CHAPTER 15

Kajaki I

We were picked up by Chinook helicopters that brought in a few guys from C Company to help man our positions in Nowzad. Before leaving, I saw Tom and Sergeant Head from the Sniper Platoon and showed them ANP Hill before we left, using the opportunity to obtain information from them about the Kajaki area. They told us about one village called Mazdurak which had seen some really quite serious action during which a lot of bombs were dropped, and warned us to expect an interesting time if we were deployed there. We also learnt that Kajaki was split between two regions to the north and south; to the south lay an area similar to the Green Zone which we knew so well. The main village to the south was called Kajaki Sofla, a name we recognized from the briefings we had already been given on the area.

As we approached Kajaki, we could see the huge reservoir with its massive expanse of deep blue water against the orangey brown colour of the ground. The terrain was very mountainous, as was generally the case on the border between Helmand and Pakistan to the far south of the province. We flew in and out of a series of canyons and ravines as we approached the big blue reservoir, the pilot banking the aircraft sharply and then sweeping low as we went along. A Chinook had been bought down in this area during a previous tour, so he was ensuring that we did not share the same fate.

As we flew over the reservoir, the RAF loadmaster test fired the aircraft’s weapons, firing down into the water. There was a 7.62mm machine gun on the back of the ramp and a multi-barrelled chain gun on the side of the helicopter. After that came the familiar pat on the shoulder and two fingers were held up signifying two minutes to land. As soon as the Chinook touched down, we jumped out and ran under the blades away from the helicopter, passing a few guys from C Company heading in the opposite direction to embark on the aircraft. After only around twenty or thirty seconds the Chinook was gone and out of sight, while we sat and waited to be ferried into Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge. Shortly afterwards, we were picked up by a Pinzgauer vehicle and driven past the dam, which we were there to defend, and then down a very steep valley with the Helmand River below us.

Having settled into the base and talking to some of the guys about the area, we learned that that the surrounding area had three observation posts (OPs) positioned on the four main peaks of the mountainous terrain known as Athens, Normandy, Sparrow-Hawk East and Sparrow-Hawk West. When the Marines first arrived, one of their main tasks had been to clear the Taliban from these locations as they had already taken control of Athens and Sparrow-Hawk East. The enemy had the advantage of knowing every inch of the area and were able to navigate the minefield on the way to the top and then once there, bring fire down on the camp below. The Marines gained control of the area and then manned it fully. On going up there ourselves, we realised what a difficult place to fight it was, being steep and rocky with an old Russian anti-personnel minefield on top. The metre-wide track that led to and from all the OPs had been cleared as a safe route but even this was not brilliantly marked out as all we could see was a rough footpath where the ground was slightly bare.

The three OPs had excellent views of the whole area and we could see literally everything, including all the little villages and how Kajaki was split from north to south, with the north having almost no greenery at all but large numbers of wadis, the main one of which we called the A1 Wadi. C Company had managed to push the Taliban back through towards the north and having the four OPs now meant that we knew immediately when the Taliban encroached into our area. As a result, FOB Zeebrugge was very safe and hardly ever attacked.

To the South, there was Olya village and then Sofla which was far more of a Green Zone with grass, trees and densely populated compounds. We could see where the Taliban headquarters was located, around a mile away from the OPs. They had a lot of women and children there, so we could not engage the headquarters itself; when we did engage them, we observed that they always retreated back into this area.

C Company had carried out larger scale pre-planned operations during its time up there but was now conducting MOGs in the area to the north east of Sangin. A and C Companies were now giving the Taliban a difficult time, squeezing them hard in the Jucelay and Putay area. The Taliban were determined to keep Sangin under control because it was a pivotal area for them.

Whenever the opportunity arose, we used to take spare vehicles down to the reservoir to swim in its ice cold water, a blissful relief from the intense heat of July and August when the daytime temperature was in the mid-fifties. Although the local Afghan police were there to make sure it was safe, we still needed to be alert and very vigilant with our vehicles ready to move at a moment’s notice.

