Afghan frontline diary

Behind the headlines, what is it like to fight in Afghanistan?

Major Richard Streatfeild who is on active duty in Afghanistan

The 3rd Battalion of the Rifles Regiment is in the country today for a six-month tour.

Among their number is Major Richard Streatfeild. He commands "A Company" from a base in the upper Sangin valley, where the heaviest of the fighting has been so far.

We'll be following his progress over the months to come.

BATTLE OF WILLS

The start of a tour is always incredibly busy. Every day is a new experience.

Yesterday we held a Shura at the base. Or more accurately, we had a Shura come to us. A large group of elders arrived to protest the innocence of a man who had been arrested in a security operation. There was no doubt that they had been sent by insurgents, but they were a notable gathering.

In Afghanistan, age, gender, and facial hair are all indicators of seniority in open society. Inside the compound there is alleged to be a matriarchy, outside, in Helmand, mature men with long beards get respect. It was as an impressive bunch of beards as you are likely to find.

I will not describe the full extent of their injuries but horrific barely does the scene justice.

We talked for about two hours. They are good talkers and the conversation moves at a sedate pace. "You have the watches but we have the time" is a popular Afghan jibe.

We sat on our haunches until my western joints creaked and we moved to benches. Green tobacco is taken with care. Small globules of spit form a circle of dust balls on the ground around each chewer.

Afghans often suffer myopia alleged to be the result of a lifetime of dehydration. They break into your personal space to look closely from behind a beard and leathery skin tanned by a thousand Afghan suns.

At one point I was told that we both believed in the same God. "There is only one god," he assured me. We had been going for an hour an a half at that point and I felt we might have only just warmed up if the theology continued. So I felt inclined to agree and left it at that.

We arranged to meet again in three days to see if their issue had progressed.

It all appears to be a caricature and a slightly idyllic one, but it is not. The Shura had been delayed for an hour because two children, both nine, had been brought to the FOB having stepped on an IED. Innocent victims in the battle of wills.

I will not describe the full extent of their injuries but horrific barely does the scene justice. Our doctor, medics and medically trained Riflemen worked for 35 minutes to save them. They were alive when we put them on the Chinook helicopter to the hospital in Camp Bastion with relatives. They died of their injuries there.

It is hard not to believe it was a small mercy. Their uncles returned later in a taxi with the two coffins. They were buried today.

We are left with the moral dilemma of having found, marked clearly and avoided that device only for two children to detonate it.

REMEMBRANCE

This week has been a bloody one. Our thoughts are with the family and close friends of those who have died, especially for us in A Company of Philip Allen and Sam Bassett.

I am here, I step out of the gate because I am part of a team

We have held a memorial service in the base - their names and their memory will not be forgotten.

At Remembrance their names were called at Services across the world and we were exhorted to remember them. In this base I led that service.

Officers have a pastoral role in the lives of their men and I have spent many hours of my professional life in a position that is more social worker than tactician.

The sacrifices of soldiers over the generations for the sake of our freedom and security should be cause for thanks as well as remembrance.

The efforts of the British Forces Broadcasting Service mean we are all aware of the current debate.

My interest in the politics of this debate has waned considerably in the last month. Whilst I have engaged in many discussions on this campaign - I am here, I step out of the gate because I am part of a team.

Whilst some Riflemen have a sense of higher purpose, most have a sense of loyalty, "mateship", and professionalism that motivate them to continue.

For me the act of remembrance is a manifestation of mutual respect for those who have laid down their lives for their friends in the service of their country.

As my Company Sergeant Major said, "They will grow not old as we that are left grow old, age will not weary them nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."

ON PATROL

It has been a challenging week. It was a pleasure to lift off from Bastion and see the jagged horizon free from dust. The noise of the helicopter renders conversation impossible so one is left with one's thoughts for half an hour as the helicopter flies high over the desert.

The helicopter was packed to the gunwales with men, material and post. It ended with a plunge into the landing site at the FOB (forward operating base).

The quad bikes buzz around disembowelling the chopper of its cargo. Fully kitted and armed we made our way into the gates to unload our weapons and greet the smiling faces. Always good to meet the relief.

The temperature is cooler than in Bastion with a top end of the low thirties. It is not as dusty and the nights are cool. When the moon is not up the night is black, but the stars are an astronomer's dream. No light pollution here.

