A Company Afghanistan - Final Update Nov 07

Extracted from a families update:

Tabbing and stagging…

Op Spin Ghar came to a conclusion last Friday and so A Company Group has now returned to Kandahar, where we are conducting admin and training whilst waiting to hear when we will be returning to Cyprus.

The Operation was a lot quieter than predicted as the enemy did not put up as much resistance as expected. However, operating in the demanding territory of the Balucchi Valley has left everyone with tales to tell.

The recurring theme from the Fusiliers is one of tabbing and stagging. We put our ability as a light role company to the test as we spent two weeks on the ground with very little support from vehicles and as a result sacrifices had to be made. Much to the distress of everyone, sleeping bags were one of the first items of kit to be binned. Although it is still close to thirty degrees in the daytime here, at night temperatures drop close to freezing. This resulted in one gutsy platoon sergeant suggesting that aggressive spooning in bivvy bags might be the only answer. Everyone got to know each other a little better by night!

Although the new Army rations were met with universal approval, this didn’t stop the Gurkhas purchasing local livestock in order to supplement their diet. One night our FSG was treated to a $200 feast of chickens and goats, there is a very happy Afghan farmer somewhere! The Royal Welsh soon joined in this trend and two platoon are currently trying to justify their claim to the title of top chicken killers. Fusilier Stef Coombes was quick to point out though that he had two confirmed kills in one day. Fusilier Eric Hughes 38 though was not so lucky in his attempt to kill a goat though. Despite putting 3 rounds of HE next to the goat, the animal just walked calmly away.

There were a few lucky escapes, Lance Corporal Clint Hackworth from the MT is currently having his helmet examined for battle damage after it deflected a round which then went whistling by Company Sergeant Major Neil Jones. Talk about taking one for the team! And Fusilier Lewis Evans 00 is currently breathing a sigh of relief after it was discovered that he had tabbed up a number of hills without the pin in his 51mm mortar round.

The Company Group certainly did their fair share of walking on this Operation. While the two Gurkha companies moved down the centre of the Green Zone, we had the honour of providing ‘flank protection’ which essentially meant that we had to traverse the rocky mountainous terrain to the West. It made the Southern boys from the Valleys feel very at home, although there were a few complaints from the North Waleans. The FSG certainly earnt the title of mountain climbing platoon after they had to climb up to an Observation Post on a razor sharp ridgeline.

The demanding terrain meant that we had a number of lower limb injuries and a couple of heat casualties but thankfully everyone is recovering well and everyone sends their best wishes back to Lance Corporal Dave Allison who is back in England. There was much amusement though amongst 2 platoon when their Platoon Sergeant was evacuated with an injury in a Viking, only for the Viking to roll down a hill! Sergeant McKee described the experience as like “being in a washing machine!” Whether the vehicle rolling to the left had anything to do with the Company 2IC, Captain Ollie Beard, being in the passenger seat is still being debated.

The Officers came in for their fair share amount of ridicule as always. Lt Dom Slay was forced to improvise with an empty coke can when it became apparent that the mess tins had been back loaded with the bergans, Captain Matt Hughes decided that remaining with A Coy was too dangerous and so went to smoke cigars with the Dutch Battle group and Lt Ollie Tagg ended up fully submerged in a river whilst his platoon watched and laughed!

The quote of the operation has to go to Cpl Simon Smith. Whilst trying to calm Fusilier Daniel Murphy down during a contact he uttered the comforting words: “Don’t worry, it takes a bullet to kill you, you’ve got nothing to worry about!”

We have lots of photos and video footage to share with you which will hopefully give you a better idea of what we have been up to out here in Afghanistan. Thank you again for all the post, we received another big bag of morale yesterday. We are all now looking forward to being home with you soon.