Incoming

After 32 years in the Army and now working as a retired officer within Defence Clothing IPT, the last thing I thought I would hear again was, ‘INCOMING! GET DOWN!’ That was in 2004 in a little place called Al Armara, Southern Iraq, whilst visiting a Unit to discuss operational clothing. Although it brought back memories of various conflicts throughout my service career, this by far was ‘up front and personal’. I remember lying up against the outer walls of our compound with Rocket Propelled Grenades coming in, an inordinate amount of small arms fire and discussing with one of the soldiers whether it was OK to smoke! Although it seemed an age, possibly 30 minutes, a US gunship was called in and, ‘Hey Presto’, it was over. Having a cuppa afterwards I was told that this happened twice a day, dawn and dusk. So I asked if our helo transport would be there before dusk……….! Although I had been visiting Iraq since the end of the war in 2003, civil unrest between the vying religious groups seemed to have taken on a life of its own and, of course, the British Service men and women were caught in the middle. So, this was a taste of the future………

Since that time, I have travelled extensively throughout Iraq and, over the past 4 years, Afghanistan as well. Now Afghanistan is something else……

As I said earlier, my role within Defence Clothing is to ensure that our deployed force has the right clothing and ballistic protection to not only survive but, more importantly, compete on the ‘battle field’. I think we are doing a good job and our service men and women are better kitted than ever before but our visits are focussed on their feedback and ideas which we then try to incorporate into the next issue of clothing in what is known as the ‘Black Bag’.

As an insight into a visit………..We arrive at night after a seven hour flight directly from Brize Norton, slightly uncomfortable as the last forty minutes of the flight you are required to wear your body armour and helmet – just in case someone decides to take a pot shot! The doors open and you go straight out into a night air so oppressive you could take a knife to it. Then get yourself booked through and, paperwork completed, meet your hosts for the visit and off to your accommodation which, given the short time we have been in Afghanistan, is excellent. Well, certainly within Kandahar ……….further forward is very different, as you will hear later.

Up at dawn (we are now 3½ hours ahead of the UK) after a fitful night’s sleep but raring to go. We visit as many of the Units at Kandahar as we can discussing any clothing concerns and, thankfully, here are not many; a quantum leap since 2003when we had limited desert clothing and certainly not the other essential items required to deploy into a war zone. So – Defence Clothing must be getting something right. The next day sees us boarding a C130 for our 40 minute flight to Camp Bastion which lies in the middle of the desert, a small sized town in 50º heat. As we leave the aircraft to walk across to our transport we are immediately aware of a ‘dust cloud’ forming around us. We are walking through about 3 inches of dust so fine it goes through your clothing. Well, so what. We will get down to our accommodation; have a nice shower and a cuppa before we start. Well how wrong could one be!! The showers are not working until 18:00 hours and our accommodation was a ‘tent’, no aircon and camp cots to sleep on – what joy! 36 hours later I was so thankful for that tent, shower and cot as we had seen what it was like for our combat troops deployed within the Forward operating Bases. Close you eyes and take yourself to an Arabian desert (well a desert) where it is 50º +, living under a mud hut and then placing about 12 kilos of body armour on, carrying your ‘essentials’ ( ammunition, water, medical kit, radio, etc) which comes to another 25-30 kilos and the patrolling your area of responsibility. This patrol could be 40 minutes or anything up to 10 hours. Arrive back at camp, after contacts with the enemy which can last for hours, take off our kit, grab a cuppa and sleep if you can. If you’re really lucky you can clean your teeth with the limited water available.

This is the life of our combat troops face every day.

The average age of our combat troops is about 20 years old – not dissimilar to the Americans in Vietnam. However……..they are professional with a great sense of humour and have built relationships which will last a lifetime.

I could not even try to express how proud I feel after meeting so many of them over the past five years, many of them on third tours, who I had previously met in some desert ‘fox-hole’ or another. And yet, although some are frightened (and who wouldn’t be given the complexity of the weapons being used against them) they are more concerned about failing their friends than any enemy contact thereby cementing lifelong friendships.

During my recent visit we lost 7 Killed in Action and the first female soldier to be lost in Afghanistan and, as one would expect, heads went down but not out and the tempo of operations increased.
We always hear about the sad loss of life but the media does not do justice to our men and women who are seriously injured in combat and are returned to the UK for treatment and to be looked after by their parent Units. For every soldier that we lose we sustain around 20 severe casualties. These are the young men and women who are our country’s future.

Visiting our operational theatres re-invigorates me to do better and our team within Defence Clothing IPT has provided, what I believe to be, some of the best clothing and protection on the battle field today. We continue to work with industry on latest technologies and we are now very close to providing a more lightweight body armour which will allow our troops even more mobility and long may it last.

Although I have mentioned the summer and the associated heat, I have not really explained the winter and its own inherent problems. Temperatures falling to -20º and even lower in the mountains therefore clothing support has to cover these vast differences in temperature.

On a visit 2 years ago we were coming into land at Kandahar with all our winter clothing on as the pilot had reported a wind chill of -30º but, as we were about to land, he placed the aircraft in a steep climb and headed south. A problem with the aircraft, which is not unusual as they are the ‘work horses’ for the RAF and are still used daily, we carry on and land in the United Arab Emirates where the temperature is not -30º but +30º! We are off-loaded and, after sitting in the blistering heat for four hours, are finally taken to stay at a 5 star hotel on the coast until the aircraft is repaired. You can imagine over 250 soldiers – all in winter clothing, no washing kit and no change of clothing sitting on a beach trying to enjoy themselves! I must admit, the RAF have a really weird sense of humour.
We finally made it back to Kandahar 36 hours later – a quick sun tan and back into the cold weather in which most on board would spend the next six months.

On a personal note, I was honoured in the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours List with an MBE for my services to operations world wide and clothing support. Well, to say I was stunned is probably an understatement. My wife Jan was over the moon but then again she deserves it as well. I am sure that like all mothers and wives Jan mirrors their concerns when a loved one deploys (even for short periods on visits) and although she puts on a brave face, I know it hurts: but, it’s my job and I would not change it for the world.

We can all make a difference in our own way, whether it is providing essential kit to communities sending books and well wishes to OUR boys and girls who put their life on the line every single day. My hat is off top them……they are all heroes in my eyes and I am sure yours as well.

Major (Rtd) Ray Brooks MBE

Note by PAFFA

Ray is married to Jan, a TVP member of staff and both have become PAFFA volunteers.

Well done from PAFFA for your award of MBE.