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3 Para
Patrick Bishop
Afghanistan, Summer 2006. This is war.Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. In blazing heat in remote outposts the 3 Para battlegroup is pitted against a stubborn enemy who keep on coming. Until now, the full story of what happened there has not been told. This is it.In April 2006, the elite 3 Para battlegroup was despatched to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. They were tasked with providing security to reconstruction efforts, a deployment it was hoped would pass off without a shot being fired. In fact, over the six months they were there, the 3 Para battle group saw near continuous combat – one gruelling battle after another – in what would become one of the most extraordinary campaigns ever fought by British troops.Around parched, dusty outposts reliant on a limited number of helicopters for food and ammunition resupply, troops were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks, as well as energy-sapping 50 degree heat and spartan conditions. At the end of the tour, the Taliban offensive aimed at driving the British and Afghan Government troops out of Helmand had been tactically defeated. But 3 Para paid a high price: fourteen soldiers and one interpreter were killed, and 46 wounded.‘3 Para’ will tell the stories of the men and women who took part in this extraordinary and largely unreported saga. Best-selling author Patrick Bishop has been given exclusive access to the soldiers whose tales of courage and endurance provide an unforgettable portrait of one of the world's finest and most fascinating fighting regiments, and a remarkable band of warriors. Their bravery was reflected in the array of gallantry medals that were bestowed on their return, including the Victoria Cross awarded to Corporal Bryan Budd and the George Cross won by Corporal Mark Wright, both of whom were killed winning their awards.3 Para’s saga of comradeship, courage and fortitude is set to become a classic.
3 PARA
Patrick Bishop
‘The following account is based on interviews with the soldiers of the 3 PARA Battle Group. Inquests have not yet been held into many of the deaths reported in these pages. The author has made his best endeavour to report events accurately and truthfully, and any insult or injury to any of the parties described or quoted herein or to their families is unintentional. The publishers will be happy to correct any inaccuracies in later editions.
Afghan identities have been obscured in a few cases in order to protect the individuals and their families.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u3e3cf0c3-5935-587f-a06d-b9ada8658045)
Title Page (#u62f316f6-b49a-5fd1-bcc2-5bc6a52d101f)
Dedication (#u851942ab-d0d9-54b3-b44f-d482009dea1f)
List of Illustrations (#u5b50ff55-7ee3-5e73-be60-96ca7cc43a84)
Maps (#ua9edd232-0d94-58a6-894d-5662aeca221b)
1 Day of Days (#u3a388bd2-b80a-50a6-a7fd-caf7ec156c24)
2 Green On – Go (#u32ca5449-8ffe-5afe-8e38-8838b30e69f4)
3 ‘The Lawless Province of Helmand’ (#u25882199-9a04-57a4-b245-986db45d7f98)
4 Afghanistan’s Plains (#u19dd98bd-4e59-5b2c-836a-9b47551a9a99)
5 The Road to Sangin (#u64474681-15d8-5fa7-bae1-e3f14bc00db1)
6 Operation Mutay (#u1a3fcb77-7521-5069-b447-36a2519713ce)
7 Rapid Reaction (#u0ce6173b-ea01-5ae3-acf0-bd3a3f34fe1b)
8 Platoon House (#u8689b8c0-0790-5e72-9b3d-9f4331ef3d80)
9 The Testing (#u6d85e829-10ef-531e-a6d0-638f98de993b)
10 Jacko (#uf80d2515-234b-5d10-ae0f-f6a0ed648cc9)
11 Musa Qaleh (#u0cb7872e-ef30-5536-a712-28996fd3ada7)
12 Operation Augustus (#udb8eb302-08a9-5585-812c-d0adc6ca8a3e)
13 Eating Dust (#u5c16f5bb-3b2c-5396-a106-b2e466d3f516)
14 Hesco (#uc31ce70f-f9d0-55fa-9a07-00fb4b6ed0e9)
15 Attrition (#u86d89da6-966c-54cb-90bb-6f05932fe130)
16 The Musa Muckers (#ue27f45ce-eec5-5deb-9a01-f9dec9edd81a)
17 Peace of Exhaustion (#u54aaa7db-c453-57d3-bbbe-be6685176c32)
18 Going Home (#u1d2f9f3c-a6bf-5334-8ed6-5b2b3898960d)
Acronyms and Abbreviations (#u64ff6d4d-fa6d-5bff-8462-f7a786672c2d)
Honours and Awards (#u2dd109e5-b9fb-5917-a011-59e079790062)
Acknowledgments (#u24c2da53-135b-5556-b7a8-e1eab3ca1e4e)
Backad … (#udf930310-e219-5caf-ab40-6dc1c1a90896)
About the Author (#u24c30959-d8bf-5454-a0da-9f0f2c07219f)
Index (#u1fd9002b-20c5-5268-9b76-050be00c8fce)
Photo Insert (#u8bb27f32-a78e-5806-b7f2-81ae0c3d8bbd)
Copyright (#u0d8eb972-a772-5555-b77b-7cb2adf49fe9)
About the Publisher (#u48f8f098-4465-5a6c-9d6f-d93b29438aba)
List of Illustrations (#u0c01a37c-2577-507e-9b05-956815bb76c6)
FIRST PLATE SECTION
A Chinook is silhouetted above the Helmand desert.
