February sapper mag:Layout 1 21/1/09 16:16 Page 28
Op Tufan Dunkirk
Battle Group Op to strip out a patrol base.
Spr Chris Ford 77 Armd Engr Sqn
O
n 3rd October, 15 members of 77 Armd Engr Sqn departed FOB Price
on a Danish convoy tasked with decommissioning Patrol Base (PB)
Barakzai in the Geresk Valley. We were split into two sections with a Danish engineer
section in support. We also had vehicles with us, in the form of a MWT (medium
wheel tractor) and a FL12 truck.
As the convoy approached Barakzai, a Danish team disembarked and cleared the route
in. This stage of the Op seemed like the calm before the storm – there was even time for
a game of Euchre. The following morning, while the OMLT team and the ANA soldiers
went out on a patrol, we got straight into the job. One section under command of
Cpl Simpson was tasked to remove and deny a Hesco wall on the east side of the com-
pound, while the other removed a colpro (collective protection) shelter. To deny the wall,
we used a saw to slice the front off the Hesco baskets before shovelling the contents out
and throwing them onto the burns pit. The combined heat and hard work made this a
tough task, more so as it was essential that we wore our body-armour and helmets as we
were often working at height in full view of any potential enemy observers. Spr Williams
in the MWT and LCpl Neale in the FL12 made light work of the Colpro and left the lads
to recover any re-usable materials and store them in an ISO container. One of the Colpro
shelters destroyed was our temporary bedroom which left us sleeping where we could
(and when we could!) for the rest of the Op.
Eat your h
The next day the two sections worked together with the help of the MWT and FL12,
to dismantle various other structures around the compound. Anything considered
remotely re-usable was stored, denied or enthusiastically liberated by the Afghan Army.
At lunchtime we were treated to a BBQ by the OMLT team. To use up any remaining
fresh rations, they stuffed us full of bacon, sausage and burgers, which were a welcome
break from the MRE (meals ready to eat) we had been living on up until that point; Spr Lacy especially made the most of
the opportunity!
Our most demanding task started at 2200hrs. We donned armour and helmets and ventured outside the patrol base to
complete our tasks. Our section was initially tasked with removing razor wire from ditches directly outside the front
gate as well as destroying a Hesco wall and chicane. The other section, with the help of the MWT, went to work
on the two front sangars. The Danish engineer section started by removing razor wire outside the eastern side
of the patrol base. We were used to working with the Danes by this stage and they were good fun. We com-
pleted our task at around 0200hrs and were ordered to start helping the Danes with their work. Unfortunately,
the Danes saw our arrival as an excuse to call it a day and off they went to bed! We worked straight through
the rest of the morning and finally got back inside the perimeter wall at around 0700hrs. We then scoffed a
well-earned breakfast before getting our heads down for an hour or two. Intelligence reports indicated that the
Taliban might be preparing to launch an attack on the compound so we kept our body armour and helmets
close by. Spr Christou took great delight in waking the Danish troops to inform them of this; after all, they’d
been asleep for a while now!
As the snipers and FOO descended from their rooftop positions, having kept the enemy away for the duration, we
removed the remaining sangars before getting back into the our vehicles and making our way back to FOB Price.
Throughout the final phase of the Op we had fast air on call, Apache hovering near by and mortars from Keenan
and artillery from Armadillo ready to react. There was a Raven UAV circling above Barakzai throughout the night
and we also had RE Search Team assets to clear our extraction route. It was impressive to see all this working
together and all for a bunch of Sappers just getting on with their job!
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