to.

McNab:
Prince Harry flew back to Britain after completing ten
weeks of an intended fourteen-week tour of Afghanistan. He had
been deployed there secretly to avoid him – and his comrades –
becoming Taliban targets. But his cover was blown by the Drudge
Report, the US-based website, after the British media had agreed to
keep his deployment a secret until after he had returned to the UK.
The prince, then twenty-three, described his posting as 'all my
dreams come true' and vowed to return to front-line duties. The
third in line to the throne said he had revelled in being 'just one of
the boys'. Brigadier Andrew Mackay, the commander of the British
Forces in Afghanistan, said Prince Harry – known to his comrades
as Second Lieutenant Wales – had 'acquitted himself with
distinction'. The Queen said her grandson had done 'a good job in
a very difficult climate'. I was impressed by his attitude and
disappointed for him that he had not been able to complete his tour.

Sergeant Hughie Benson, The Royal Irish Regiment

Sergeant Hughie Benson, 1 Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment,
is twenty-nine. He was born and largely brought up in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. He has three brothers, two of whom are also
serving with the Royal Irish. Their father, also Hugh, is with The
Royal Irish too. Benson left school at sixteen in 1996 and joined
the Army the following year. He hadn't intended to follow in his
father's footsteps until his final year at school, but he eventually
concluded that a military career was the 'best option' for him. All
four military members of the family served during the battalion's
tour to Afghanistan in 2008. Hughie Benson acted as a team
commander for OMLT [Operational Mentor Liaison Team] 1, A
Company, training the Afghan National Army (ANA). Before
Afghanistan, he toured Macedonia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone,
Northern Ireland and Iraq. He is married, with two children, and
is based at the Royal Irish's barracks in Tern Hill, Shropshire.

There were four of us from my family on the tour, all serving
with 1 Battalion The Royal Irish. My father is a QM [quarter
master], and my younger brothers are Sam, twenty-three, and
Steven, twenty. You do worry about them but the best thing
is not to think about it. It's quite fortunate because my brother
Steven is in A Company with me. When I was in Sangin, he
was in Sangin. When I was in Musa Qa'leh, he was in Musa
Qa'leh. My other brother was attached to C Company. And he
was part of Ranger Company. So when we were in Sangin it
was all right because we were all in the same place. But when
I moved to Musa Qa'leh, whenever I heard that someone had
been injured in Sangin, it was a bit of a worry: the fact
that it might have been him. We definitely are close as a
family.

This was my seventh tour – I've done two in Iraq but this
was as platoon sergeant acting as team commander for
OMLT 1, A Company. It was my first tour in Afghanistan. I
had to work closely to the ANA – I had to co-ordinate patrols
and operations with them. When I arrived, I thought
Helmand province had a lot less infrastructure than Iraq.
There were a lot of mud huts, and a lot of people working the
land and fields. I thought it must be a harder life for them
than for people living in Iraq.