All too soon the time came for us to return to the arduous and dangerous business of going out on patrol. There was a small group of C Company who had remained to give us a full hand-over brief, Robbo from the Sniper Platoon coming out with us on one of our initial patrols. These were primarily for us to familiarise ourselves properly with the ground out there and so we took the WMIKs. We soon learned that the situation in this area was far more predictable and we could almost plan from a timing perspective how things would play out. The fighting was at a far slower pace than we had experienced already. We carried out some patrols in the early hours of the morning, which were more probing than anything else, but we made sure they were varied in timing and areas. We patrolled more frequently to the north, mainly because there was a greater area to cover than in the south, which was squashed between Sofla, the Helmand River and the high mountain range. There was really only one route in the south from which the Taliban could approach and that was covered by the Afghan police and Afghan National Army. Also the OPs could view the whole area and, if they observed the Taliban in any numbers, could attack with Javelin missiles and GPMGs from above.

A typical day began at 3.00 am, with us carrying out radio checks and other procedures before moving out at around 4.00 am in the darkness when it was still cool. We would reach our lying up position (LUP), clear the area and then by around 9.00 or 10.00 am begin falling back. We would generally arrive at FOB Zeebrugge by around 11.00 in time for breakfast or brunch. We would go to our rooms in the main building to clean weapons and see Company Sergeant Major Newton to replenish our ammunition. We could also wash after our patrols because water was pumped up from the river to the base so we could have showers. There was unlimited untreated water for washing and a butt of clean drinking water.

At around 5.00 pm we would receive our orders and then I would go on the text link to contact home, followed by grabbing some food which in this place was better than normal. When we were not on patrol and had some down time, we could relax in front of the television. As I was normally up in the early hours, I used to get to bed at around 10.00 pm after the normal routine of packing and preparing my kit for the following day.

It was at that point that B Company had a new OC, Major Tony Borgnis, who arrived to take over from Major Aston. I remember the first time I met him when he walked over and said, ‘Hello, James. How are you?’ I thought, ‘How do you know my name? You are the new OC and I don’t know if this is a good or a bad thing.’ We all wondered what it would be like working under a new OC as we in the FSG had all grown used to working for Major Mick Aston over the last four months of the tour. Although, like all good commanders, he kept a boundary between the men and himself, he was hands-on and got involved with the men and was really down to earth. Little things like asking how you were. You could tell he was genuine about this, a good guy and a good commander.

On patrol, I would carry my normal six litres of water, my L96 rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition, laser range finders, my 9mm pistol with two spare magazines, two HE grenades, two phosphorus grenades, a trauma kit consisting of one syrette of morphine, two first field dressings (FFDs) and a tourniquet. I didn’t have to carry a radio any more as Major Borgnis wanted to have as many snipers on the ground as possible. This meant that Teddy and I split up and would rely on the radios of whoever we were ordered to accompany. Sometimes we would work with the FSG, on other occasions we would be placed with the rifle platoons.

The first proper patrol we conducted on this leg of the tour was up in a place called Shrine Hill, where there was a small shrine dug into the hill. On this occasion we had mine detectors bought up to us and, as we patrolled in the darkness, the guys were sweeping the track in front of them as they slowly walked up, all spread-out and looking down over Masdurak. We could see B Company down below us beginning to go through and get a decent look at the area, mainly reconnaissance for the commanders who wanted to obtain a good picture idea of the ground ahead. The first building was almost like a scene out of the film Stalingrad. It was just reduced to rubble and I recalled that Tom had been right when he had said that a lot of ordinance had been dropped on the area.

Meanwhile, Teddy and I were in one of the WMIKs up on the hill and we set about positioning a ‘gun line’ up there on the top. We had three GPMGs on sustained fire (SF) mounts on tripods that provided greater accuracy over longer ranges. I was on one of them, Strikey was on another and Gill manned the one in the middle. While we had been setting up, the guys from B Company pushed around below and began to clear one of the villages across the wadi. The three of us laid down SF down from the hill across the wadi and then into the village – always in front of the guys as they pushed through. This proved to be successful and we managed to clear the village successfully with no casualties. As we were clearing the village, we had some air cover from some F-15s. One aircraft screamed down low to the ground in a show of force which was very impressive, before banking upwards and throwing off flares all over the place.

