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tracks or paths, but they did; because of this the insurgents could place RCIEDs (Remote, Controlled, Improvised, Explosive, Device) along a route they thought we would take.
It was a hot day on that handover patrol and the ANA commander wanted to
speak with the Village elder and introduce himself as the commander in this area.
The discussion didn’t go to well as it sounded more like an argument, I asked my interpreter what was being said and he told me that the commander didn’t want the locals to harvest poppy and that it was Hiram to do so. The Village elder said this was their only means of income and that the Taliban would take their livelihood if they didn’t plant their poppy.
We then left the small discussion at that and started to patrol back when 2 children started to follow and throw stones at us. This never happened in our AO so it was a
shock to see. We had just gone around a corner when an elderly man told the kids to stop following ISAF and to go back the way they came. As they did so, a massive explosion happened 30 meters to my front and in the middle of our patrol. There was dust everywhere and I couldn’t see much but then out of the dust
report and got the medics over.
While this was going on there was also
another Casualty from the same explosion. This time it was an ANA soldier, the Commanders bodyguard. He had similar injuries.
It took 25 min from the MIST (casualty report) being sent to
the MERT (medical helicopter) to arrive, so we got the casualties on and they were off to Camp Bastion. We then secured the area.
Later that day we were informed that the
2 casualties would make a full recovery and be back to work with in 5 weeks.
For the rest of the tour we did 172 patrols came under contact 93 times and found 32 IEDs sustained 11 casualties and tragically 1 fatality.
cloud came one of the
lads. He was in shock
so I grabbed hold of
him and asked him if
he was ok. He said Yes
but I then noticed holes
in his trousers so I told
him to lay down so I
could take a closer look. He had been hit several times from the top of his backside to the bottom of his calf - there was several holes about the size of a 2p coins all over the back of his legs, so I began immediate first aid while Capt Marden sent the MIST
The discussion didn’t go to well as it sounded more like an argument
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