F e a t u r e s
It Takes Two W
by Di and Paul (Wilky) Wilkins
e celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last month, but my husband and I marked the
occasion in very different ways. I raised a glass of champagne at home in the UK, and he toasted us with a cup of Lipton’s tea at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan….
On his way In July, my husband left for a four month tour of duty with 904 EAW at Kandahar. We don’t have kids, and my job takes me away from home a lot anyway, so this has meant that I have been able to spend most weekends visiting family and friends around the country, which has been lovely. My work can be very demanding at times, and that has also helped. Keeping busy, and having plenty to look forward to at weekends has meant that the weeks have flown by.
Preparing to go Overall, the Service gave me an extremely thorough preparation for my deployment, Individual Reinforcement Training was spot on. It gave me confidence in the kit (of which there was plenty) and that I knew how to use it. Although I couldn’t see the relevance of the apparently mandatory requirement to pass the European Driving Licence test before deployment – I’ve held an unblemished
licence for 26 years – and still can’t work out how knowing the European road sign for an unmanned level crossing or the correct safety attire for horse riders has helped me to cope with driving around Kandahar’s dusty roads at a maximum speed of 20 Km/hour!
Deploying Saying good bye is always difficult, although an early morning departure helped. Inevitably I was concerned about how my family would cope in my absence but I took solace that the organised, efficient one was staying in the UK! The strategic airbridge worked flawlessly and I arrived on time – the Press only reports the bad stories. Putting the helmet and body armour on for the first time before arrival into Kandahar does remind you that it’s ‘game face on’ for the next 4 months or so.
Missing you Of course, being apart has its downside and I miss my husband a lot. I hadn’t quite anticipated how difficult it would be to keep in touch whilst he has been away. In this era of 24 hour communication, it’s so easy to take email and telephone contact for granted. We’ve emailed and spoken fairly regularly, but it’s still really hard when he’s promised to try to call at a certain time, and then the phone stays silent….and emails go unanswered for
days at a time… but maybe that says more about my husband than the comms systems!
Communication The systems set up to allow you to keep in touch with home are very good. My reliability as a husband to make best use of those facilities was, I’m sad to say, rather lacking. Something always seemed to get in the way just when I planned to get onto the welfare PC. But having passed my 20th wedding anniversary out here I don’t think I’m likely to surprise my wife on that front anymore. We did talk and write enough though… I think? And yes, I did remember our anniversary and my wife’s birthday too. So not all bad!
Filling the time The impression I get of life at Kandahar is that it leaves very little time for focus on anything but work. In common with most others there, my husband works a seven day week. He does get a later start on Sunday, but spends this free time mostly catching up with ironing, and sleep. Luckily their clothes are washed for them, as I understand that the fine desert dust gets everywhere, and makes everything really grubby. I really must try to keep the ironing thing going when he gets home… it would be a shame to waste his new found skills!
The Job Very rewarding, very frustrating, occasionally emotional and always demanding, and that can all happen during the course of a typical day! Being at the point of delivery is what it’s all about, and this is why people join the armed forces. Team spirit, camaraderie and the ability to focus, almost exclusively, on the matter at hand means lots of stuff gets done, and quickly. Working 15-16 hour days, every day, also probably has something to do with it! Food – too good and eating too much; gym time – not doing nearly enough; beer time – zero; so overall a positive health experience…just! Pooling the contents of the comfort boxes that our families and friends so kindly send out reintroduced many of us to all those sweets we remember from our childhood and they often prove irresistible.
R&R My husband was able to return to the UK 10 Winter 2009
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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