The Paras by Max Arthur

Author:Max Arthur [Arthur, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781444787559
Google: LaLGDgAAQBAJ
Published: 2017-11-02T03:17:04+00:00

Lance Corporal Joe Stevenson, 3 Para

On 20 August 2006, I was second in command of 2 Section, 1 Platoon, A Company, in Helmand Province. We were located in Sangin. Pretty much every day and night we had been in relentless battles with the Taliban and the next one was going to be no different, we all knew that.

It was still morning and all the commanders had been brought together for a briefing of the day’s mission. We were told to take out a section of Royal Engineers, who would be carrying bar mines, which they would place on various walls that the Taliban had been using as cover for themselves while attacking our compound on a regular basis. They would then detonate them, which would ultimately result in the Taliban being more exposed, and would hopefully reduce our chances of them mounting attacks on us from that area.

It sounded pretty straightforward, 1 Section would patrol out and flank up the left giving cover from that side, while 2 Section (my section) would go straight down the middle to the compound walls, which were about to be blown up by the Royal Engineers. In the meantime, 3 Section (Bryan ‘Bri’ Budd’s section) would patrol out and give us protection from the right-hand side.

The previous days, weeks and months had been very mentally and physically demanding and I was feeling pretty fucked as were most people, but we were a strong group of Paratroopers who were probably, at the time, the most combat-experienced in the British Army. My thinking was that it doesn’t matter what happens or what we do, or whatever shit situation we find ourselves in, the guys will always have your back and be there giving one hundred per cent.

After our commander’s briefing of the mission, we all dispersed to join our sections and pass the briefing on to the guys. I remember walking back to the other guys in the platoon with Bri, and we were chatting about something or other, and I asked him how he thought this op would go. I asked because this was more complex, as most of the ops had been straight, non-stop firefights with the Taliban. He looked at me with his usual unfazed face, nodded and said, ‘Alright.’ This made me chuckle at the way he said it and that lightened the mood for us. It was also the last time I spoke to him face to face.

When the time came and the platoon was ready, 1 and 3 Section headed off out on the flanks while my section hung back a bit and went out later, as we were the ones escorting the engineers with their bar mines. If I remember rightly, the walls which the Royal Engineers were going to detonate were roughly 500 metres away from our compound and we could see them clearly. Behind the walls were a field of crops at least six feet tall, and various smaller walls and what looked like ruins of old compounds, or just normal buildings that we had blown up on previous missions.

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