Photography in the Midlands and Shropshire including Shrewsbury

So what will the next chapter hold….. Well that’s a good question and it could have a very interesting and somewhat intense final story…. We can’t judge how this will pan out yet but the signs are all there starting from here…

On my return from R&R things changed rapidly, I’d heard bits and pieces of info from the bloke’s girlfriends whilst on R&R and there had been a lot of rumours flying about before I left. One was we might move to Lashkar Gar, Helmand’s capital, to do what we were unsure, one rumour was we were going to man the sangers freeing up the welsh guards who are already based there, allowing them to get out on the ground more as they won’t be using man power to cover the guard, guard for 3 months! That was a horrific thought for us all! Since finding out about the tour right up till now we all wanted to do the job infantry are meant to do, meet the Taliban head on… and the thought of seeing the tour out with nothing but stag was deeply demoralising to us all. Bastion could have been a lot worse we have been doing some good stuff with IRT a lot less guard than we could have been given but seeing and hearing all the fighting going on elsewhere in Helmand but not being on a task to get involved was frustrating… However now it seems we have our wish….

My flight ended up getting me back into Bastion at around 3.30am after the long haul from Bryze to Kandahar to Bastion. I had found out before I flew the platoon was definitely moving out and that they may have already moved. It was late at night so I couldn’t find out what was happening, I had a horrible feeling they may have moved and the tent we were in may have been taken over by other people leaving the question where will I sleep and what’s going on! When I got to our tent it was pitch black I put my torch on and everything was different all the flags and pods were gone and there was kit and boxes everywhere! Instantly I thought they’d moved and there were loads of other people staying in the tent already, I got my torch and scanned around the bodies and luckily saw wickys bold head and his England duvet so thankfully I new they were all still here but something was occurring! I got myself settled on my bed and slept for a couple of hours. I was woke by mark at about 8am and told we were going to Lash and all kit needed to be packed asap, the boxes and kit every where I saw in the dark were ammo tins and boxes, a lot of ammo tins and boxes! All my comfy stuff was to be packed into the MFO boxes by 10am! We won’t see anything in that box again for the rest of the tour, also I had to pack everything we need to live in a FOB for the next 3 months into my berghan, we were allowed one hold all between two for any luxury items we may want for when we return from the FOB, this to me was a right headache as I don’t travel light especially with all my cameras and techy gear I like to have around. I found room for all my cameras and laptop then had enough left to pack 7 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of undies into my berghan along with the relevant shirts, trousers and equipment.

The excitement was clear to see with everyone, we still didn’t know fully what was going to happen when we got there as we are mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed shit) for a lot of the time and the rumour mill always makes things worse, rumours do more to dent the moral of troops than facts most of the time. One things was certain we were moving to Lashker Gar as part of a massive CLP (combat logistics patrol) in the morning, I was also taken off by the platoon commander and told I was being put into the post of section 2ic for the duration which I was very happy about as I’ve been ready to do that for years but seem to injure my ankle every time I go on the pass of fail course! This means I’ll be acting Lance Corporal instead of rifleman/Private. We had our orders in the evening and then tried to pack the 13 vehicles we were taking down to Lash, with tonnes of bombs and bullets, stuff to set up the PB as well as us and our own equipment it was a long task and a lot of kit had to get binned as there just wasn’t enough room!

In the morning it was time for the CLP, you could sense the air of “finally its happening” and an obvious apprehension amongst everyone, some were more openly worried than the bravado filled remains of the company but that’s to be expected without fear people are dangerous. We’d all heard about the CLP’s they go out in a big snake across the desert from point A to point B getting shot at and hit by road side bombs along there way, the last one had 3 small arms attacks, 2 IDF attacks and 1 IED strike. (People firing bullets at them, mortars firing at them and a road side bomb detonating taking out a vehicle) and new the possibility of that was almost certain as there was 80 -100 vehicles going and we were travelling through the most dangerous areas in the province I think the reality of what we were actually doing settled in when we were forming up ready to go, it was an impressive site to see just our 13 vehicles ready to go on the journey south, bristling with GPMG machine guns and 50 cals mounted on the WMIks, then there was the rest of the convoy us being a tiny spec on the monster it was, a mix of American muscle machines and the best the British have in theatre, Vikings, Mastiffs and Jackal, with at least one GMPG machine gun on every vehicle as well as 50cal and grenade machine guns. Then on top of all the infantry machines you’ve got all the armoured drops vehicles carrying the stores for all the different stops along the way. Finally we were part of the war in Afghanistan! After a quick few words from the brigade commander welcoming us to our new role within the battle group, we new we’d been accepted, Normandy Company, the TA Company was as a fighting force taken into the ranks of the brigade to carry out an infantry-fighting role.

