Page 18 - QDG 2022

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1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Sgt Griffiths blending in
Guns ready as it became clear that the Squadron was under attack from the air, to be exact under attack from a MI-35 Gunship which was disgorging missiles from its weapons pods at an alarming rate. The disbelief back in the Ops Room in Gao when Captain Felix Holland sent the contact report - “Contact Helicopter” was audible in the Watchkeepers request for a confirmation, “Yes, I did say Contact Helicopter! – Wait, out”.
One salvo of missiles had landed within 30m of the SHQ vehicles, but the MI-35 had also fired in the direct vicinity of the 3rd Troop vehicles manoeuvring in the dense forest. The SSM mounted up and moved to the treeline fully expecting to receive friendly and civilian casual- ties, thankfully there were neither. The missiles had sent the civilians running deeper into the woodland and Corporal Parsons vehicle was narrowly missed. Joining with the SSM, Corporal Parsons continued the sweep of the area to locate any civilians that may need assistance and to identify any blinds. Unsurprisingly not a single civilian was seen in the area for the next 24hrs. The area surrounding SHQ was littered with frag and pieces from the missile bodies, most of which had luckily landed in soft sand, reducing the blast radius and the effective range of their otherwise deadly fragmentation sleeves.
Almost as soon as it had arrived, the helicopter, now identified as an apparently
Cpl Rees following the adventures of Spot the Dog.
peared to the North, in the direction of Gao. Once it was established that, mirac- ulously, the Squadron’s personnel were unharmed and the vehicles undamaged the Explosives and Ordinance Disposal team attached to the Task Group made their way rapidly to the scene to check for unexploded ordinance and collect evidence for future analysis and exploita- tion. Subsequent investigations into this incident, which under pressure from Task Group HQ, Op NEWCOMBE HQ and the British Military representative at the UN in New York included a full UN board of inquiry, found that gross pilot error was to blame. The FAMa pilot claimed to be on mission to destroy insurgents in the area and having crested the high feature had seen vehicles and fired without verifying their identity. Had he paused a moment he may have noticed the UN markings and large blue UN flags adorning our vehicles. It was a matter of luck that his missiles missed their mark and that we, thank God, emerged unscathed. The fragments of one of the missiles fired on that day, (kindly collected, mounted and presented by Captain John De Costa-Nathanielz) now proudly adorns the walls of A Squadron’s Lines as a reminder that friendly fire isn’t particu- larly friendly.
Following this close call with a FAMa helicopter, A Squadron, armed with key intelligence gathered on our previous operations concentrated on the TAG presence in the village of Horoura close to the Niger border. Having once again used our attached UAV to survey the area, A Squadron conducted a successful covered approach to the village, utilising skills perfected on previous operations. The TAG members were taken by surprise by our arrival in the vicinity, forcing them to scramble away, in the process abandoning motorbikes, weapons, ammunition and further paraphernalia. As the TAGs sought to hastily withdraw to their safe havens, both over the river Niger as well as over the border into Niger, 2nd Troop successfully interdicted a group heading towards the border, forcing them to disperse and abandon equipment. One terrorist crashed his bike in soft sand. As Sergeant Speed’s crew moved forward to detain the rider there was an exchange of small arms fire. The A Squadron troops neutralised the situation and sought immediate medical aid for our fallen adversary who, despite heroic efforts to save his life by the Squadron Medic Sergeant Hall, died before reaching the advanced medical facilities available at the Task Group HQ.
Following this incident, A Squadron became the owners of 1 x AK-47, 1x PKM (machine gun) and a significant amount of ammunition. The Squadron,
now in command of the Horoura area,
friendly FAMa MI-35 disap- conducted a systematic search iden-
Desert box