Taliban fighters. © AP/PA Photos
Now Zad from ANP Hill. © Captain Nick French
Private Damien Jackson during Operation Mutay.
© Private Jamie Stewart Halton
Patrols Platoon during Mutay. © Lance Corporal Lee Hewitson
Looking out over the wadi and bazaar from a Sangin sangar.
Morning for the mortarmen at Kajaki dam.
© Corporal Andrew Evans
Patrols Platoon Commander Captain Mark Swann and Lance
Corporal Andrew ‘Chalkie’ White by their WMIK in Gereshk. ©
Lance Corporal Dave Bradbury
A GPMG gunner engages Taliban fighters from ANP Hill.
© Sergeant Peter White
Private Martin Cork flying back from Mutay.
© Captain Martin Taylor
Captain Hugo Farmer and Corporals Quentin ‘Prig’ Poll, Stephen
‘Hoss’ Cartwright, James Shimmins and ‘Chalkie’ White in the
shade of a stripped-down Pinzgauer. © Captain Martin Taylor
Corporal Tam McDermott on the roof of the Sangin district centre.
© Major Will Pike
Hostile faces in Sangin. © Private Marc Holmes
Private Neil Edwards, Lance Corporal Noel Brooksbank, and
Private Marc Holmes and Alistair Hartley in a Sangin sangar.
© Private Marc Holmes
Lance Corporal Paul Roberts, Corporal Stuart Giles, Sergeant Brian
Reidy and Medical Officer Captain Harvey Pynn.
© Sergeant Dan Jarvie
Soldiers doss down on the floor at the Sangin district centre. ©
Private Marc Holmes
Corporal Mark Wright in the Sangin compound.
© Captain Nick French
Lieutenant Any Mallet leads a patrol into Sangin town centre.
© Corporal Andrew Waddington
Sergeant Dan Jarvie. © Crown copyright
Major Will Pike, OC ‘A’ Company. © Crown copyright
Captain Martin Taylor. © Major Will Pike
WO2 Zac Leong. © Captain Martin Taylor
Captain Matt Taylor. © Lieutenant Martin Hewitt
SECOND PLATE SECTION
Captains Alex Mackenzie and mate Piers Ashfield having a brew at
Sangin. © Lieutenant Martin Hewitt
Corporal Jay Jackson on stag in Sangin. © Corporal Dave Salmon
Regimental Sergeant Major John Hardy.
© Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal
Lieutenant Ollie Dale gets his head down in Sangin.
© Corporal Dave Salmon
The Pathfinders at Musa Qaleh. © Nick Wight-Boycott
Sergeant Major Mick Bolton in front of the Sangin district centre.
© Captain Euan Goodman
A mortar section at Sangin fires in support of patrols on the
ground. © Captain Euan Goodman
A Chinook takes off from Sangin under fire. © Corporal Carl Tees
Private Pete McKinley recovering from shrapnel wounds in the
base hospital. © Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal
Corporal Bryan Budd on patrol in Sangin. © Captain Hugo Farmer
Rifleman Nabin Rai after a contact with Taliban in Now Zad.
© Major Dan Rex
Major Huw Williams, Captain Nick French and a signaller at Musa
