No Way Out: The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege by Adam Jowett

Author:Adam Jowett [Jowett, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2018-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

18

‘Chinook is wheels down at Bastion, boss,’ Signaller Jones told me in the ops room. ‘They’re going to update us on him when they get out of surgery.’

I stepped away from him and lit a cigarette.

‘We got away with one there, boss,’ the sergeant major said as he took it from me and puffed. ‘Luck won’t hold forever.’

‘Let’s take another look at the maps,’ I said. ‘See if we can find a more suitable HLS.’

‘I’m sure we can find plenty, sir, but it’s whether or not we’ll make it to them.’

By ‘making it to them’ he was referring to our inability to secure another HLS; we were too few and too besieged.

Now that more of the company had died in the game that the men were referring to as ‘capture the flag’, it would be my task to ensure that morale did not fall with their friends. It was one thing for a soldier to question his orders – something that can be beneficial to his commanders, to seek out weakness in plans and ideas – but he cannot be left without answers. Simply saying ‘you’re doing this because I told you to’ is not enough for a soldier who may be asked to lay down his life at any moment. And so, I brought together my platoon commanders and senior NCOs, reiterating to them again the ‘why’ of the mission – that we were here to fight and beat the Taliban so that the population could enjoy such basic rights as education and equality, and explaining to them that, despite how it might look on the surface, we were not alone out here. From the aircraft overhead to the guns in the desert and the Special Forces who knows where, there were a lot of assets being directed in our support .

‘It’s hard all over the battlegroup,’ I told my leaders. ‘Nobody’s getting an easy time in Helmand.’

They took it with stoic acceptance. Deep down, I was certain that this was how my men would want it. If anyone was to have their backs against the wall, better it be them than their friends, and not only because they wanted to take on the risk – they could not stomach the thought of their friends lording it over them post-tour, bantering for the rights of who had had it easy and who had seen the most action.

‘The Doc’s coming in at 0430,’ I then reassured my men. ‘We’ll have him back before first light.’

‘Blokes will be relieved to hear that, boss,’ Somme’s sergeant spoke up, smiling. ‘Some of the guys haven’t taken their helmets and body armour off since they heard he left.’

It was a light-hearted comment, but we all knew the truth behind it – every man in the camp would fight harder, and breathe easier, knowing that there was a skilled surgeon like Mike within the same walls.

‘We had a shit day today,’ I concluded, not wanting to sugarcoat or forget the fact that we had lost two good men, and one of them for eternity.

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