GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY Afghanistan - A Hostile Environment
Duncan left Brize Norton with the rest of the Squadron, and arrived in Kabul, ‘but because of our late arrival time we had to wait until the following morning to take the short flight via Hercules to Kandahar. We landed at the main base for ISAF forces in Afghanistan around midday; even though it was only May, the first thing that struck me was the heat. Fuck me, it was oppressive! Acclimatising was going to be a bitch.
Kandahar and Helmand, where we would be operating from, is unforgiving territory. It can take over three weeks to acclimatise on arrival. The temperature in summer months rarely drops below 48 degrees and reaches as high as 55 degrees, with humidity consistently around 9%. It’s arid, hot and dusty - the sand’s consistency is like talcum powder and it clings to everything. Heatstroke can be almost as much of a threat as the Taliban; so too is the dreaded D&V ( Diarrhoea and Vomiting), which can strike down a whole patrol within days. You need to take in eleven litres of water a day just to stay hydrated, and there is almost no shelter from the sun.’ (Ibid)
The handover was provided by the OC of 27 Squadron, Squadron Leader D. Startup, who gave the new arrivals their brief:
‘Okay, the set-up is pretty simple. The Chinook Force in theatre is known as 1310 Flight, and we’ve got a total of six cabs here - nowhere near enough. Two cabs are at Bastion on IRT [Incident Response Team] and HRF and there are two here for taskings, plus another two in various stages of maintenance. The rotation at Camp Bastion is two days on IRT followed by two on HRF (Helmand Reaction Force). On the fourth day, you handle the afternoon’s taskings and end up back here at KAF. The tankers will fly down to take over from you. The IRT and HRF cabs are permanent fixtures at Bastion and there will be three crews forward there at any one time, as well as a few engineers to handle routine and maintenance and minor repairs.’ (Ibid)
Later the same day they received another briefing, this time from a Squadron Leader of Joint Helicopter Force (Afghanistan):
‘Guys, be under no illusions: this is not going to be easy. People here want to kill you and they will try everything they can to achieve that. They hate Chinooks and Apaches equally and it’s their stated aim to shoot one down.’
You could have heard a pin drop. Two days before we arrived, a patrol of French Special Forces operators working with the ANA were slaughtered and the area was apparently littered with dead bodies when 3 Para were sent in to try and rescue the survivors. One of the French guys was reportedly gutted alive. That got our attention. We’d expected things to be shit, but this was far beyond what we’d imagined. I think Dinger’s words carried even more weight because they were coming from a guy we all knew and trusted. You could see the worry etched on his face as he spoke to us.
‘You can’t be too careful, guys. You’ll need to apply all the tactics we’ve practised. You cannot give them an inch. They will try to kill you. And make no mistake; they are sophisticated in their tactics. They might wear pyjamas and flip-flops, but they know what they’re doing and are ready for you.’
All this happened on day one. Welcome to Kandahar.’ (Ibid)
Duncan was to be mainly tasked with supporting the ground troops in the Forward Operating Bases and Platoon Houses, resupplying, moving troops and freight in theatre. Combining this with flying in the IRT, which was to deliver engineers, medics and support to any situation where they were needed. Duncan’s first operational sortie in Afghanistan was as IRT for evacuating casualties from a crashed Hercules aircraft at Lashkar Gah airfield.
Working in tandem with Tootal’s 3 Para, the Chinook Force continued to be stretched as their infantry force was by the increasing Taliban attacks on Now Zad and Musa Qala in Helmand. As the troops moved in to try and counter the Taliban offensive, the Chinook Force, which comprised of just 6 aircraft in the theatre, struggled manfully to keep pace. Flying missions as a four-ship, with two Apaches escorting two Chinooks.
Operation Mutay The above was 3 Para Battle Group’s first major pre-planned operation since deploying to Helmand Province:
‘Its aims were simple: a cordon and search op focused on a mud-walled residential compound about 3km east of Now Zad, in an area consisting of dense orchards, irrigation ditches and inter-connected walled
compounds.Intelligence indicated the compound was the base for a Taliban High Value Target (HVT). It was thought it was being used as a weapon and ammunition dump, bomb-making facility and safe house for insurgent commanders all rolled into one. The intel also suggested that the majority of the Taliban HVT’s fighters had melted away following the arrival of British troops in the Now Zad DC. The intel was wrong.
We knew something was afoot on June 3rd, the day before the operation was planned, because there was a lot of coming and going and all the Flight’s captains kept disappearing. Nichol Benzie finally briefed us later that evening; we received our orders for the operation, which would turn out to be one of the defining battles of the Paras’ tour, with a six-hour firefight that almost involved everyone.
The plan involved a hundred or so men, encompassing 3 Para’s ‘A’ Company and Patrols Platoon and a platoon of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, together with some Afghan National Police. The Gurkhas were based with the ANP in Now Zad District Centre so they, together with Patrols Platoon, were tasked with moving forward and establishing an outer perimeter. Our role was to insert ‘A’ Company into the compound, which they would then assault and capture. Air support would be provided by the Army Air Corps Apaches together with A-10 Warthogs and B-1 Bombers from the US.
We were all quite keyed up because this represented a break from the usual diet of taskings and IRT - something proactive. It was also to be the Apaches first offensive op in the theatre. The briefing, led by Lt Col Tootal at the JOC, was packed with everyone from ‘A’ Company there, right up to the level of Section Commander. On the R.A.F. side, there were the crews for the four Chinooks that would be inserting ‘A’ Company - Nichol Benzie and Mike Woods; Andy Lamb and Chris Hasler; Dave Stewart and Mark Heal; and Craig Wilson and me. The IRT crew was also there - they’d be on standby to scramble for any medevacs. There were also four Apache crews - at any one time there would be two in the air, with two on standby at Bastion to provide continuity of cover when they needed to return to rearm and refuel.
Stuart Tootal introduced the orders, which basically boiled down to us inserting ‘A’ Company, who would then flush out any HVTs at the compound. Any that were missed would be picked up by the troops manning the outer perimeter. The lift was planned for 12:00hrs and our mission meant each of us carrying a third of ‘A’ Company - roughly thirty men each. Nichol and Woodsy’s role was to provide an airborne Command and Control platform for Lt Col Tootal.’ (Ibid)
The following day the helicopter force left Camp Bastion, with their respective cargoes, in a gaggle formation of four Chinooks with two Apaches. Flying low and in figures of eight:
‘Finally, we got the call to go. We are number two in the formation so we slot in behind Andy’s cab on a north-easterly heading with 50ft on the light and 40 on the noise at about 120 knots. You have to strike a balance on a job like this - we would prefer to fly quicker but that would mean a rougher transit and it’s no good delivering the troops so shaken up that they’re not ready for combat.
When we are three minutes from the drop point, the crewmen in the back of the cabs give the troops a three-minute warning so they can organise themselves and their kit - check weapons and ammo and basically get themselves ready to run straight out the back as soon as the ramp drops. Craig gives the crewmen their Fire Control Orders..... The target compound we’re headed for is L-shaped. About 30m due north is a field roughly 150m wide, 100 deep - Chris and Andy plus Craig and me will be landing there... I wanted to line our cab up on a south-north heading so that when the ramp came down, the troops could run straight off with their weapons pointing toward the target compound rather than landing front or side on, where they’d have wasted valuable seconds looking for it.....
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