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Apache
Ed Macy
An astonishing first book, Apache is a story of courage, comradeship, technology and tragedy, during the ongoing war in Afghanistan.‘Apache’ is the first book to come from the cockpit of the most sophisticated fighting helicopter the world has ever known. Designed in the mid 1980s to take on the Soviets, these machines have proven themselves as the perfect tool for combat in Afghanistan – the Apache is the helicopter Prince Harry pilots as a captain of the Army Air Corps.Ed Macy's account of the incredibly hard Apache selection process, tougher than that of the SAS, combined with his description of the sheer difficulty of flying one of these helicopters, provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between man and machine fighting in the toughest conditions imaginable.The climactic build-up to the rescue mission at Jugroom Fort is both dramatic and deeply moving. The rescue of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford has been hailed as one of the most remarkable and daring rescues of modern wartime and Ed's bravery on the ground at Jugroom Fort led to him being awarded the Military Cross – one of the first in the Army Air Corps' history.Taking the reader right to the heart of the war in Afghanistan, ‘Apache’ offers an unprecedented degree of proximity to the action and horror that troops in the region are faced with on a daily basis. Gripping from the first page to the last, it is utterly compelling and impossible to put down.
ED MACY
APACHE
DEDICATION (#u391bd400-c2ff-5efc-9d8f-f681337b486a)
This is dedicated to
Mathew Christopher Ford.
CONTENTS
Title Page (#u760a93b0-b072-5d16-b332-a28d1d6e894a)
Dedication
List of Illustrations (#ulink_8ed448be-588e-5783-b6f2-32ec80b1ce58)
Maps (#ulink_a926100f-6a26-5aa9-bd09-b3d4064f59a4)
Cutaways
Prologue (#ulink_af1b3e6c-bcac-5836-be9a-15a53481a3ba)
1 Déjà Vu (#ulink_b4e1e7db-ebd6-555f-94bb-48db234b5beb)
2 Riding the Dragon (#ulink_d89ed7f2-9ddb-5464-84ef-266d4eadad81)
3 Handover (#ulink_4a3f9127-aad2-53c9-98bc-9cc7bc851bcf)
4 Back in the Hot Seat (#ulink_47f7c6d8-75b7-50e9-977c-c06f72e3e5cd)
5 Alice, Trigger, FOG and Rocco (#ulink_be294720-b6a2-5805-bae0-fac7fa56f2ea)
6 Arnhem Calling (#ulink_f95be883-78dc-5968-bd46-dbc76fd3332c)
7 A Matter of Time (#ulink_094e5311-0438-5513-a5c0-bdcd2a15616e)
8 Op Glacier Begins (#ulink_3577f43c-c1c7-5107-a766-3b9b2d0f9d04)
9 The Bobs and Steve-O (#ulink_547e23b2-fb08-5c02-84e4-f233213ee019)
10 Happy Christmas (#ulink_c966d194-da57-50e9-9aaf-896fa2dd1ddf)
11 Ready To Go Noisy (#ulink_33228b2a-07bd-5325-9663-04f8fc3b9185)
12 Op Glacier 1: Koshtay (#ulink_65cc7dd1-7f7c-5ae8-a235-5f4afc5c9bb0)
13 A Good Night’s Work (#ulink_fa79ba20-d44b-564c-b618-2a4ecd052066)
14 Op Glacier 2: The Jugroom Fort (#ulink_78c5c48b-cacd-519a-96ea-3ffcd7e65eb2)
15 Finding Mathew Ford (#ulink_b9a1ae58-427f-5fe3-a4ab-303706485349)
16 Give Me Four Volunteers (#ulink_18395671-bccb-5c8d-9275-f651afc9cb50)
17 Into The Lion’s Mouth (#ulink_d375bb86-2925-5baf-985e-ff0e4ec14e26)
18 The Wrong Wall (#ulink_b479cf31-42c3-5ef3-9157-4eca299a1336)
19 Escaping Jugroom Fort (#ulink_ca15e46f-ed11-51bb-941f-7ef74f1d0566)
20 In Command: The Verdict (#ulink_19648bc3-8c1c-50fe-8012-b23b5298a821)
Epilogue (#ulink_31de6eed-1a9c-539d-8e8c-625dd7df2c6a)
Glossary of Terms (#ulink_362713fb-a4f6-5df2-bd9c-fcdf9f13f771)
Acknowledgements (#ulink_0150aa94-0f63-5b95-b03e-22d4cefd13ed)
About the Author (#ulink_d6c610cb-4325-5f89-b0e6-2b321b44ea8f)
Index (#ulink_1614da32-b5d9-52cf-8ab1-a200dc4d46b7)
Copyright (#ulink_136db206-44cf-5c4e-ac51-6c94a6cc6b15)
About the Publisher (#ulink_dd8c5633-b353-5fb9-bdbb-d29067e6a8fb)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (#u391bd400-c2ff-5efc-9d8f-f681337b486a)
Photographs not credited below have kindly been supplied by the author. While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgments in any future editions.
