by Richard Kemp
The funerals of John Thrumble, Robert Foster and Aaron McLure, killed together by an accidental bombardment at Mazdurak, were each attended by the families of the others. Private Josh Lee, still very ill and under heavy medication, discharged himself from hospital to be at the funerals of the friends who died alongside him. Corporal Stu Parker, their section commander, couldn’t make it; he lay silent in a coma at Selly Oak Hospital.
Many of the more seriously wounded will pay the price of the fighting in Helmand for the rest of their lives. Those who survived did so thanks to the excellent battlefield first aid, often administered by their mates, the speedy helicopter evacuation and the first-rate medical treatment at Bastion field hospital. But some will not be able to lead a normal life again and will never get back to full fitness, including Private Matt Woollard, who lost his right leg to a mine near Kajaki; Private Simon Peacock, who was blown up by a missile in Mazdurak; Lance Corporal Dean Bailey, who was permanently deafened in the Sangin ambush and sustained serious wounds to his shoulder and hand; Corporal Mac McLaughlan, the medic shot in the stomach at Heyderabad; Sergeant Keith Nieves, badly burnt by a minestrike on the way to FOB Robinson; Private Jason Thompson, who was blown up by a rocket-propelled grenade at Katowzay; and Corporal Stuart Parker, who sustained severe blast injuries in the F15 bombing at Mazdurak.
Others suffered psychological scarring. Many killed a man for the first time and saw their mates blown apart right beside them. Most witnessed horrors that few civilians will ever have to see. For some of these, the effects have already begun to emerge. For some others, the nightmares will inevitably begin at a point in the future, with untold consequences.
Every member of the battalion felt keenly the loss of each of their nine comrades killed in action. Every Royal Anglian who was in Helmand had the intense compassion for the dead and wounded that only exists among those who know that it could just as easily have been them. Private Oliviero’s words, ‘I’d give anything, anything at all to have them back’, reflect the sentiments of every Royal Anglian soldier that served in Afghanistan.
Soldiers in Helmand who were worried about their wounded mates flown back to the UK, the wounded soldiers themselves, their families and the families of Royal Anglians killed in action all had a most remarkable pillar of strength upon which to lean: Major Dean Stefanetti. Commander of the Rear Party, Stefanetti masterminded every aspect of the military response at home to the deaths of Royal Anglian soldiers in Afghanistan and made himself personally responsible for the wellbeing of the battalion’s wounded and the care of their families. The standards and levels of service that he set for himself, and those under his command, far exceeded anything laid down in the book and were testament to the strength of regimental pride, spirit and devotion in this renowned former regimental sergeant major.
Few Royal Anglians spent much time dwelling on whether or not it was worth it. During more than 300 interviews for this book it was clear that virtually every soldier of every rank understood the declared purpose of British military operations in Afghanistan, explained to them by their commanders – to prevent extremists from re-establishing a base in the country from where they could plan or organize terrorist attacks against the West, including the UK. Private Oliviero rationalized the operation in simple terms: his sister was using the London Underground at the time of the July 2005 bombings; she could so easily have been a casualty; it was his duty to fight to prevent that kind of danger.
Most said they would go back and do it all over again if they had the chance, including many others who had been wounded. One of these was Corporal Stu Parker, whose injuries will forever prevent him from overseas deployments. There were almost as many motives as there were soldiers who said they would go back. But in simple terms they boil down to three main views: ‘I want to stand up for my country and protect the people of this country’; ‘If my mates and my battalion go, I am going’; ‘It’s the job I volunteered to do, I trained to do, and I enjoy doing’.
5
The story of the Royal Anglians’ tour in Helmand is the story of modern British youth. Despite their frequent dismissal as ‘the PlayStation generation’, the conflict in Afghanistan proved once again that the innate spirit and moral fibre of our young people has remained undiminished down the centuries. To quote Sergeant Larry Holmes, ‘Eighteen-year-old soldiers that play a computer game all their life proved to me that they could walk for forty-eight hours and fight all day in the heat. I looked at them and I thought, what’s it going to take to break these blokes? You smash them all day and night and they keep going. Give them a cigarette and a brew and they’ll be off again.’
Infantry commanders – from fire team upwards – have it tough. They must always think and plan ahead, enforce standards, navigate their way across the battlefield and make difficult, often life-or-death, decisions. The loneliness of command is not a cliché but a reality, and the higher up you are the lonelier it gets. But according to Corporal Stuart Parker, section commander in B Company, ‘In some ways the hardest job is being a private. And they’re the ones who normally get the least recognition. They are often in the dark about what’s going on; they usually get ordered to do the most boring, tedious duties like sangar sentry and fatigues; and they are more often than not in the most dangerous positions as the company advances to ambush.’ Like Robert Foster, Parker’s point man until he was killed at Mazdurak, the majority of privates in the Royal Anglian Regiment were in their late teens, or sometimes their very early twenties. Their commanders, from Lieutenant Colonel Carver downwards, praised them for their bravery, aggression, robustness and dependability – in all of which they exceeded even the very high expectations set by the battalion.