The following day the group I came up with went on patrol. Pre-match nerves to which I previously referred miraculously disappear after a few minutes.

We went into the local village. Not far, but we were out for four hours.

I had a good chat with a local farmer, through an interpreter. The maize harvest is starting and he has much work to do. He asked whether he could borrow me and a few others because we looked as though we would be strong enough to carry his crop.

In the dark of the night I followed a pair of them along a path in the FOB. "I am going to miss it" confided one to another almost guiltily.

He told me how the insurgents impose a curfew in the village so they can lay IEDs but he did not know where they were. On the way back we found out.

Being close to an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion has nothing to recommend it. A member of 2 Rifles lies very seriously ill in Selly Oak Hospital as a result.

Time slows. Fear, adrenaline and then training kick in almost simultaneously. Watching the lads from 2 Rifles go to work for one of their own was inspirational. Rapid effective treatment, a lung-bursting stretcher carry and a slick handover to the doctor, he was away as quickly as possible to the best trauma facility in the world, giving him the greatest chance.

Next day we were all out again in the Green Zone. I have been seriously impressed with the fortitude of the young men of 2 Rifles. In the dark of the night I followed a pair of them along a path in the FOB. "I am going to miss it" confided one to another almost guiltily.

Handovers can be fractious affairs as equipment is assiduously accounted for by quantity and serial number.

Differences in tactics are discussed in detail as what has been taught in training has been adapted by six months of practice by the in place unit. None of that this time.

I am lucky to be bringing more troops than have been here. It will give us greater flexibility. The outgoing unit has been a fund of advice and information. They have taken personal risk at the end of a long tour to give us the best start.

Tomorrow their company commander will formally hand over responsibility to me and my men and women. I hope we can match their effort to protect the people of Sangin.

ONWARD

All organisations have their own lingo but the Army does acronyms like no other organisation I know. There are three, four and five letter abbreviations for everything. Our period spent in Camp Bastion is known as RSOI - Reception, Staging and Onward Integration.

We came into camp Bastion late at night. There was a cool dust-filled breeze that felt really good after an hour cooped up in the darkness of the tactical flight in.

It is heartening to hear of the progress made and opportunities for future progress at first hand. Better news from those who have been on the ground rather than those who have been reporting it.

In the middle of the night the glare of the floodlights illuminate the dust, giving the camp a fluorescent halo. I came in on a recce a couple of months ago when, even in the middle of the night it was almost unbearably hot for someone acclimatized to Britain's BBQ summer. This time there were many favourable comments amongst the party, their last tour being in the heat of an Iraq summer.

After a late start, the briefs begin. Being unacclimatised means that we can do little physical activity as our bodies get used to the midday heat - which is still in the upper thirties. So the time is filled with the latest intelligence briefs and a myriad of other subjects. Twenty-one in all. All reminders of subjects briefed during training but more urgent now.

The package continues over a number of days. The time passes quickly because the days are full, starting early and finishing late. We have found the time to call home, mainly because the time difference of three-and-a-half hours makes a late call here into a reasonable time at home. There is a deal of administration to be done as our carefully packed kit gets used and repacked.

We got the sharpest of reminders of what we face with a day on IED training. Carrying out the drills in the midday sun until we were totally confident with the latest equipment, tactics and procedures.

Whilst I understand the value of our stay here I want to be in the Forward Operating Base. I want to continue, together with the Afghans, to try for a safer future in Sangin.

My Company are swapping with fellow Riflemen from 2 Rifles. I know many of them well and some are here in Camp Bastion.

It is heartening to hear of the progress made and opportunities for future progress at first hand. Better news from those who have been on the ground rather than those who have been reporting it. Undoubtedly their story is one of bad days as well as good days, but this is certainly in better balance than I had previously thought.

And that is what Bastion is like. Arid, hot and dusty. The smell of a port-a-loo in the midday sun and the taste of the best food anywhere I have been on operations.

An unlikely combination of emotions - happiness of those going out after a hard job well done, tinged with grief, relief and the anticipation of seeing friends and relatives. For those coming in it is the desire to get on with the job in hand, determination, with anticipation and a few pre-match nerves.

All around the mechanics of the vast operation to get the units changed over continues. The helicopter noise is continuous, providing the drumbeat of the operation.

Whilst I understand the value of our stay here I want to be in the Forward Operating Base. I want to continue, together with the Afghans, to try for a safer future in Sangin. I have to be careful what I wish for but right now, I and the rest of A Company are living on the verge of and in anticipation of that challenge.

