Coping with homesickness

Friday 3rd October

It’s been busy the last few days as we are now well into our hand-over with the outgoing gun troop. We’ve also been working on the guns and moving ammunition during Fire Missions to support our Fire Support Teams (FSTs) on the ground within the North Western Area of Operations. The rounds (shells) fired from the guns were gratefully appreciated by the troops on the ground. You could actually hear the firing from the area of the contact (firefight) about 10 km away as well as the FST signaller on the radio sending down the target location and all the relevant information required enabling us to fire at the enemy forces that had attacked the troops out on patrol.
Our other efforts at this time remain with documenting all the equipment and stores that will be needed when the rest of my troop arrives. As soon as they arrive we will need to be ready to support anyone who might need the guns of D Troop 8 (Alma) Commando Battery Royal Artillery.

Sunday 5th October

It’s been a lonely weekend so far as I’ve had a lot of time to think about my family back home in Plymouth, which always causes me to feel really homesick. This is why I like to keep as busy as possible as it helps to pass the time that little bit quicker. You are always going to get those quiet moments on a tour of this length. I’ve been deploying on operations or long exercises with my Regiment since joining 15 years ago and you’d expect it to get easier every time you went away. I think that this, unfortunately, is never true as it’s always hard to leave your family for such long periods, even more so when in such a hostile environment as Afghanistan.
Wednesday 8th October
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME” … yep 33 years young today! It’s now a chance to open all those cards that I have had sitting in my bag since I arrived in Afghanistan. It was a big morale boost to be able to read the cards that Sophie, Emily and Amy had written. Most of all, the words that my wife Sandra had put in her card brought a very big smile to my face. I just wish I was able to enjoy this day with them but I shall use the phone later to thank them all.
Today was an interesting day as we got to fire the guns in support of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) today as they were on patrol in a nearby town. It was only a smoke screening mission but it allowed the ANA on the ground to move safely through a known hostile area. Part of the commitment to the ongoing deployment of British troops in Afghanistan is to also assist in the training and development of their own military and security forces so that eventually we can withdraw and allow them to provide the security and legal system that is required to develop this fragile country. Over the last couple of years since this assistance started we have already seen a big improvement in the ANA’s ability to operate as professional soldiers.

Friday 10th October

Things have been relatively quiet the last few days. With the handover now complete we are just waiting for the arrival of the rest of the Troop so that we can assume full command of the gun position. However, the massive transport commitment needed to successfully carry out the OP HERRICK 9 relief in place means that some delays are inevitable. We have to get all the incoming troops of 3 Commando Brigade out to the forward locations as fast as possible and all those from 16 Air Assault Brigade back home to their families. There is always some waiting around but with all this free time it allows me to do some good Physical Training (running etc.) and some paper work. You can always rely on your administrative chain to continually pass work onto you, wherever you may be!

Sunday 12th October

Well today was planned as the first day for the whole of D Troop to be in location at FOB Edinburgh, however due to some intense fighting throughout the night in other parts of the province all aircraft were redirected to assist in the movement of soldiers to counter these attacks by the Taliban. This increased demand for helicopters in other areas meant that our Troop could not fly into the FOB today and those from F (Sphinx) PARA Bty, 7 (PARA) RHA could not fly out.
The sheer number of personnel involved on OP HERRICK 9 means that the number of aircraft available for our troop movement is sometimes less than was expected and you soon get used to sudden delays and cancellations. Well now it’s time to get on with some work, and hopefully the good news about available seats on helicopters and the date when our Troop will join us should come through later on today.