The first few kilometres of the drive down covered the area of desert we patrol regularly so we were all pretty happy with where we were going and that threat level associated with the area itself. We drove through the desert until we got to the edge of the area we new, at this point all the vehicles parked up in long columns waiting for the darkness to fall, 80 – 100 vehicles all parked up in the middle of the desert quite a site to see, especially as the sun was going down and the darkness crept in. Pushed out providing all round protection were some Viking vehicles (tracked vehicles, 2 tracked pods linked together like 2 small armoured caravans) just cresting the skyline with the sun setting behind them, me and Nick both said it would be really nice to camp out here, it was so peaceful just a shame it’s a war zone!

In my vehicle, a vixen, I was commander, Mark was driver and “H” was doing top cover with his minimi machine gun. Also we carried t interpreters and loads of kit, there was no room in the back at all, “H” was stood on stuff and interpreters whilst doing top cover. Once darkness fell, all the vehicles were in darkness and night vision turned on. The columns set of one after the other, we were in the middle still about 2 kilometres from the lead vehicle and the last vehicles were at least 1 kilometre behind, we’d all had chance to get some scoff in us for the long drive ahead and the night vision devices had all been tested and set up. Driving and commanding was very hard as we were using monocle night vision, which is attached to your helmet and is only over 1 eye. So your squeezing one eye closed and looking through the other. If you try doing that for 5 minutes now without even having to focus on a green screen you’ll find your eye aches. So after an hour Marks eyes and head were hurting let alone after the full nights drive! Without the night vision you can’t see anything, in the desert there’s no ambient light from streets and towns and the moon wasn’t bright at all, so the only way to follow the vehicle in front is with night vision, as commander I was keeping an eye on the road with my night vision to help Mark when necessary but I could stop for a few seconds and rest my eye but Mark couldn’t. We needed to follow the same route as the convoy as that track has been cleared of Mines and IED’s. After 50 vehicles weighing tonnes a piece had driven over the same piece of desert its pretty obvious where the track is as the hard dirt and rock of the desert has been churned into a very soft fine sand track, which is very easy to get stuck in as its so chewed up and soft. Drive the remaining 50 vehicles over that track and they will start getting stuck which is what happened, we stopped every kilometre while a vehicle was pulled out after getting itself dug in, at one point one of our Vixen vehicles got stuck, a WIMIK tried to pull it out that got stuck, our Panther pulled both of them out then got stuck itself, a big American vehicle came up the column to pull the Panther out as its to big for us to pull out, an that vehicle and that got stuck as well! So we sat for a good hour while this all happened, we just needed was some Benny hill music in the background and it would have been quite comical.