Every generation of British soldiers believes wrongly that the young men of the generations that follow lack the physical and mental robustness and the fortitude of their own. The courage, determination, resilience and fighting spirit shown by the soldiers of The 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in 2007 was no less than that of their direct regimental predecessors at the Battle of Minden in 1759, the stand at Gandamack in north-east Afghanistan in 1842 and the storming of Sword Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. In this context, Dr Duncan Anderson, a military historian who spent several weeks on operations with the Royal Anglians in 2007, said, ‘At company level in Helmand I thought the fight I witnessed was indistinguishable from that experienced by the Americans in July and August 1944, facing a highly efficient, highly competent enemy in the Normandy bocage.
The Royal Anglians’ story is also the story of the British Army’s historic regimental system, evolved and perfected down the years. It was the regimental system that welded and shaped the raw material, some forged by council estates, care homes, sink schools and frequent visits to the police station, probation officer or social services into the powerful fighting unit that proved equal to every challenge, and able to withstand any setback. In common with other infantry regiments in the British Army, most Royal Anglian soldiers remain members of the same battalion throughout their career – whether four years, twenty-two years or longer. Some are temporarily posted to headquarters and training establishments, but most will return to their battalion after a couple of years away. They live together, work together, drink together, fight together – and sometimes get arrested together. The close relationships thus developed over many years, extending up and down the ranks, make for a close-knit, family regiment, with friendship, understanding, trust and loyalty that are essential to effectiveness in combat. For many young soldiers in the twenty-first century, their battalion is the first real family they have ever known.
Every soldier knows he plays a vital role in his battalion, which is understood, respected and appreciated by his fellow soldiers and by his commanders. He knows his mates will look after him, as will his officers, NCOs and warrant officers. And when away on operations, the battalion and regimental welfare system will be tuned up to make sure that his family is properly looked after should anything
happen to him.
You won’t hear a Royal Anglian soldier boast about how in Afghanistan his battalion fought harder, had higher standards of fitness, was tougher or more robust than any other. It is for other regiments to worry about how ‘gung ho’ or ‘hard-core’ they are. The Royal Anglian soldier knows what he did and what his mates did, and he knows also – though he is unlikely to admit it – that soldiers from other regiments would probably have done the same thing in much the same way had they been at that place at that time.
With over 300 years of distinguished conduct in battle behind them, as well as an Army-wide reputation for being a no-nonsense, professional and warlike regiment without airs or graces, Royal Anglian soldiers have never thought they had anything to prove. According to Corporal Ryan Alexander, however, ‘This did not make us complacent or over-confident in Afghanistan. In fact the opposite is true. Our priority was to get the job done as best we could. I think one of the most obvious characteristics of Royal Anglian battalions is being very self-critical. We are always looking to see how we can improve our effectiveness and do things better next time, even if we succeeded this time. Our traditions are important to us, but we never let them get in the way of operational effectiveness. If they do, it’s time for a new tradition!’
This approach helps to account for the Royal Anglians’ success in Helmand in 2007. Their soldiers were not afraid to fight hard one minute and engage with the locals the next – despite knowing that the very locals they were talking to could well have been among those who had been attacking them. In the words of Regimental Sergeant Major Ian Robinson, ‘Our soldiers could assault through a village with the massive amount of violence you have to use to do it and then calmly go back in and discuss sorting out reconstruction projects with the local people.’
6
The defining virtues of the Royal Anglians’ tour in Helmand in 2007 were courage and offensive spirit. These qualities are closely linked, but offensive spirit – the determination to attack, to move forward, to close with the enemy, to take the initiative, to dictate the pace – is more than anything the result of the leadership and example set by commanders. Lieutenant Colonel Carver and Regimental Sergeant Major Robinson set the tone for the battle group’s aggressive approach during the twelve months’ training prior to deployment, and they and the company commanders carried it through right to the end of the six-month deployment.
Courage, on the other hand, while influenced by the actions of commanders, and the consequent overall morale of a platoon, company or battalion, is very much an individual and a personal attribute. Why did Lance Corporal Boyle run through what he believed to be a minefield to give first aid to Private Woollard? Why did Corporal Brown lead his section into the teeth of enemy fire to rescue Private Gordon and Guardsman Harrison? Why did Lance Corporal Ruecker run through an ambush zone thick with enemy bullets to save Lance Corporal Bailey? Why did Private Barker charge into machine-gun fire to drag Corporal McLaughlan to safety?
There were many other feats of uncommon valour by Royal Anglian officers and soldiers, only some of which have been described in this book. And of course the very acts of patrolling in territory where ambush was inevitable, or running forward towards the enemy under fire – daily events in the lives of most Royal Anglian infantrymen – themselves require courage of an order that most people will never be called upon to muster.
Why did these men risk their lives in this way? After six months of intensive combat, most soldiers seemed surprised when asked the question. ‘What else would I do?’, ‘What else could I do?’, ‘It’s what being a soldier is about’, ‘You just did it’.