HOPES AND FEARS

It's finally here, day one on Operation Herrick. It's been some time coming as I was first told that A Company would be going to Afghanistan in early January. A Company is usually part of 4 Rifles. For this tour we are under command of another Rifles Battalion, 3 Rifles. We are to form part of Battle Group North in Helmand which is based around Sangin.

Every father has hopes and fears. It is part of having children. I am no different from every other father in the land in that respect.

A Company is over 100 strong and with attachments from other branches of the army is considerably more than that. We have been training together since Easter.

As I look back it seems like an incredibly long period of training for the mission we are going to undertake. That said I've never heard anyone in my position say we were too well trained for the task.

The training has many aspects. Everyone going to Afghanistan needs to know how to operate safely. They need to know enough about the culture to avoid inadvertent offence.

We learn a bit of Pashtu to be able to break the ice and give basic instructions. We all do first aid training and the majority of the company are trained to a more advanced level.

And of course there is the requirement to keep people physically fit and healthy.

The collective training has been a tour of all the most delightful parts of Britain. Kent, Northumbria, Norfolk, Wiltshire and Wales - twice.

We were the second group through the new Afghan village complex in Norfolk. At times on Army training areas it is hard to replicate a civilian population this however was about as realistic as it gets, manure and straw with a number of the Afghan diaspora.

I got put through my paces in a post mission Shura trying to convince the local population that we had done something that would increase their security. Not an easy sell.

I also found it amazing how much of Norfolk is irrigated in the same way as the valley of the River Helmand. Good practice manoeuvring around the ditches, wet feet, deep mud and not much commander's dignity.

We don't generally deal in fears. We harden our hearts against the prospect of some very difficult decisions.

After the bulk of the training was complete we were able to take a couple of weeks leave. Whilst the training is vital there is nothing as dangerous as fatigue. Tired minds and bodies are prone to bad decision making.

We have had the chance post leave to do some refresher training and get the administration of the company in order. We will get our final training top up on arrival in Afghanistan just to get the latest from the guys who are already there. Then we'll be good to go.

Every father has hopes and fears. It is part of having children. I am no different from every other father in the land in that respect.

My greatest desire in this regard has crystallised round the hope that I will be able to take my son to the first day of an Ashes Test at Lord's. My greatest fear being that I will not be there to go with him.

This fear may be no different from other parents' but it is perhaps brought into sharper focus by the prospect of six months in the Upper Sangin Valley.

On a professional level it is rather different. We don't generally deal in fears. We harden our hearts against the prospect of some very difficult decisions.

My personal hopes and fears are wrapped into the same moment. Making the right decision. Through training, experience, character and enough thought I hope I make good decisions.

I will spend a good deal of time planning and conducting operations. During that process and over the course of my tour there will be plenty of decisions to make.

Most of the time the result of a bad decision will be rectifiable, yet in my profession and very obviously in Afghanistan it is sometimes about life and death.

My final hope is that the Company Group can do a difficult job in the right way.

It is an incredible privilege to command a company of Riflemen and all the soldiers and officers who will be part of the Company Group. I have got to know some of them and their families extremely well.

I know from friends and colleagues that the worst moments of their professional lives have been in the moments of grief following the death of a soldier for whom they feel totally responsible.

I hope that I can face that with stoicism and sensitivity. It is easy to get fatalistic about operations in Afghanistan but there are Companies in Battlegroups that all come back. I hope we all come home.

The summer has been sobering in that regard and the families and comrades of those serving in Afghanistan this summer have barely been away from my thoughts.

There will be many factors involved but I certainly feel that the decisions I make and have made during training will play their part. It is a good pressure if used properly.

My final hope is that the Company Group can do a difficult job in the right way. I hope we can understand, persuade and influence as well as clear, secure and protect.

I hope we can hold and build on ground that we clear of insurgents. I have no doubt that this is not just a six month project but I hope we can make a positive difference.

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Major Richard Streatfeild commands A Company 4 Rifles, currently attached to 3 Rifles with Battlegroup North in Helmand. Richard joined the Army in 1997. He has served in Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. He is married with two young children. Prior to that he used to enjoy cricket, cycling, skiing, the occasional trip to the theatre, West Ham United (armchair only) and the odd Wilbur Smith novel.