A tough watch, for many reasons….
Accidentally stumbled across “Helmand: Tour of Duty” on BBC – and was therefore unexpectedly confronted with footage of incidents my Squadron, “EGYPT” (part of the Royal Tank regiment), and specifically my Troop and I were involved in.
It is very Welsh Guards focused (made by bbc Wales) and never mentions the RTR, but it was us who crewed the Viking vehicles which they refer to (as “metal coffins”). It gives a powerful insight in to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009.
It is triggering in places – don’t think any of us in the RTR knew that footage from the MERT helicopter existed of the canal incident during Operation Panchai Paalang (“Panther’s Claw”) – and it definitely got me… looking down on that road and spotting our vehicles brought back a lot of memories.
Why it’s tough to watch for us
It’s also tough to watch for me personally, for various other reasons.
Firstly, is the footage of the incidents – if it’s upsetting and harrowing as a general member of the public, imagine what its likes for the families of those injured and killed, for Veterans in general, and for the specific Veterans who were actually there.
More widely, it’s hard to watch as it doesn’t call out the contributions of the wider Royal Tank Regiment, Rifles and Light Dragoons and others who helped the Welsh Guards, but they are there throughout the footage. Guess that’s an editorial narrative decision by BBC Wales to focus on the Welsh Guards Recce and the FRG, as there was also no mention of Sgt Morgan, a young man attached to us from the WG. Although only young himself, he proved himself to be a legend of a man – he acted as our sniper, as well as our barma (search team) commander, and went on to be the Welsh Guard’s RSM – yet even he gets no mention.
More cutting though, to me and my colleagues who i’ve been in contact with since the programme’s airing, is that the the Recce Troop survivors seem to think it was an unexplained miracle the back door got opened – it was a miracle… of superhuman strength and courage, but it was known. It was two of the men in this photo that opened it and the unconscious didn’t float out, men in the photo below went in to get them.
It was our EGYPT Squadron medic, Jay, who co-ordinated the triage of the injured. One got resuscitated quickly. Two took a long time, and there’s no way the others and I could have managed the two difficult resuscitation’s without his knowledge and cool head. He dealt with a lot that tour, and alot of “dead men” (not just from this incident) are still here on this earth because of him.
The video shows the men from the vehicle that rolled in to the canal be CasEvac’d, but it doesn’t show or mention an attached Officer from the Irish Guards being CasEvac’d a few hours later. He was shot while standing next to me, after a complex ambush a couple of hundred yards away.
In all likelihood the only reason I never caught a bullet to the chest was because the Taleban initiated the ambush with an RPG, and the whoosh of that gave a split second for me to move behind a door which took the hits instead.
They documentary also focuses on the death of Colonel Thornloe, but Trooper Josh Hammond RTR was also killed on the 1st July. He was 18. I promised him I would help him with something he was trying to do for after the Tour – I never got to keep that promise and it eats away at my soul.
The fact that I’d been CAsEvac’d by a Heli the day before the incident leaves a lingering “what if?” – would I have changed something, anything, even minor, than might have meant Josh would have made it?
The programme also doesn’t cover the death of Cpl Lee Scott in Nad e Ali, another member of 3 Troop, EGYPT, RTR. He was killed in action as part of Panthers Claw, in support of the Welsh Guards on 10th July. Others were also severely injured in that incident, but again that’s a battle unspoken of in this BBC documentary.
Nor does it mention the death of Captain Dan Shepperd RLC, who was an ATO (bomb disposal) who died on 20th July when he came to assist our Troop deal with an IED I spotted while supporting the Welsh Guards. He had assisted us with numerous incidents, including the incident in which Cpl Scott was killed. I didn’t know him before Afghanistan, but I remember him and our conversations regularly.
The few incidents I’ve just commented on, are a snapshot of a 3 week period in Nad e Ali. As a Squadron we were deployed for over 6 months, and also ventured to Babaji, Musa Quala, Sangin and all the places in between. Even from me alone, there are many Unspoken Battles, but think how many there are from the 100+ I Served with in EGYPT? Then think of thousands of experiences from Afghanistan from all the others who served.
The documentary is painful to watch, but it means people are remembered more widely, and that hopefully brings some comfort, as well as a wider understanding.
I’m glad that the BBC and others are telling these stories, I guess I just wish more of it was known… hence starting this webpage, as a means of trying to tell the stories of my men and I, and anyone else who is willing to share theirs.
At the going down of the sun, and in the mornings, we will remember them.
The BBC Documentary Helmand: Tour of Duty can be found at the following link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0024hqx/helmand-tour-of-duty
Thank you for your response. ✨
Unspoken Battles 
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