On another occasion, I was patrolling with 6 Platoon and clearing two villages in the early hours of the morning. It was initially a pretty standard operation as we went in, continually upscaling and downscaling from code red to code green and then amber code while moving through. Soon we began to come under some pretty heavy fire from the north where there was a large area of open ground in front of us, forming a gap between the two villages. Jay, who had taught me on my sniper cadre and was now in B Company, asked for my laser rangefinders, so I passed them up to him on the roof. He could see some of the Taliban moving around and, having been a sniper for many years, he began firing at them. I then slung my L96, pulled my pistol out, found the platoon sergeant and told him that I would be his runner as Jay was up there using my rangefinders and there was no room for anyone else up on the roof. He told me to go and collect 51mm bombs for the mortar men.

As I busily collected the bombs, the mortar man was firing away with what he already had. He was running low by the time I arrived with a fresh supply. Up to this point he had been firing and loading the mortar on his own, which is tough because you need two hands to operate the mortar. The noise of the mortar firing was incredibly loud, but he was unable to stick his fingers in his ears and fire at the same time. As a result, the poor bloke’s ears were ringing like mad while Sergeant Browning was shouting out ranges and where he wanted the bombs. I was relaying the information, but the mortar man was simply looking at me shouting, ‘What?’ I was reduced to mouthing what I was saying in an exaggerated fashion, whilst using hand signals, so it was like talking to a foreigner, ‘High angle, 200 metres on that line’, all done with hand signals and mouthing the words. He was saying, ‘What? Eh?’

In the end I resorted to using my notebook and wrote the instructions in it, He read them and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘OK, but what line?’ I relayed his question to Sergeant Browning who came over and showed me, and I used my day sack for the mortar man to follow this line. As I tapped the poor bloke on the shoulder and put my thumbs up mouthing, ‘Fire now, fire now’, he winced as the next onslaught on his ear drums was about to come and fired. My fingers were in my ears but, as I took them out, I could hear his low moaning of, ‘Ahhh!’ A few moments later, the call again came over for us to fire another bomb but to add fifty metres, so I wrote on my note pad, ‘Add fifty.’ He lined the mortar up again, winced and fired while shouting, ‘Ow! You f...ing bastard!’ while wincing in pain. I could not help but laugh.

At this point, I wanted to be back in the action, so went back to where Jay was still busy firing away up on the roof. He shouted down, ‘Got any more magazines, mate?’ I threw them up to him as he tossed down some empty magazines, which I began to reload. As I did so, I called up and asked, ‘Have you got anyone yet?’ He told me that he was trying to take out one guy in particular; at that moment, there was a loud crack and a bullet smashed into the side of the wall to the right of where he was lying. The path of the round had clearly only just missed him so crawled back on his belly and eventually dropped down off the roof, explaining that there was an enemy sniper out there who he was trying to locate. We worked out that the round had come from the left, so I took my rifle and rangefinders and moved round to the side of the building. I was trying to see over the open ground and observed one or two buildings in the distance.

I could not see any movement, so lined up my rangefinders, zapped the distance and then checked the roofs and looked into the windows of each building. I then moved up to an archway and on to a bit of a rise from where I looked across to one of a number of water butts on top of a building where someone indicated that they were sure a man was positioned. I put a few rounds to either side of this to see if I could produce some movement, but nothing happened. There was a wall behind which the Taliban were moving and every now and then we would see an AK-47 pop up and fire over, but it was pretty much firing blind. The enemy sniper was still out there and I wanted to find him, so kept looking towards the left hand side. Even though he clearly was not the best of shots, or he would have hit Jay, he obviously could move really well and was proving difficult to locate. Another crack rang out, indicating he was still there. Eventually the call came for us to pull out of there and, as we were doing this, we came across a tunnel. We had grenades at the ready to throw down it while a sapper rigged up a bar mine to blow the tunnel which collapsed at our end, so preventing the Taliban from using it and coming up behind us as we pulled back.

On the next patrol, we were tasked with clearing the village of Shomali Gulbah. It was a similar story, with me up on to a roof alongside 7 Platoon with Josh Lee and Private ‘Ronnie’ Barker. The three of us were moving in and around of these domes that were like giant Smarties tubes cut in half and laid on top of the roof, about a metre or so high. There was a row of trees in front of us, so I was trying to position myself to lay fire down into this area, because we could see the flashes of the weapons as the Taliban fired.

