CAMP RUSSELL, TARIN KOWT
As the platoon entered the outer perimeter of the base they moved into two files, one on either side of the road and staggered so that there was at least five metres between each man. They walked along in silence, each man lost in his own thoughts as he dealt with the abruptness of death. Trudging along in the ankle-high dust, they approached the gate that they had successfully defended in their first weeks in camp. The fine silt stirred up by their feet became the very air that they breathed. It hung around their heads like a light brown smokescreen. Above the dust the early-afternoon sky was clear and deep blue in colour, holding the promise of gentler days ahead, if they could just survive the next day, and the day after that. Already hours overdue, there was no longer any urgency in their movements. Only JJ quickened his pace as they arrived. He caught up to Matt as he was unloading his M4 rifle into the Hesco wall.
‘What’s the plan, boss? Do you want me to see if I can get the mess to do a late lunch for the guys?’ JJ took the magazine off his rifle and cocked the working parts back. He watched the bullet that had just been seated in the chamber land in the dirt next to his foot. He stooped over and picked it up.
‘No, it’s all right,’ Matt said, ‘we’re not rationed in. Let’s just eat with everyone else tonight. It’s only a few more hours. I don’t need to see the guys until tomorrow morning. Get everyone together in the common room after breakfast and I’ll let em know what’s going on for the next few days.’
JJ nodded his head as he wiped the dust off the previously ejected round. He pulled the top bullet out of the magazine and replaced it with the one he had just unloaded, then put the fresh bullet back on top. ‘You know, boss, I was thinking about this morning, I want you to know that the guys don’t think it’s your fault – I mean, the IED and all that. Because of that conversation we had back in the compound, you know?’ The sergeant sounded wretched.
‘It’s okay, mate, I understand,’ Matt reassured him. ‘Afghanistan is a shit sandwich, JJ, and we had to take a big bite of it today. Sometimes things are said in the heat of the moment.’ Matt placed the magazine from his weapon back into his combat rig and fastened the clip. He let the bolt fly forwards on his rifle and fired the action. He then cocked it again and put the weapon on safe, closing the dust cover in the process.
‘I hope we’re going to get some time inside the wire now, boss. We’ve been whipped like a stolen pony for the last month.’ JJ placed the magazine into the open pouch on his body armour and fastened it shut.
‘I’m sure we’ll be here for the next week at least, unless something comes up. As it is, mate, I now need to go and see the ANA commander and explain to him why four of his guys are dead. And we need to do some movement training and talk about some basics again. The guys were sloppy today, JJ.’
Matt’s mind drifted back to the breakfast he’d shared with the ANA guys only a few hours before, recalling how animated and happy they’d been.
He turned and walked off through the perimeter gate, looking up at the guard tower where, two months ago, his men had dragged out a young wounded kid. It felt like so long ago now.
JJ caught up with Matt and fell into step with him. ‘Boss, is everything okay?’
Matt looked across at JJ and could see that he was genuinely worried. ‘Yep. Wish I could go back in time and have breakfast with the ANA guys again is all. I would have liked to let them know that I appreciated them being with us.’ Matt swallowed hard and unfastened his Kevlar helmet. ‘JJ, go and find Nadeem – he’ll probably be in the morgue. Get him to see the psych, mate. He escaped being killed in that blast by a bee’s dick. Any of the other guys too, if they need it.’
‘Understood. Do you want to give Nadeem some leave, boss? I think his parents live in Kabul.’
‘No, we’re going to need him over the next few weeks and there’s just no one to replace him with,’ said Matt.
‘That’s a shame.’ JJ started to roll up the sleeves on his top, the heat was starting to really annoy him now.
‘Why’s that, JJ?’ Matt thought JJ’s response was a bit strange and wanted to get to the bottom of it.
‘Ahh, I’m just sick of him asking everyone if they’ll help him get citizenship in Oz after this, that’s all. It’s getting old.’
‘Oh, right. Well, can you blame him? When we pull out of here in a few years he will have to fend for himself. They’ll remember him. An American-schooled Afghan walking around Uruzghan with the Australian SF? His days are numbered, JJ.’
‘Fair call.’
The two walked on. Matt wiped off some dust from the lenses of his Oakleys.
JJ looked across at Matt and could see that he was still annoyed. ‘How about you, boss? Do you need to go see the psych?’
‘What?’ Matt thought about it a moment. ‘No, mate, I’ll just deal with this the way I always do.’
‘Right, so I’ll see you in the gym then.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Let’s go after dinner. How does eight pm sound?’
‘Cool. I’ll get the guys working on getting their weapons de-serviced and see you there.’
Matt nodded. He’d hit the pads for an hour and then he and JJ would wrestle it out. Most of the guys would probably gravitate towards the gym anyway. It always ended up being a good team-building session.
Matt broke lines from the front of the platoon and headed over to the HQ building. The CO was standing on the steps with a cup of coffee, watching Matt’s platoon file past.
‘How are the guys, Matt?’ asked the CO as Matt approached.
‘They’re okay. Obviously the ANA didn’t fare so well, they were vaporised. It was a shit day all round, to be honest.’ Matt stood at the bottom of the steps as the rest of his platoon filed past behind him.
‘IEDs, a nasty business – I’m glad you’re all back safely, mate.’
Nasty, eh? I suppose you know this from your vast experience, thought Matt.
