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MORTARS Sitrep as at 20 Oct 07
(Archive)
I will try to send an update at least once a month including
a sitrep from me and a Gdsm’s diary.
Here Goes:
We have now settled into our role here with the Danes who are
looking after us very well. We were fortunate to be taking over
from the Welsh Guards Mortar Platoon, so had a good handover. We
are currently deployed in 2 Bases, both of which are extremely
basic. Your friends and loved ones will need all the comforts
you can send them to make life that little bit easier. We are
fortunate that both of these bases are currently occupied by
Guards Units. Right Flank SG and No 3 Company 1 Coldm Gds
respectively, its good to be with the Blue Red Blue. That’s
enough from me now Gdsm James "Jimmy" Hill will tell you what
its really like!!!
Capt Clive
Mortar Officer
After three days of seemingly never ending briefs on the ground,
threats and roles we would be carrying out, we finally set foot
on the chopper to our New HQ Location. When we arrived we sorted
out our kit and headed out for what we all knew was going to be
the start of a tour unlike anything we have ever done before.
The first move was by chopper again to one of our forward bases,
landing in a dust cloud so intense we could barely see to get
off. Once inside, the reality of where we were kicked in, the
‘toilets’ had to be burned every morning, the sand/dust was
ankle deep and the sound of gun fire in the distance reminded us
exactly what we had come here to do!
After a relatively quiet week with the enemies main effort
seeming to be to Recce us in the night, myself and five others
were moved to a newly captured and still vulnerable location. We
arrived there to find it more basic than the base we had just
come from. There are toilets that give you splinters in all the
wrong places and a well for washing - it was a shock for us all.
That night we began firing illumination rounds in support of
patrols out on the ground that had come under contact, but it
wasn't until the third night that we got to fire High Explosive
(HE) ammo. A patrol had come under intense fire from around 10
enemy, we dropped a good load of HE on them only 100m away from
the friendly patrol. It was what we have spent all those long
months training for. With two confirmed enemy K.I.A the night
was ours.
This being my first tour, I have seen how important it was to
spend all of that time away training. Life is basic here in
every way possible, but providing we have mail, screech (squash)
and the chicken we are feeding up for Xmas day morale stays more
up than down.
Everyone in my location is doing well, we all have beards and
hair growing rapidly, and daily we are building things to make
life easier from sofas made of wire and chicken coops. The CP is
named after Crazy John Fitton and we're cooking strange
concoction’s nightly, but every day gone is another one closer
to home.
Gdsm James "jimmy" Hill
Helmand
Afghanistan
20 Oct 07
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