Members of the Joint Helicopter Support Unit at Camp Bastion prepare to attach an underslung load to a Chinook for a resupply run to Sangin.
Carrying essential supplies for Operation Ghartse Palang as an underslung load on short finals to FOB Inkerman.
The view from the office at 120ft as I fly over the sluice gate on finals to land at Kajaki. Note the side of the mountain to my right.
Banking hard left over Kajaki Lake for the approach to the HLS at Lancaster on a routine sortie yo insert some troops.
Fast and Low over the surface of Kajaki Lake on a routine sortie to drop some troops at Broadsword HLS.
Crewman Flt Sgt Galvin takes in the view as his Chinook departs the Forward Operating Base at Kajaki Dam, which is just visible below.
IRT tent. Our home for the 24–48 hours that we spend on IRT duty. Our detritus lays all around, the TV plays to an empty tent. Everything is left as it was when the call came to scramble.
The rear of the IRT cab, loaded with the MERT’s life-saving kit. The MERT is the most advanced first-response airborne combat medical team in the world.
Inside the IRT, British Army Anaesthetist Lt Col Ian Hicks, Sgt Mark Mitchell and Sgt Gavin of the MERT attend injured ANA Sgt Quem Abdulh en route to Camp Bastion. Sgt Abdulh suffered multiple shrapnel wounds from a roadside bomb.
Yours truly, standing next to my cab on the 2008 Det. Note the Minigun in the door behind me.
My crew for the first half of my 2008 Det. From left: Flt Lt Pete Winn, Sgt J Fulton, FS Mick Fry and yours truly.
With my crew shortly after nursing 575 down at FOB Edinburgh following an assassination attempt by the Taliban, 17 Mat 2008. I’m second from right, with Master Aircrewman Bob Ruffles (left), my co-pilot Flt Lt Alex Townsend, and Flt Sgt Neil ‘Coops’ Cooper (far right).
Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal greets ISAF troops. Mangal’s support for UK forces in Helmand has been instrumental in securing acceptance of foreign troops among the Afghan population, but that, and his hardline stance against corruption and the opium trade, have made him a prized scalp for the Taliban.
A graphic demonstration of the difficulties we face when landing in the dusty landscape that delineates so much of Helmand Province. That dust cloud here completely obscures the underslung load.
JP says hello in his own inimitable style as he flies past the control tower at Camp Bastion, 2008 Det.
Troops from 5 Scots, 16 Air Assault Brigade, shield themselves from the downdraft as we depart Nadi Alie following their insertion, 15 November 2010.
A soldier from 3 Para chats to young Afghan children in the town of Naquilabad Kalay while on a patrol to find up to 40 suitable local people for training at the Helmand Police Training Centre in Lashkar Gah, before returning to their community and joining the police force.
A soldier from 3 Company, 1st Battalion the Coldsream Guards on patrol in a poppy field near Babaji. The opium that poppies yield is Afghanistan’s only major export and the primary source of funding for Taliban forces in the south. Poppies are mainstay for many farmers who are reluctant to sacrifice its high-yield crop for lower-paying legal crops such as wheat.
Fusiliers Mark Goodie (left) and Louie Kinsroy (right) of 6 Platoon, B Coy, 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh, returning fire against insurgents in the Green Zone. Our whole purpose in theatre is to support the troops: moving them, extracting them, rescuing them when wounded and flying in vital supplies. It’s a role that all as on the Chinook force are proud to undertake.
Local girls gather for the ribbon cutting of Laki Girls School, in Garmsir district, Helmand province, while coalition forces provides security. The Taliban banned girls’ education when they were in power between 1996 and 2001. Following their overthrow, the Karzai administration received substantial international aid to restore the education system. According to UNICEF, there were 2.5 million girls in school in 2010, up from 839,000 in 2002.
Much of Afghanistan is biblical in appearance with no modern technology for even the simplest of tasks. Here, a farmer carries his crop from the fields on his back at a strip village near PB Luke, Kandahar.
A Hercules C130J touches down at Camp Bastion. The Herc is the RAF’s workhorse, flying troops and cargo all over the country and providing the vital airbridge between Bastion and KAF. KAF handles 10,000 movements a month, some 50 per cent of Gatwick Airport’s traffic and is one of the busiest single-runway airport in the world.
The faces of the Parachute Regiment soldiers bear the strain of the intense fighting they experience on a daily basis at their FOB near Kajaki Dam. These soldiers are part of a squad being airlifted by Chinook for R&R.
A proud day. With Alison at Buckingham to receive the DFC from HM the Queen on 15 July 2009.
PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Author’s collection: 8, 10 above, 11 below, 16. Sgt Freedy G. Cantu: 10 below.
© Crown Copyright: 2 below, 3 below/Att. CSgt Baz Shaw, 9 above/Att. Cpl Barry Lloyd RLC, 9 centre/Att. Cpl Jon Bevan, 9 below/Att. Cpl Ashley Keates RAF, 11 above/Att. PO Sean Clee, 12/ Att. Sgt Rupert Frere RLC, 13/Att. Cpl Barry Lloyd, 15 above, 15 below/Att. SAC Andrew Morris.
© Getty Images/photo Marco Di Lauro: 7.
© Antony Loveless: 1, 3 above, 4, 5, 6, 14 below. Sgt Jesse Stence: 14 above.
© UK MoD Crown Copyright 2011: 2 above.
© UK MoD Crown Copyright 2010: 3 centre.
Copyright
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The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author and the contributors alone and do not necessarily represent those of Her Majesty’s Government, the MoD or any Government agency. The author has endeavoured to report events accurately and truthfully and any insult or injury to any of the parties described, named or quoted herein is unintentional. Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. The publishers will be happy to correct any inaccuracies in later editions.
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton
An Hachette UK company
Copyright © Antony Loveless 2011
Extract from the poem ‘The Fighter Pilot’ © by Bazza, is used by kind permission of (Barry) Leonard Thompson
The right of Antony Loveless to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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Epub ISBN 9781444708011
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