At that point, I heard the distinctive sound of that enemy sniper rifle once more. I knew it was being fired from quite some distance this time, as the length of the pause between the crack of the bullet passing to my left and the thump of the noise of the weapon being fired gave this away. Ronnie and I thought that the sniper’s tactics were that, once the main body of Taliban guys engaged us and bogged us down, he would move out to the open area to our left and fire from there. I manoeuvred myself around even more to the left, with Ronnie joining me to help look for the sniper, while Josh Lee concentrated on the buildings in front of us. I gave Ronnie my rangefinders so he could have a good look while I prepared my L96. I looked through the scope and focused on a building in the distance to use as my average range, which I set at 400 metres; if anything came up within that range, I would have to aim lower.

As I set myself up, Ronnie and I were spotted by the sniper. There was a sudden crack as a round whizzed past my face; it was so close I could feel the wind from it, making me jolt my head backwards. Ronnie hit the deck and we both had our bellies on the floor as we looked at each other thinking, ‘F..., that was close!’ We shouted for supporting fire and the calls went out, ‘Rapid Fire! Rapid Fire!’ to which Private Thrumble responded with his GPMG. The other machine gunners began to lay down fire too, along with Josh Lee. Meanwhile, we crawled off that roof as fast as we could. That was another close call and I remembered what Robbo had said previously about a sniper popping up before and that they had dug out one of the rounds that had embedded itself in to the wall. It was one of the rare times the enemy used a .50 calibre round. The rumours circulated that the sniper might have been a Chechyen because the Taliban don’t normally have access to that kind of kit. If the Taliban were going to use any kind of sniper rifle against us, it would more than likely be a Dragunov which fires a 7.62mm calibre round and not a .50.

On another occasion, we were pushing up towards Masdurak at night, just to see if we could catch anyone out moving around in the dark. We had been out for a good two or three hours and had moved back towards the southern side of Shrine Hill. There was a relatively prominent dusty road which ran from east to west and we were moving along this road towards the west of Shrine Hill. Suddenly the OP’s voice came over the radio and said, ‘Stop! Stop, stop! There are enemy behind you.’ These were unidentified and were possibly Taliban following us up the road. It appeared that they were halting whenever we went firm, this being an indication they were definitely following and watching us.

We moved swiftly off the track and into a deep crater, caused by an exploding bomb, where we positioned ourselves and observed back towards the east. There were two platoons out on patrol that night, so it was decided that one of the platoons should take up position within the few compounds that ran adjacent to the road on the southern side while we remained in the crater. Teddy and I were working together on this patrol and I had my SA80 rifle fitted with a CWS and my radio, while Teddy had his .338 rifle equipped with night optics. We waited and watched in the darkness.

The commander of 7 Platoon, Lieutenant Seal-Coon, pointed out Shrine Hill to our left and a crumbling ruin just to our rear and said, ‘Do you want to get up there with Teddy while we cover you from down here?.’ We would be able to see further from up high so we gathered ourselves to get up there. I asked the boss if I could borrow a VIPIR thermal imaging sight, so I would be able to see the same images as the guys who had initially radioed the information and he agreed. The sight can be attached to the SA80 rifle and you can set it to show heat sources in white or in black; in white, all the terrain and rocks around us would show up in black, but anything hot like bodies, or car exhaust pipes for example would show up in white with everything else being various shades of grey. It really does give one a good image in the dark, but you have the option to change this around and have the heat sources showing up in black with the cold items in white and the other shades of grey. I always preferred white hot as previously I had used the larger and bulkier ‘Sophie’ unit which was similar to a pair of binoculars.

The guy from whom I borrowed the VIPIR had not zeroed the sight to his SA80 as he was using it in the kind of hand-held role instead. Anyway, I took it, briefed Teddy on what we were going to do and we began making our way to the ruin. As we did so, we received a running commentary on the guys following us. They had not moved since our patrol had halted and moved off the track, so as Teddy and I moved towards the ruins, we kept very low to ensure they could not see us.

