Out in the Army by James Wharton

Author:James Wharton [James Wharton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849546188
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2013-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

I enjoyed being part of 1 Troop, but in the days that followed us being attacked in the desert, I was becoming increasingly stressed and agitated. Our return to Basra was delayed day after day which really took its toll on everyone. During this time, I was extra glad to be with Danny and Scoffy, as the pair really worked hard to cheer me up and keep me happy. I woke up after one afternoon’s sleep to Danny saying, ‘Look what I’ve named our vehicle…’

On the side of our WMIK, Danny had painted in pink letters ‘Killer Queen!’ and was really delighted with himself. I too thought it was brilliant and just the simple gesture of it all really cheered me up.

Eventually, 1 Troop was back in Basra and enjoying some days of rest and downtime from the harshness of desert existence, and although we were diving for cover almost constantly, the promise of a hot shower and some privacy seemed to block out all of the negative factors.

Back in Basra, I didn’t have Kempy to keep me entertained: he’d caught chicken pox from somewhere and was bedded down in isolation. I spent most of the time with Danny and Scoffy, sipping on milkshakes and putting away a lot of food; the Pizza Hut that had been opened in the middle of the COB sure took some money off the three of us. I also attended a few repatriation services throughout the week. I felt it important to pay a final respect to a fallen soldier before them being flown out of Iraq and released back to their families for burial. I’d try to imagine how it must feel for the loved ones who’d be greeting the aircraft when it arrived back in England.

Faulkner, and the guys he served with in B Squadron, had been working hard in the centre of Basra, operating from a remote building that was constantly being battered by insurgents. While we were getting hardly any action at all, our brothers in B Squadron were enduring a pretty hard time at the hands of the Iraqis.

It was Danny who told me the bad news.

Faulkner, while dodging stray bullets and continuous incoming mortar rounds in the centre of Basra, had found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. While diving for cover from incoming shells landing all around him, he exposed himself at just the wrong time to the full blast of a landing mortar. He’d been blown up. I thought I was being told my old pal had been killed. Panicking, I fell to the ground, not wanting to hear another word. How had this happened? I’d barely seen him throughout our time in Iraq. And now I’d lost him. Danny picked me up and told me he was still alive. He was still alive! ‘But you can’t see him, he’s being flown home.’

Faulkner had taken a lot of the blast to his front. The damage to his stomach was serious and he was

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