Joys of War by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: HISTORY / Military / General
ISBN: 9781526743152
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

As the Danish military were the battlespace owners for this part of Central Helmand River Valley we would sometimes carry out joint operations, or be on our own but with input at the planning stages from the Danes as they would be doing the ground-holding after we left anyway. We arrived by Chinook early morning at a Danish patrol base. Great helicopters, absolute work horses. We were packed in like sardines. Once there, we set about sorting some sleeping spaces and so forth. We would be operating out of this place for a while. It overlooked the Green Zone from the edge of the desert. Very ‘close’ country, the Green Zone; it was March/April so everything was starting to bloom or boom. It was like the jungle in places with visibility down to a few feet and even less in dense undergrowth. It was cold but humid. Sometimes you thought you were in the Middle Ages or Middle Earth, with the mud huts and clay-reinforced walls about 2ft thick. Bloody strong. Took a fair bit of explosives to breach a hole in a wall, never mind dropping munitions from fighter jets on a compound to hit the enemy. Some of these old forts and compounds were hundreds of years old. They’d stood the test of time better than the history books. The Danes were chilled to work alongside; different mentality fighting-wise though. I don’t think the political stage back home had much support so they tried not to get involved. That was for the politicians and the very senior military safe in Copenhagen sipping Carlsberg. The men and women on the front weren’t shy about taking it to the Taliban but when casualties mounted, as they do in any war, the tools in suits get wobbly knees first, thousands of miles away, bless them.

We pushed out, passed the usual patrol routes and area of influence, and into territory that certainly wasn’t government of Afghanistan- or NATO-friendly. A lot of poppy fields here. So the enemy was more concerned about their income than anything else. My team and I certainly were in a lot of contacts and prolonged firefights here. Jesus, there was fuck all talking here. Ah well, sometimes a picture paints a thousand words. With the amount of ammunition sent in both directions you could have opened an art gallery or library. On one patrol we pushed deep into Taliban country at night and popped up at first light as usual. On the Taliban radio that the interpreter was listening in on he could hear the chorus of disapproval. You know you’re in deep when they’re tearing new arseholes out of each other to get into position before 6.00 am. Sweet, some hard-core fighters who had alarm clocks. I was on top of the world. Don’t get me wrong, a bad day in the office in war is very shit, but when you’re on the attack and taking them down like it’s going out of fashion, it’s exhilarating. Maybe it’s that primitive part of the brain.

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