We scrambled up through the ruin on our hands and knees, turning right at the back of the building and taking a narrow trail towards the higher ground that lay to the rear from which we would able to look down on the entire area. We moved very slowly and carefully as we did not want to dislodge any loose debris or the odd boulder and give away our position. When we arrived at a point where we felt comfortable, Teddy positioned himself three metres to the right of me. We communicated by whispering into our respective PRRs, rather than trying to talk normally. Teddy sorted himself out but could not see anything through his night vision kit. I took out my rangefinders and tried to give him the ranges he needed. Despite only just being able to make out the buildings around 500 to 600 metres away, I managed to zap them and record the ranges. I called the OPs on the radio and they confirmed that they could see us. I then asked if they could tell me roughly how far we were from the enemy, so I could narrow down the range and get them in my sights. They told us that the Taliban were closer to us than the buildings I had zapped and were actually only around 300 or 400 metres away. Teddy set his rifle’s scope to 300, took off his safety catch and waited for any kind of movement.

I was using the VIPIR, but still could not see anything of interest. I had been told that the enemy were now moving south towards the track. This gave me a good point of reference, so I kept observing and then suddenly could just see them and now had them in my sights. There were two figures who appeared to me were crawling rather than walking. Teddy said that they looked more like dogs. I agreed and radioed the OP which was convinced they were real people and not dogs; at the same time I also heard from the patrol commander who was asking me what we could see. I could only say what I saw and said that I was 95% sure it was two dogs. The OP was asking if I was sure and I responded by saying that I was a lot closer to the heat signatures and could say that I was almost 100% sure they were dogs as they were moving too fast. Surprise, surprise, shortly afterwards I saw two wagging tails as they approached us and realised they were our platoon’s two adopted dogs, Tangye and Charlie, who had clearly followed our scent. The patrol continued heading back to base without further incident.

A few days later we were patrolling up near Masdurak and this time I had been placed with Corporal Si Thorn’s section in 5 Platoon. We made our way up through the broken buildings and had been around Masdurak so many times now that we pretty much knew what to expect. We did not bother throwing in grenades because by this stage we had managed to increase the buffer zone between us and the Taliban whom we had pushed back beyond Masdurak and as far away from the dam as possible. As a result, it had become more like a routine as we swept through, patrolling these areas with everyone knowing each alleyway and doorway and generally knowing exactly what to do. We moved through swiftly, remaining vigilant all the time. We moved through to the other side of Masdurak. On this occasion we were deployed as flank protection on the westerly side as the main body went through. The guys we were covering were going in to clear a place called Chinah. Further to the right hand side we had the WMIKs and the gun line up on what we called Essex Hill, looking down into a village called Risaji. We were all in our positions and my guys readied themselves on the western flank as B Company, which was the main group, moved in.

Meanwhile, we had received intelligence that a couple of Taliban sentries had been cut off from the main group. They had been out there resting up and had fallen asleep as we had moved into our positions under the cover of night and cut them off. We were to hunt them down.

We could hear the small arms fire starting and the mortars joining in off to the right as the main group went in. Si Thorn and I remained in position, chatting away to kill time while listening to the radio reports of a heavy engagement. As we did so, we saw some civilians that we did not want to come too close so we decided that a couple of shots would serve as a warning to keep them out of the way. There was a telegraph pole about 600 metres away in the same area and Si bet me ten US dollars that I could not hit it with one shot. I readied myself for our little challenge and took my shot. Both of us hearing the ping as my bullet hit the pole. Laughing, I claimed my ten dollars as Si then challenged me to hit the telegraph wire. I gave it a go but missed. Someone, meanwhile, had heard my shots and radioed in asking if we were okay, which, of course, we were. In any event, the shots had the required effect on the civvies who legged it safely out of danger.

My target practice also produced another unexpected result. I had sited myself back up on one of the rooftops so I could carry on observing some buildings a few hundred metres away. I had dialled the range of 200 metres into the scope on my rifle and began looking through it into each window and door, searching for any movement. As I observed an open doorway, it was suddenly filled by a Taliban sentry wearing a green robe, black waistcoat and the tell-tale black turban, with an AK-47 in his hands and a couple of RPG rounds standing up over his shoulder. I already had my safety catch off and so lined him up and squeezed the trigger. He dropped immediately, the impact of the bullet pushing him back through the doorway. We followed the shot up by firing a couple of 40mm grenades from a UGL into the doorway in case he was not alone. We then fired two more through the windows to make absolutely sure. We then radioed in and said, ‘We have spotted an enemy sentry and have engaged with one confirmed dead with possibly more, stand by.’ We then fired more 40mm grenades into the building for around another thirty seconds before asking for permission to go down there and check the buildings. This was refused and we were told to remain in position. We stayed there without further incident and then eventually moved back, continuing to give flanking cover to B Company after the operation had been successfully carried out.