After we’d been going for a few hours, my GPS was indicating 2.9km to the bridge that will be taking us over the canal into Nad Ali itself, the “Green Zone” and we stopped again. We were sat for at least an hour but me and mark were getting quite good at passing time, when we left bastion we were told each man should have 8 days rations then that changed to 2 days, so we read between the lines made sure we had lots! We had a couple of ration boxes each in the cab with more in the back and I also had some American MRE rations knocking about as well! We were “grazing” as Mark called it, every time we stopped! In the UK if you were going to eat rations without cooking them you can do it but they aren’t going to taste very good at all but in the desert the rations are constantly at a temperature that you can eat them fresh out the bag, warm! If you want them piping hot you just put them in the foot well leaning against the gears in the middle, give it an hour and they are HOT! You can cook food with no cooker in the cab of a vixen so you can imagine how hot it is in there, I reckon its probably 50 degrees average in the vixen… We continued to sit and wait, then the boss came over the PRR “All vehicle commanders we’re going to be here a while they’ve found at least 7 IED’s get your drivers to turn off there night vision and rest there eyes for a bit” So I told mark to get his head down, “H” had been stood on interpreters doing top cover for about 8 hours already so I told him to come down for half hour and I’ll go up top for a bit. Once I got up on top cover I could see in the distance to our front shadows of the vehicles forming the long snake bending round then cresting the skyline before disappearing into the darkness for at least 2 more kilometre to where the IED’s had been found by the lead vehicles. In the darkness you could also see the dull glow of Nad Ali, Nad Ali borders the desert with a big canal forming an impassable border with only a few bridges. It stretches the length of Nad Ali, one side is the dry desert and the other side is the deep green undergrowth and fields irrigated from the canal. This area has seen some of the worst fighting in Helmand; it stretches the length of Helmand following the Helmand River. From the glow I saw the flash from an explosion and then tracer fire bouncing up into the sky, instantly scanning around with my night vision, an IED blast normally triggers an ambush with small arms fire and RPG’s, although I do pity them if they do open up on us as they’ll have thousands of rounds flying at them in seconds from all the weapon systems in this convoy! Nothing happened for about another 10 minutes, I got “H” to jump back up top with his Minimi so then we were all in place if we had to move in a hurry. We didn’t move for about 4 hours! it turned out a Viking had been hit by an IED, luckily no one had been hurt but the vehicle was out of action. Looking at my GPS again once we were moving it said 1.5km to the bridge, we’d moved 1.4km in 5 hours! And Mark had eaten 24hrs rations!

At dawn as the sun came up, eventually we moved over the bridge into Nad Ali, the night vision was binned and the drivers were happy! We new what to expect but the dramatic change in environment was still quite surprising, from the rough arid desert, we crossed a large fast flowing canal into a lush green filled area, the track we followed down the canal was lined with large trees and thick bushes, it reminds me of the greenery you see in Spain but thicker and more dense with a hint of tall green grass you’d expect to see in the jungle. I’m sure the other lads felt it too, crossing into Nad Ali where all the major fighting’s been going on made me pick up my game, it felt more dangerous, I think its knowing that we could get smashed at any moment, rather than in the desert round Bastion knowing it possible but not very likely, two very different ends of the spectrum.

We drove for a further 3 hours and crossed Nad Ali and its network of canals that irrigate the area, most of the main transit routes are along these canals. We lost more and more vehicles from the convoy as they stopped at there various bases. Eventually we were on the outskirts of Lashkar Gar, to enter the town we have to cross the Bolun Bridge as the town itself is the other side of the Helmand River… The river is massive and crystal blue! Its an amazing site, all the locals are in there washing and the kids are messing around in the water, once we cross the bridge wham there’s people every where every inch on the side of the road is taken up by market stalls, selling everything from motorbikes to drift wood and metal out of the river… kids walking round with a couple of melons or ancient cans of coke! We made it through the urban sprawl without incident and got a peak at the new area we will be working in… Once we finally arrived at Lash it was time to find out where we’ll be living and just what will we be doing for the next 3 months….

The tour so far – Herrick 10 from Mike Hubbard on Vimeo.

The above video is a short video i put together whilst home on R&R for 2 weeks, its been great to get home and see my family and friends and get out on the beer! something I’ve missed! Its been a great 2 weeks but now I’m ready to get back and finish off what started back in January! 3 months left to push….

I suspect if i had a family and girlfriend I’d be less inclined to  get back as I imagine R&R can be a double edged sword, its great to see your better half and kids but it will no doubt re-ignite all the feelings you’ve spent the last 3 months gaining control over and then you have to go through all the goodbyes again. Its relatively easy for me get everyone in the pub, drink and everyone drifts off home and a quick good bye is all that’s needed…

So what will the next 3 months hold for me and the rest of Normandy company?? Once i know i’ll be sure to let you know, although i do sense some change coming on my return to the sandpit….