News from Nahr-E-Saraj

To date, as you know, we have had two fatalities in the 2 PARA Battle Group. Both were Œattached armsš (ie they were not Parachute Regiment soldiers), first was Corporal Steve Dunn of the Royal Signals, attached to our patrols platoon, and second was Joe Vatabua, from B Company of 5 Scots who are attached as one of our rifle companies.

  In the last few days you may have noticed in the news that we have lost another soldier from our Battle Group, and this time it is one of our brave paratroopers. Private Martin Bell was killed going to help a desperately wounded comrade. In the same series of incidents we had two soldiers lose both legs and three more suffer shrapnel wounds. That was a day when Psalm 23 seemed all too appropriate as we were definitely deep in the ŒValley of the Shadow of Deathš.

The night Martin was killed we had a candlelit vigil service in PB2. His comrades standing round covered in mud as they had gone out again in the early evening in the hope of catching the people who had laid the explosives that had killed and injured their friends.

Tomorrow, I fly to Bastion to prepare for the main vigil service and ramp ceremony as we send Martin home on his last journey. His comrades are already rehearsing their drill in order to make sure every detail is perfect. It is not an easy job to do, especially when Martin was such a lovely young man. We are now carefully looking after his comrades who were in the incident that saw so much blood spilt.

Be assured however, that it is not all fighting, in fact we do very little fighting. We do far more building, encouraging and partnering of the Afghan Army, Police and the local population. We have just finished clearing the town of Char Coucha for IEDs (improvised explosive devices). For at least a year it has been a ghost town. All the population had left and the place fell into disrepair. The insurgents had filled it with bombs to trap anybody that dared walk through there. We have cleared it and over 70 families (and these are extended Afghan families) have expressed an interest in moving back. To date 17 have returned and been given help to rebuild and re-equip their compounds.

Thatšs not all, in our most developed school project there are now 190 children in attendance ­ including a few little girls! I donšt know whether all this makes Martinšs death worth it, but it goes some way to helping. Perhaps there are the beginnings of a future for this place, and it is seen in the delighted faces of the young children as we give them pens and books and schoolbags for the first time in their lives.

Remember us on Wednesday evening at our vigil service, and then in the early hours of Thursday as I lead Martinšs coffin onto the plane. If you can ­ say a prayer, as that goes a long way.

For me it is just a fortnight until I am home for two weeks R&R (rest and recuperation). I am looking forward to a hot bath, a flushing toilet and a washing machine (therešs a theme there methinks). Most of all I look forward to seeing those whose sacrifice always seems so much greater than mine ­ Pip and the children; the unsung heroes of all of this.

Every blessing

Antony

News from Nahr-E-Saraj

  It sounded like many of you had snow and freezing weather. It is now down to about -3 here during the dark hours (17.30 ­ 06:30). I know that is not as cold as you guys but remember we are in tents with no heating and only occasional hot water. Also everything has to be washed by hand so you just end up smelly and dirty. That said our morale is mostly good and the chefs magic up some tasty hot food twice a day from the ubiquitous ten-man ration packs.

  Christmas Day saw the Commanding Officer, the Regimental Sergeant Major, Myself and our body guards driving around nearly all of our Patrol Bases and Check Points to bring some festive cheer to our soldiers. We left well before dawn and were back in time for some turkey in the evening. Boxing Day was spent recovering and enjoying the inevitable turkey curry.

Sadly Christmas week was overshadowed by the first death in our Battle Group. Corporal Steven Dunn, who was attached to us from 216 Signal Squadron, was killed in action just before Christmas. The vehicle he was travelling in was hit by an improvised explosive device. The four other occupants suffered a variety of injuries, one serious head injury and the others all walking wounded. We were very lucky not to lose more, and in fact our initial reports suggested we had three killed. So although it is awful to lose Steve it could have been so much worse. This week I conducted his repatriation from Camp Bastion. As ever the sunset vigil service was attended by close on 2,000 personnel and then in the night we had the ramp ceremony as his coffin was loaded onto the C17 aircraft for home.

It is always hard to walk the coffin onto the aircraft (which is representative of walking to the graveside ­ as the back of the aircraft becomes the Œgraveš). I walk on in the lead and turn to face the pall-bearers as they walk the last few steps up the ramp. This time all six were in tears as they approached me and it brought a lump to the throat as these young men did the last thing they ever could for their friend.

Over the last few days we have had more soldiers hurt in various incidents whilst trying to increase the Œsafe-areaš we provide for the local population. Thankfully all will be fine. We are yet to be hit by the really serious injuries that many of the Brigades other Battle Groups have suffered. So life goes on in Nar-e-Saraj. We are very busy undertaking operations against known Taliban operatives, I think the hope is that the Brigade will be able to get rid of most of the threat by the re-integration of the more moderate local fighters and the killing or capturing of the out-of-town fighters (mostly from Pakistan), by the end of the winter. This will then hopefully mean that the normal increases in hostilities in our area come the spring will be avoided as the Taliban will be a spent force here and also the Afghan Army and Police will be better able to control the situation.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the local people want to do is to live in peace and raise their families. They are very moderate in their religious views and see the Taliban as un-Islamic. However, they are still scared and intimidated by them. Nearly every family has a story about violence, abuse or murder at the hands of the Taliban. Mind you it is very difficult not to become despondent and pessimistic about the whole thing. When this happens I try to remember that a raging forest fire is started by a small spark; the kindling here is still a bit damp I fear but who knows what the future holds.

A very old friend is out here flying Chinook helicopters. Whilst waiting to board a helicopter the other day to fly up to Bastion I was crouched with the other passengers in body armour and helmet as a Chinook roared in just a few feet above our heads onto our HLS (helicopter landing site). Our forward air controller threw his signal smoke and then suddenly ran down the line of passengers shouting that they wanted the ŒPadreš on first. I think he thought they had some sort of emergency.

So I ran on first (they are only on the ground for a few moments so we have to move fast) to find myself directed onto the flight deck, much to the surprise of my colleagues. It was my old chum Nick (Green - also ex-Poly) he had spotted my name on the manifest as he landed. A few minutes later as we landed in Bastion it was I who taxied the beast around the apron to our parking place. We have a later date for a flying lesson. It is a real tonic to have a few moments for a coffee with a friend who was such many years before either of us were doing the jobs we do.

New Year was marked here with a few mini-flares fired from the sentry posts; apart from that it was business as usual. It is so cold in the morning that even when wearing a hat in bed you still wake up with a headache so at least we had the hangover even if we didnšt manage the champagne the night before! I hope you all have a peaceful and happy 2011. With every blessing.

Antony

For Antony's other despatch from Afghanistan, see the February 2011 Taurus newsletter which also has a picture of Antony and Nick by the Chinook.