night could be in Helmand, and nothing but admiration for the stoicism of those sleeping outside in temperatures of minus seven degrees centigrade. Darkness fell as Chris and I were
handed our evening’s ration pack, to eat outdoors in the middle of the mud-built Afghan compound that the company had taken over. One of the first things they had done was to set up a stove for heating ration packs, and to provide that crucial morale-boosting military staple – a decent cup of tea.
Christmas Eve in Helmand That night, as we tried desperately to warm up by a small campfire, the incongruous sound of carol-singing drifted over from the other side of the camp. The padre, the Reverend Stuart Hallam, was celebrating a Christmas Eve service under the chilly night skies. I walked over to join them and looked at
the young faces, lit only by a faint moon above, as the Royal Marines, soldiers and medics – two of them female – prayed that night for friends and family back at home. Some there were barely 20 years old. Yet many were already veterans, not just of this war but the last conflict in Iraq as well, and like most in Helmand, were on a six-month tour of duty. The padre’s words came from the prayer
of St Ignatius Loyola. ‘Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest.’ In the inky half-darkness of Helmand, those words took on a deeper resonance, standing amongst the men and women serving thousands of miles away from home.
The line of duty There have been many trips since then to Iraq and Afghanistan, and I have witnessed many more men and women from all three Services risking their lives in the line of duty. Often they serve in places around the globe where the cameras are not present, on the numerous missions in which Britain is involved, whether offering peace support,
training, or trying to counter piracy or drug-running on the high seas. Every journalist’s experience of the
military is different, and every reporting trip brings new faces, new knowledge and new challenges, whether that is reporting on 5 Rifles’ last Christmas in Basra, or on the more recent tours by 2 Rifles and 3 Rifles in Sangin, or the crucial work done by the bomb disposal teams from 11 EOD Regiment and the Royal Engineers and many others in Helmand – not to mention the life-saving work done by military medics, many of the from the TA and Naval and RAF Reserves, and the key role played by helicopter pilots and crews from all the services, as well as those in the skies above providing air support, and the often unsung but equally vital roles of the logisticians, mechanics, cooks, drivers and others on the ground.
Balanced reporting But the one consistent factor over the years is the respect which the majority of journalists,
photographers and camera crews who have seen Britain’s Armed Forces in action abroad feel for the UK’s servicemen and women. It is not an uncritical relationship, on either side. The relationship between journalists and the military has rarely, if ever, been an easy or straightforward one. As has often been said, the essence of most successful military campaigns is secrecy, but the essence of journalism is publicity. The need for military operational security must be balanced with the public’s right in a democracy to know how their Armed Forces are being deployed in their name – as well as why, and how they are faring. So how could our relationship be
anything other than a complex one? It continues to evolve with every conflict, and is based on each very individual experience. And today it is made even more complex and challenging by the speed with which communications and the media are changing, in an internet age in which headlines, blogs, tweets, and reactions may be immediate, but context, background,
Caroline Wyatt in Helmand Province
www.armedforcesday.org.uk SHOW YOUR SUPPORT 89
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