Soldier J: Counter Insurgency in Aden by Shaun Clarke

Author:Shaun Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1993-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

9

Halfway up the hill, the patrol turned east and headed away from where they had seen the guerrilla guns flickering. Adopting the diamond formation more suitable to open country, with Dead-eye out front on point and Jimbo acting as Tail-end Charlie, they marched through the moonlit darkness in silence. Even at night, the heat was stifling, making all of them sweat, but luckily this gave way to a comforting breeze as they climbed ever higher up out of the wadi.

It was not an easy march. Each man was still burdened down with his 60lb bergen, SLR and four magazines, plus a bandolier of the same ammunition and 200 rounds of .303-inch for the patrol’s Bren gun, the latter weapon being carried between the even more heavily laden Ben and Taff. Each man also carried his full ration of water – a one-gallon container and four water bottles per head. As for Terry, he was growing increasingly worried about having vomited, was not feeling any better for it, and soon began feeling exhausted from having to hump the additional weight of his A41 tactical radio.

By contrast, the other members of the patrol were in good spirits as they tramped between rocks and over the dunes of Wadi Rabwa. The higher they climbed, the more they were exposed to moonlight and the less dangerous the march became, given increased visibility. Nearing the top of the hill, they saw the mountains of the Radfan clearly, with the dark mass of the 3900-foot Jebel Ashqab soaring up to their right. Their objective lay on the other side.

The very thought of the climb was enough to fill Terry with fear. When he first saw the mountain, his stomach twitched involuntarily with nerves. This was followed by a spasm of darting pains that almost made him cry out, but he bit his lower lip and continued climbing in silence. His breathing was becoming more difficult and soon he was stopping frequently to fill his lungs.

By the time the patrol had climbed out of the wadi and was crossing open ground to the lower slopes of the Jebel Ashqab, Terry could hardly control the spasms in his guts and knew that he would have to throw up again. This he did after deliberately falling back to the rear of the column, forgetting that Jimbo was bringing up the rear a good distance behind the main formation. Terry was wiping his lips dry when Jimbo caught up with him.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, before seeing the mess around Terry’s boots. ‘Oh, Christ!’ he said softly.

‘Sorry, Sarge.’

‘Too late for that, Trooper. You don’t seem to be improving.’

‘I’ll probably be all right after this.’

‘Let’s hope so.’ Still holding his SLR at the ready, Jimbo was glancing left, right and back over his shoulder as he talked, not forgetting the possible presence of the enemy and the constant need for alertness. ‘All right,’ he said, turning back to Terry, ‘get back up there with the column. If you don’t think you can cope, let me know.

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