A Soldier's Best Friend by Stewart Stephen Paul

Author:Stewart, Stephen Paul
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
Published: 2014-07-10T04:00:00+00:00

Nine

In No Man’s Land

Trapped in a confusing maze of compounds and alleyways with no sign of his mates, John Tucker checks his rifle and ammo while a wave of panic sweeps over him. Where the hell are they? The cold realisation sinks in, he is in the Taliban epicentre with no back-up. Their fighters pop up from this rat run of lanes to attack British troops before melting into the confusing network of back streets as quickly as they have come. In this corner of southern Afghanistan he is supposed to be escorted by a team of Royal Marines at all times, but they have vanished.

The old military cliché that no plan survives contact with the enemy is proving horrifyingly true. John has been in some hairy situations with his unit, 2 Royal Irish, but this is the most terrifying day in his career. Thankfully, he has an ace up his sleeve in the form of Rhett, a remarkable black Lab cross. John and Rhett have been tasked with searching a maze of alleys to find any weapons caches or IED making equipment.

It is February 2007, and they are spearheading an operation in the notorious town of Kajaki. Operation Kryptonite is the military name given to this mission to clear hordes of insurgents from around the Kajaki dam, a key facility which provides much of the power for Helmand province. NATO bombing attacks pound the Taliban day and night but still they will not give up. This mission is critical to the British and US effort in Afghanistan.

Commanders believe that holding the dam, ensuring the Afghan people have access to, at least, a limited amount of electricity will help win support for the Allied cause. British commander Colonel Tom Collins says that the Taliban do not intend to topple the dam but resort to a scorched earth policy, destroying everything in their tracks. He said: ‘They destroyed or dismantled many of the complex mechanical components of the dam as they fled the field, to delay a NATO advance.’

Seizing this dam and getting it up and running again is of great importance to the Allies, as restoring much needed power to the area would win local support for the troops and the Afghan mission overall, as well as provide jobs in the energy sector.

As the Taliban consolidate their position in Kajaki, John and Rhett go into the lanes and compounds to flush them out. The pair are attached to 3 Commando Brigade which has just taken over the area from the soldiers of the Parachute Regiment. He told me: ‘We had just deployed to Kajaki. The marines had attacked a village and we went in to clear. At first, the engineers were reluctant to use dogs because of the amount of munitions lying about. But the dogs are not stupid, they know it’s there so I set them straight that it wasn‘t a problem.’

Marines spread out and take up firing positions to cordon off the area so that Rhett and John can move in.

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