On another occasion we were on patrol again out to the north of Kajaki, but this time Teddy and I rode in the back of one of the WMIKs. We needed to get up on to Essex Ridge to offer sniper cover from there as we had been receiving a considerable amount of fire from the Taliban in the village of Risaji. A couple of shell scrapes had already been dug on the ridge by either C Company or the Marines before them, so they could position a gun line there for the GPMGs. We had Jay with us and were more than happy to have him along to give us a hand. Behind the ridge were the WMIKs so that we could use the extra fire support of the .50 heavy machine mounted on the back of them. They would be ready and able to reverse up to the ridgeline just behind us to fire over our heads and the crest of the hill down into Risaji if we needed them to do so. I positioned myself in one of the shell scrapes, while Teddy and Jay took the other further 40 or 50 metres away to my right.

Our guys went in with supporting mortar fire using a mixture of HE and smoke bombs. As we looked down into Risaji, we dialled in the range of the nearest buildings which lay around 500 metres away. All of a sudden, we came under heavy fire from an RPD, a belt-fed 7.62mm calibre machine gun which equates roughly to our own GPMG. We all hit the floor but after a few seconds I realised the fire was concentrating to my right, with bullets impacting and ricocheting in and around Teddy’s and Jay’s shell scrape. I put my head above the parapet and tried to look for the enemy firing position and could just make out the tell-tale small puffs of dust coming from a building around 400 metres away. There were two compounds with several trees around them and a long wall separating the two buildings by around 60 or 70 metres. I fired two rounds into the where the dust was coming from, my aim being to warn them, through the distinctive crack and thump sound of my L96 rifle, that they were under fire from a sniper.

My ploy worked as the firing stopped after my second shot. I was yelling, ‘Teddy, Teddy! Are you okay?’ All of a sudden, I saw a thumb briefly appear from the shell scrape and equally swiftly vanish again, which made me crack up laughing. Jay shouted out, ‘Did you see where it came from?’ To which I replied, ‘Yeah, building to the right, building to the right! About 400 metres away. I put a few rounds in.’

Teddy and Jay then peered over the rim of their shell and, as they did so, I came under fire. The Taliban had shifted position and now it was my turn. I could hear the whistle and hiss of bullets and slammed myself on to the floor of my shell scrape as they flew literally inches from my head. I adopted the foetal position with my rifle next to me as bullets thudded into the ground and ricocheted all over the place. All I could do was curl up and make myself as small as possible while screaming, ‘F...ing hell! F...ing hell!’ at the top of my lungs. Every time I tried to breathe in, I choked on the dust thrown up by the bullets all around me and I could only see dust and shards of stones. Things were pinging off my helmet and body armour and my body clenched and tightened up every time something hit me. Although it only lasted for around ten seconds, it seemed to last for hours and hours.

Like I had before, Teddy and Jay had spotted the Taliban position and fired a handful of rounds, which forced the enemy to cease fire. The role reversal continued as they then called out to me, ‘JC, JC! Are you all right?.’ I raised my trembling, shaking thumb and quickly brought it back down, hearing them hear them both laughing as I did so. I cracked up myself, as though someone had told me the funniest joke ever. Eventually, I succeeded in forcing my trembling hands to put a cigarette in my mouth and light it. It took all of my inner strength to pull myself back up and put my head back over the parapet as a potential target once more.

By this time the WMIKs had reversed up the hill and were now laying down fire over our heads and down into the area with their .50 heavy machine guns. This took the pressure off us, so we could start observing and firing at likely targets. After around two or three more hours, we clambered out of our respective shell scrapes and into the back of the WMIKs. I can’t speak for the others, but I certainly went back to FOB Zeebrugge with slightly wobbly legs that day.