Page 62 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

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Recce Platoon
Recce Pl has come along way since BATUS when it originally formed up as an Armoured Recce Platoon but changed gradually over the build up for Op HERRICK 14. From there, we have progressed through various guises; a dismounted protection party for an Aghan Colonel, an FSG in Otterburn in PDT for C Company, in snow, which was a great representation of an Afghan summer. Finally we settled down as an Adviser Call Sign to the Recce Tolay of 3/215 Bde 4 Kandak in PB Jahan Zeb (PB JZ), east of Lashkar Gar.
The tour has seen the platoon operating as part of CS adviser Kandak (Kdk), the only manoeuvre unit within the Kdk that operated as a long range mobile adviser from Camp Tombstone, Bastion. This occurred because the Recce Tolay had split, some working hard in Lashkar Gar, as guards against suicide bombers, whilst the command structure was living the high life in Camp Shorabak in Bastion.
Its versatility was shown again, as the protection party for another adviser call sign in OP Omid Haft (Hope 4), patrolling
in depth during the construction phase
of PB Saawali on the Nar-e-Burkh canal. This dismounted patrol operation lasted
for 10 days within the green zone north of PB 5 and involved the patrolling from local national compounds, as tactical check points one night and then moving to the next ready for the following day. Its austere and unforgiving landscape put to the test; LCpl Reid and Cpl Meehan’s improvised Gym Recognition, LCpl ‘Sleepy Stan’ Standen’s ability to sleep, the bargaining for rent that one Recce Pl Comd; Capt Paul had in one day at cut down prices and the amount of photo opportunities that CSgt Fisher and Cpl ‘Medic Mike’ Rawden could achieve in each leg, was simply awe inspiring.
These varied tasks continued till the 3/215 Kdk were ordered to construct a patrol base outside of Lashkar Gar to act as a block to guard against the influx of insurgents through the Surdigar gap. It
was at this time that the full CS adviser
Kdk came together for the first time, with
a Royal Marine Reserve OC and 2IC, TA Company Sergeant Major REME, 29 Cdo Royal Artillery force protection party, Royal Engineers from all over to construct, and an ANGLICO team. You name it they can bring it from the American Marines. The fancy dress party would always be a bit strange.
However, with orders given, the construction went into
overdrive and the race
against the Afghans
the form of the American air conditioning in the MAT Vehicle, which basically gave you a chill to your bones so at various running times people would be missing.
We settled down to routine life and conducted many patrols, as manoeuvre unit for PB Jay Zec. After the move of Captain Paul to Bn Ops, we had many changes of Platoon Commander. Firstly, Capt Atherton with the worst smelling trainers to arrive
fresh from bazaars of Nad-e-Ali, to the svelte Lt Cook trying to gain the best tan Afghanistan can provide, and finally Capt Koniarski who wins the trophy for creating the only PDT serial to occur in the PB since its inception. On
the first patrol in unfamiliar surroundings,
a pinned down Afghan Colonel requiring extraction, a rolled Jackal, a split call sign, a grounded Jackal and a contact, all in the space of 15 minutes, you just knew Sgt Max Maxwell’s patience would be wearing extremely thin. In fact, after they managed to right the Capt’s wagon, provide depth protection for the ANGLICO to pull Cpl ‘Commander’ Ward’s vehicle off a sand bank and oversee the contact involving CSgt Fisher, who couldn’t be approached by his trusted driver, Pte ‘Conners’ Conroy for some time after the event.
Finally, in the last weeks before the Relief in place with 20 Armd Bde, the PB saw the arrival and filming by Ross Kemp and his entourage, eager to see contacts galore and soldiering the like of Op HERRICK 6. No amount of persuasion by the Press Officer or showing him on the ground, could convince him that things had changed
for the better - especially Ross’s extreme episode of D & V whilst the Taliban engaged the platoon on Op Qalai Sharkay 4. It was not lost on anyone that there is a limit to what you can film near a khazi.
was on. Three days
later, the Tolay were
settled in hardened
bunkers, water bowsers
for fresh water and their
impromptu mosque.
The delay in machinery
and construction materials, meant we were living in 18' x 24' accommodation by night and the back of Jackals by day. We operated from a 12' x 12' ops room, being chased out of it by camel spiders about as big as your head. Welcome relief from the heat of the four walled compound came in
It was not lost on anyone that there is a limit to what you can film near a khazi...
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