So were these men without fear? Most admitted readily to being afraid in almost every battle, and sometimes utterly terrified. Others avoided the issue. The reality is that virtually everybody who faces the danger that these soldiers faced on an almost daily basis is afraid, whether they are prepared to admit it or not. And that fact makes their actions in combat truly courageous, because without fear there can be no courage.
The remarkable courage of the Royal Anglians was the result of many influences and motivations. But, as in battles throughout history, most soldiers stood up and moved forward under fire ultimately because they weren’t prepared to let their mates down. They were all in it together.
Some will find it hard to fully understand the actions of C Company in the aftermath of Private Tony Rawson’s death at Regay. Why did Corporal Willan, Private Garrett and Private Cain, and many other soldiers in the company group, risk their lives to recover Private Rawson’s dead body under enemy fire over many hundreds of metres of gruelling terrain and in searing heat conditions? The answer is simple: no one gets left behind. Ever. This tragic yet uplifting episode encapsulates the spirit of comradeship among infantry soldiers in battle. If your mate needs someone to watch his back or his flank, if he needs to be rescued from enemy fire, if he is wounded and needs to be dragged to safety, then you will do it, however much effort it takes, whatever the danger you face. And if he is killed you will make sure his body gets back so that his family can give him a decent funeral. You will not leave him. You hope – you know – that if you need help in desperate circumstances yourself, your mates will do the same for you.
But there was more to it even than this extraordinary mutual reliance. The shared dangers, hardships and horrors of close infantry combat create a closeness, a respect and an iron bond of comradeship that has no equivalent in any other human conditions. Private Kenny Meighan, point man in A Company, summed it up by referring to the eight-man rifle section of which he was a member: ‘I went to Afghanistan with seven mates and came back with seven brothers.’
1. Corporal Billy Moore, left, and Private Clarke of A Company an hour before the battle in Nowzad on Friday 13 April in which Private Chris Gray was killed in action and Moore was shot in the arm.
2. Nineteen-year-old Private Chris Gray with his Minimi light machine-gun in Nowzad District Centre days before he was killed in a close-quarter battle with the Taliban. Chris Gray was the first member of the Royal Anglian Battle Group to be killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
3. Corporal Moore’s gunshot wound sustained on Friday 13 April in an exchange of fire with the Taliban. This photo was taken in Nowzad DC just before Moore was CASEVACed by Chinook to the British field hospital in Camp Bastion.
4. B Company prepare to deploy from Camp Bastion to the battle group assembly area north of Gereshk to commence Operation Silicon. To the right is a Vector 6x6 armoured utility vehicle. The other vehicles are Viking articulated troop-carrying vehicles, crewed by the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group.
5. Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Carver, the Royal Anglian Battle Group commander, left, and Regimental Sergeant Major Ian Robinson.
6. Scimitar tracked reconnaissance vehicle of the Royal Anglian Recce Platoon in overwatch.
7. Taliban fighter killed by B Company during Operation Silicon.
8. A WMIK from Fire Support Group Charlie moving forward with C Company at Kajaki. The vehicle is fitted with a grenade machine-gun (in the rear) and general-purpose machine-gun.
9. Air strike near Mazdurak, in support of C Company. With no civilian population in the area, air support could be used to devastating effect.
10. Major Phil Messenger, C Company commander, during the raid on Mazdurak, near Kajaki. Before moving south to Forward Operating Base Inkerman, C Company had many battles in the Kajaki area, and Messenger and his men were in contact with the Taliban almost every day.
11. C Company medic Lance Corporal Matt Boyle making pizza at Combat Outpost Zeebrugge shortly before he was wounded during the raid on the Taliban stronghold Mazdurak.
12. B Company desert harbour area. 7 Platoon prepare equipment before the night move to Heyderabad.
13. 7 Platoon soldiers eating lunch in the troop compartment of a Viking near Heyderabad. Second from right is Private Ronnie Barker, who later rescued the wounded Corporal McLaughlan under heavy enemy fire.
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14. Lance Corporal Teddy Ruecker aiming his .338 long-range sniper rifle on a compound roof in Heyderabad. His Browning 9mm pistol is strapped to his right thigh.
15. Major Mick Aston briefs B Company platoon commanders in a compound during a lull in battle. Lieutenant Ben Howes is on the left, Lieutenant George Seal-Coon right, and Aston second from right.
16. Lieutenant George Seal-Coon immediately after the battle for the bridge at Heyderabad. B Company is in a harbour area preparing to move to Forward Operating Base Robinson. Sergeant Keith Nieves would be seriously wounded in a minestrike a few hours later.
17. The burnt-out Viking in which Lance Corporal Dean Bailey was seriously wounded when an RPG7 missile struck during the ambush on the outskirts of Sangin.
18. B Company Vikings and WMIKs in Sangin DC two days after the ambush. Lance Corporal George Davey was killed in an accident at the base.
19. A Company vehicles move through the desert for Operation Lastay Kulang. British and American troops deploying for this operation sustained several minestrikes.
20. The larger-than-life Corporal Darren Bonner, seated third from left, in A Company operations room. Bonner was subsequently killed while travelling in the rear of his company commander’s Viking during the deployment on to Operation Lastay Kulang.