Afghan Rumblings 8,
Not from near the Front, anymore! 31 Oct ‘10
Hello again, from Patrol Base Shahzad & Camp Bastion & England, with the last of my inane rumblings from me, when I was in Afghanistan.
It’s my last evening in Shahzad, it’s also the last day of Herrick 12 and I’m in body armour & helmet. We’ve have had a warning of a possible attack on the base, so it’s just a precaution, so far! Well most of my packing is done now, but it still seems strange to be leaving, I feel a bit like Brookes in the Shawshank Redemption, not that I’m depressed and going to hang myself; but it’s that sense of being attached to a place & people. It’s been the best part of 200 days here and that is with working every day aswell. No work roster, days off in lieu etc. The fighting doesn’t stop here for the weekends or Bank Holidays. Mind you 3 Para are moving in and already they are changing things around, so many faces I don’t recognise. The Maroon Machine is up and running and Herrick 13 starts tomorrow.
I’ve cleared my desk, tidied up the pencils I’m leaving behind and distributed the few remaining packets of food that I have left. I managed to save from the clutches of the CSM, my combat clipboard that I brought from home; it became very popular with the higher ranks as they realised that I had the only one. I spent more time searching for it than some soldiers did looking for Taliban. It is one of the few things that wasn’t “permanently borrowed” from me, (not for trying, though). Never in the field of human conflict, has so much been stolen by so few! Please refer back to Rumblings No1 and scousers!
I spent my last moments of Shahzad time on the HLS waiting as usual for a chopper that was late, but the Merlin did arrive and only about 20 mins late on the half hour postponed time. We flew via Lashkar Gah to Bastion, really low and jinking around for about 30 mins. So now I’m in Bastion until the end of the tour.
So I have been through the “sheep dip” which is the process of de-kitting; rifle & bayonet cleaned and handed in, Osprey body armour stripped for disposal, all unused ammo returned and air bed pumped up for the next 10 days, punctures permitting.
It really is a different world in Bastion, loads of soldiers here, long queues at all meal times, but I did have jelly & ice cream for afters yesterday; we did occasionally have ice cream at Shahzad, but it normally would have melted by the time you got to eat it. Then it was down the NAAFI for a spot of time on the internet. My accommodation tent is air conned and I was cold last night, perhaps this will help for coming home back to the autumn/winter, it’s acclimatisation in reverse! Yea! Did I say I was coming home, not long now!
The final days are dragging a bit now, as there is only some basic stuff to do for the move back to the UK. Most of the lads are catching up on sleep! The last few of 1 Lancs are due into Bastion soon and then it will be just a few more days to Cyprus. I keep bumping into people I haven’t seen for a while; all have big smiles on their faces as the conversation gets to the “going home part”.
I have been thinking of a list of the less obvious things to look forward to and things I won’t miss:
Things to look forward to; Sitting on a comfortable chair; eating what I want, when I want; having a beer; Internet that lasts more than half an hour; tarmac on the roads; toast.
Things I won’t miss; Dust & dust storms; the smell of poo, both burning and non burning; 40-50 degrees temprature; camp beds; pumping up my air mattress; bricks in my bergan; ration packs; working every day; flies!
The ongoing struggle, yes the air bed is leaking again, as usual I can’t find the puncture, but it’s only got a few nights left now.
The CSM saw me with my clipboard today and mentioned that I hadn’t left it behind at Shahzad for him, too right I didn’t.
The last day is here; drill practice, marching around in front of the 16 Air Assault boys (Herrick 13), no piss taking though, as they would have got a chorus of “Merry Christmas or Happy New year” , the other reply being “ six months to go then”? Drill over, we killed a few hours in Bastion 2 NAAFI, then it was on the coaches to the flight check in. Once that was done, it was down to Bastion NAAFI to kill some more time until final check in. I remembered the first thing I did when I arrived in Bastion back in March, was to have a pizza, so the last thing I did, was have a pizza. It’s from the Pizza Hut which is a converted container that does take aways. They are also going to open a KFC on Bastion 2 soon. Something to look forward to for those coming back on another tour!
So a mini bus ride later and final check-out saw us trooping out to the C17 in the dark. With the usual helmets & body armour on we left Bastion and Afghanistan on Monday 11th Oct. I gave a small cheer as we lifted off and 2 hours later after sitting next to the most annoying soldier (he wouldn’t sit still for the whole flight) we landed in Dubai. So that’s 4 times I’ve been there and I still haven’t seen anything. We transferred to an American civvie airliner and flew to Cyprus (1st time visit) for “decompression”.
Decompression was a day on the beach, followed by an evening in the bar with a couple of comedians and a singing pair of blokes with guitars. We were allowed beer! The first in over 4 months! But we had to get up at 0215 to move back to the airfield and this time it was an RAF Tri-Star to take us to Brize Norton. So arrival in Brize at 0915 Wednesday 13th Oct, 5 days short of 7 months away and slightly less than 46 degrees centigrade, well a lot less. Next stage was a coach trip to Catterick, about 6 hours; this was because Tee Side Airport had a dispute with the MOD and wouldn’t let any military flights in. A small shock to the system was the price of food in the motorway services, £6.18 for a KFC! We haven’t had to pay for food whilst away. When we arrived at Catterick, we de-bussed and marched into camp as the families of the regular soldiers were waiting; they were so loud, we couldn’t hear the orders. After one night at Catterick, we were bussed down to Chilwell in Nottingham to be de-mobilised, this took 2 days and then back to London in a mini bus, to be met by Ann & Alex. Lucy was pleased to see me aswell!
So home at last. Travel time, just under 4 days from Bastion to Kingsbury. I weighed myself on Saturday morning and came in at 11 stone 13 pounds, I was nearly 14 stone this time last year!
The last military act to carry out was the homecoming parade; we practised it on the Saturday morning (23rd), lots of marching up and down the parade ground at the Guards Barracks next to Buckingham Palace. The tourists loved it; we thought it was bloody cold. It was then a full day on the Sunday, church service then bussed to the City Guildhall for the parade proper. After the Guildhall, it was back to
So that’s it, one operational deployment done. In summary, yes I am glad I went, but also glad to be home.
A big thank you to The London Regiment Welfare team for organising stuff for the families whilst we were away and thank you for all the stuff that you guys sent to me, the parcels, magazines, letters and silly/funny things.
For the final time,
laters,
Tomsk