‘G’day, Eddie, how’re the lads?’ the CO called as Eddie Butcher and Team Three filed through.
‘Fine, sir.’ Eddie didn’t look up from the ground ahead of him as he continued walking.
‘Nasty business, sir, that’s true,’ Matt interjected. ‘However, Eddie’s team found a couple of Thurayas today; I think we might have only missed Rapier by a few hours.’
‘Yeah, bad luck that. Still, it was never concrete was it? On a positive note, though, Saygen hit a couple of targets a few kilometres to the west of you and had a pretty good result, so it wasn’t all for naught.’ The CO rocked back and forth on his heels, clearly pleased. ‘They may not have found Rapier, but Saygen’s guys dropped multiple fighters across a series of compounds. They were caught completely off guard.’
‘Hang on – I thought Saygen and his lads were taking Mutallah Khan out on some vehicle patrol? I mean, isn’t that why I stayed out there to do the route recon report?’
‘You just have to be flexible in this game, mate,’ the CO replied. ‘Things change; some targets popped up so we launched on them.’
‘No, no, no, just hold on a second. What do you mean they “popped up”? They popped up because we remained in our location after sun-up. Every fucking Taliban in the valley would have been talking about us. You know that. They popped up because you left me out there as a tethered goat. For Christ’s sake, sir, there are four dead ANA because you had me write a fucking bullshit report in the field.’ Matt’s voice had risen to a yell and he could see the last teams of his platoon looking over at him curiously.
‘I suggest you keep yourself in check, Rix,’ hissed the CO as he stepped forward so that he and Matt were standing toe to toe. ‘You need to remember your place, Captain. Circumstances change, and we need to respond to them accordingly. I suggest that if you want a future in Special Forces, you’ll remember that.’
The CO flicked his wrist and tipped the remains of his coffee onto the ground at the base of the steps.
‘You’re doing a good job here, Matt,’ he continued. ‘But don’t you ever yell at me again, or I will have you on a plane back to Sydney faster than you can even spell Rapier.’ The CO glared at Matt. ‘Do I make myself clear?’
At that moment Sam came jogging out of the building and almost ran headlong into Matt and the CO on the steps.
‘G’day, Matt,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry to hear about this morning, mate. How are the lads – are they okay?’ Sam looked from Matt to the CO, as if suddenly sensing the tension in the atmosphere.
‘My guys are fine, Sam – I just wish I could say the same for the ANA,’ Matt told him. He looked around the camp, considering how to respond to the CO, then realised he had no option but to defer to his superior officer. ‘As to your previous comment, sir,’ he said, looking at the CO now, ‘I take your point.’
‘Good lad,’ said the CO. ‘Now, I know you’re probably tired and could do with some rest. Why don’t you go get yourself cleaned up and enjoy some downtime while you can. I have another task for you in a couple of days.’
‘What?!’ Matt couldn’t believe his ears.
‘That’s right. I’ve had X-Ray platoon released back to us for a few weeks. They’re going to help us clear a valley to the south. It’s been a Taliban stronghold for some time. I want to get your guys up one end and X-Ray down the other and see what comes of it. Saygen’s guys have done the planning on this. He’ll be ready to launch on any targets who might show their heads. The American Special Forces are going to be involved as well.’
‘Right, of course they will. And how long do you expect we will be gone for?’ Matt felt broken. He knew there was no point arguing, especially since Saygen had already developed the concept.
‘It will be a four-day operation; X-Ray has submitted their insertion grids, so you can get them from Sam. You’ll be pleased to hear that Saygen has organised for Black Hawks to insert you. It promises to be eventful, that’s for damn sure.’
‘Eventful . . . That’s one way of putting it.’ Matt raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ll go give my guys a heads-up and come back after dinner to see Sam. I’m sure the guys will be thrilled.’
Matt looked at Sam, but the intel guy was oblivious to his sarcasm. He was studying some papers intently and it was obvious to Matt that Sam was waiting for him to leave.
‘Right, I’ll be back soon then.’ Matt jogged down the steps and set off in the direction of the Yankee Platoon accommodation.
• • •
The barracks were silent when Matt entered. Most of the guys were either lying in their bunks or in the showers. Matt knocked on JJ’s door.
‘Yo?’ JJ answered the door dressed just in MultiCam shorts and holding a strip of cleaning cloth. His rifle lay in parts on the floor of his room and Kick-Ass was playing on his computer.
‘It’s just me, mate.’ Matt turned and opened his own door on the opposite side of the hallway.
‘What’s going on, boss? How was the CO?’
Matt ignored the question. ‘I need you to get the guys together in the common room. We’re off again for a few days.’
‘Huh? You’re joking, right?’
Matt turned to face JJ. ‘No, I’m afraid not. Just get them together, mate – I’ll explain it all then.’
‘Alright. Can you give me half an hour? Some of the guys went across to that Dutch café, Echos, and I’ll have to send someone to go get them.’
‘Sure, that’s fine; I need some time to sort my shit out anyway.’
‘Are we going in Bushmasters?’ enquired JJ.
‘No, we’re flying, believe it or not.’ Matt wondered how far south they would be going if they needed to be choppered in.
‘Well, at least we can’t hit an IED in a chopper.’ JJ laughed at his own black humour.
‘Yeah, that’s right – except with my luck we’ll land on one in the middle of the landing zone,’ Matt smirked at JJ and then entered his own room. Sleep was calling him, if only for twenty minutes.