Through the Eyes of a Soldier Afghanistan 2006 Part 3

Part 3: WAR FIGHTING

Welcome to Sangin

We now were thrust into the fiercest fighting seen since the Korean War, with record braking amounts of ammunition's fired in bloodied battles with the Taliban. The offensive from the Taliban was to annihilate us and defeat the British to send us home in under 3 months.

This they had boasted about in their propaganda videos and press releases at the time when we were deployed to Afghanistan. We unbelievably were outnumbered and spread thin over the expanse of Helmand Province an area about the size of Wales, in the United Kingdom.

Politics would give the Taliban an even greater advantage by sticking us in 'Platoon Houses' as they became known. A patch of land with a house that would originally belong to a governor, or even an old police station, right in the middle of a town totally surrounded by Taliban and foreign fighters. This fixed positioning of us would inevitably bring to us a barrage of attacks day and night as they would try to overrun us, knowing we could not escape easily. The battles that ensued were so up close and personal, you even had to resort to tossing a grenade over the rotten old mud walls of these compounds.

The one defining factor and I still believe it today which has brought about our success against all the odds. Was sending in the airborne first! The Parachute Regiment is an elite group of soldiers attached to the Army and are some of the hardiest men you will ever meet.

So after some months of fighting in locations in Nowzad, Musa-Qala and Kajaki to say but a few and also taking part in big operations all over Helmand. We were now to spend our time in Sangin.

Sangin District 32°4'24''N 64°50'2'' E Altitude 2926 feet

Sangin situated in the green zone of a very fertile stretch along the main river; it has a population of around 14,000 people who were traditionally known to support the Taliban. It was notorious for its high opium trade and was to become one of the most dangerous places in the world.

This would be a major operation we were now to go on, as we all boarded our Chinook Helicopters, we were to fly into Sangin in mass. Under the cover of darkness just before sunrise we would have to take over the town of Sangin.

03:30hrs all equipped and ready to go. Ears ringing and crammed in like sardines in a can we get the call 5 minutes! This is our cue to get to our feet and stand by. You have only seconds from when the helicopter lands to sprint into the unknown, it could be a hail of rounds and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) coming at you but it doesn't matter, you’re getting off!

As we sprint out of our Chinooks we quickly go to ground in all round defence and wait for the dust to settle, as the helicopters speed upwards for the safety of the sky. We manoeuvre into our section and begin the patrol into Sangin Town. We proceeded up the dry wadi (river bed) that used to house the main market, and passing the platoon house to our right. Apart from the sound of an Apache Helicopter buzzing high in the sky it would seem very quiet, the calm before the storm.

We now reached a turning at the foot of a bridge and patrolled left up a narrow street, as we turned you could see most of the locals shutting up shop as they caught sight of us. They knew very well that the town was full of Taliban and foreign fighters and this was going to kick off big!

Contact

The town was like a maze of high mud walls and narrow streets as we snaked around them and the front men, Kevin and two others got sight of three guys behind a four foot wall just standing about 20 metres ahead. In full head dress, one guy bent down and popped up with an AK 47 and just sprayed it at them.

Kevin and the lads opened fire straight at them as they dived into cover; it was a miracle that none were hit. They and the rest of the section laid down an impressive volley of fire power to stop the Taliban from popping up, as Kevin and a couple other lads fired and manoeuvred backwards to better cover.

Then it kicked off all around us as the Taliban’s tactic was to have small groups up to ten or twenty fighters situated in positions at various locations all around us. I remember diving into cover with our Platoon Commander, rounds pinging of the high mud walls around us. You could never stop for too long in one position as you could never know if you’re in the sights of your enemy.

Looking frantically all around at every place you could imagine a weapon being pointed at you like a window, gaps in roof or cracks in buildings. Your mind is in override and was constantly scanning for the enemy, we were literally on top of each other and at every corner you were met with a hail of enemy fire. They had mouse holes through every building and cache’s of weapons and RPGs stocked up all around the town.

The key to survival was winning the fire fight a term used for such a situation, you have to fight back hard and accurately, ceasing every moment with every round you fired from your weapon. The aim of the game is to hit them harder then they are hitting you, putting them under more pressure and in doing so, you gain the advantage of manoeuvre, which brings you closer in on them, which puts them on the back foot, to escape.

The reality of your situation is ever increasing and the magnitude of the hostility screams at your very senses. All around you is an explosion of death and the intention of death, as the bullets or rounds screech ever closer upon you, scraping the walls that surround you.

Every action is superimposed and like lightening, your speed is your only friend and momentum is your alley, the air is filled with the sounds of screaming of orders. Weapons are firing at rapid successions; every turn is a new and immediate threat for which you must continue with pure aggression.

You are now fighting for every twist and turn with weapon poised and ready for that unexpended moment for which there can only be one winner, every step is a potential trap or bomb each doorway and crack could be the one that explodes and send you into the after life, in seconds.

We cleared a building and proceeded to smash holes in strategic positions around the roof top, putting down our heavy weapons like the General Purpose Machine Guns that pack a powerful punch. We set up a cordon around the building we just obtained and continued to engage with the Taliban. Rounds whizzing over head and all around they sounded like a hundred high pitch cracks from a whip.

B Company was 200 metres to our left and heavily engaged in multiple fire fights of their own. They had a group of Taliban well fixed in at a strategic position in some building; in the pursuing fire fight B Company sustained a casualty. They got him out and was transported back to the platoon house; from there he would be flown back to Camp Bastions Field Hospital.

The Taliban continued to lay down heavy fire from that building, until an Apache Helicopter gave them the good news Boom! Boom! But after fifteen minutes they began to fire from their again, Unbelievable!

The fire fights continued for several hours and there is no chance I could fit all of it in this hub. We had allowed the Platoon House to be re-supplied and the extraction of A Company was completed by the end of it all, then it was our turn to fall back into the Platoon House and begin our stint living in Sangin.

Authors Conclusion

Unbelievable acts of bravery and shear guts 'n' determination against certain death. The men of the Parachute Regiment are perfect and at home in this situation, they made it look easy. After all it was all in a day’s work and there was more to do tomorrow. Now that's Bloody Unbelievable!