FIRST PLATE SECTION
Pages 2 and 3:
Camp Bastion: Johnny Green/ PA Archive/ PA Photos.
The Camp Bastion Apache flight line: Lt Col Felton.
Apache Gunner’s Cockpit: AgustaWestland.
Ed Macy: Lt Col Felton.
Pages 4 and 5:
Cockpit pilot’s view: SSgt Carl Bird.
The cannon spitting out 10 rounds a second: Image by Corporal Mark Ballantyne RLC; © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery office.
The Apache’s CRV-7 Flechette rockets: Image by Corporal Mark Ballantyne RLC; © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery office.
The Apache’s M230 30mm underslung chain gun: Image by Corporal Mark Ballantyne RLC; © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery office.
Ed and Trigger with Hambly reconnecting Ugly 51’s gun: Si Hambly.
Hellfire at the back, rockets in the sangar and 30mm HEDP being loaded by Si: Si Hambly.
The infamous Rocco: Rocco Seffredi.
Page 6 and 7:
A Taliban commander talks on a radio carrying an RPG launcher and spare rockets: AP Photo/ Zaheerudding Abdullah.
The IRT pair returning from a mission empty: Gerban Van Es.
Arming Teams 3 and 4: Si Hambly.
SECOND PLATE SECTION
Page 1:
Ammo Sgt Kev Blundell paying his respects on Christmas Day: Sgt Kev Blundell.
A message for the Taliban at Koshtay from arming point 2: Si Hambly.
Ed and Carl’s Hellfire page: SSgt Carl Bird.
Pages 2 and 3:
An Afghan National Policeman overlooking the Lashkar Gah Green Zone: AFP/ Getty Images.
Rockets fired in quads: © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Hellfire fired by Ugly Five One and guided by Ugly Five Zero at Jugroom Fort: © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Pages 4 and 5:
Mountains that surround Now Zad and the Green Zone: LCpl Mathew Ford RM.
The rescue team for Jugroom Fort: Sgt Garry Stanton, RAF.
The rescue briefing in the desert: Sgt Garry Stanton, RAF.
Lt Col Rob Magowan MBE RM – the loneliness of command: Sgt Garry Stanton, RAF.
On the wings of the Apache ready to go: Sgt Garry Stanton, RAF.
Ugly Five One with Capt Dave Rigg and Mne Chris Fraser-Perry riding to the Fort: Sgt Garry Stanton, RAF.
Ugly Five Zero with RSM Hearn, filmed by Ugly Five One: © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Pages 6 and 7:
A true account of the rescue by the military artist David Rowlands, Ed Macy (with pistol) in front of Mathew Ford: David Rowlands.
The Jugroom Fort before and after January 15th: © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Taliban village next to Jugroom Fort before and after January 15th: © Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Page 8:
3 Flight – Charlotte, Darwin and Nick where the marines strapped onto the Apache during the Jugroom Fort rescue, and FOG: Si Hambly.
Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace: Charles Green Photography.
Lance Corporal Mathew Ford, Royal Marines: LCpl Mathew Ford RM.
MAPS (#u391bd400-c2ff-5efc-9d8f-f681337b486a)
CUTAWAYS (#u391bd400-c2ff-5efc-9d8f-f681337b486a)
The following is an account of operations involving 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps, in Afghanistan over several months in 2006 and 2007. At the time of going to print, some inquests have not yet been held into the deaths of British Army and Royal Marine personnel reported in these pages. The author has, to the best of his knowledge, reported events faithfully and accurately 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.
Identities have been obscured in a few cases to protect the individuals and their families.
PROLOGUE (#u391bd400-c2ff-5efc-9d8f-f681337b486a)
27 June 2006
08.49
I flicked a glance at the digital clock top right on my control panel. Shit. The Paras had been on the ground for almost thirty minutes now, and I was starting to sweat. The longer we stayed in one place, the more time it gave the Taliban to put together an attack.
Maintaining the same gentle pressure on the cyclic stick, I continued our broad right banking turn into the sun. I felt its warmth on my face through the cockpit’s Perspex window. It was going to be another scorching day.
Two thousand feet below us, the Paras were about to finish sweeping the first field. It was twice the size of a football pitch. They had another one as big to do next. Half of them had fanned out across the length of it, weapons at the ready; the rest provided cover from the bushes and undergrowth along the southern edge. The company commander and his signaller followed closely behind the line, moving from west to east.
A crop had been planted, but not long ago. For once, it wasn’t opium. Much of the field’s surface was bare, dark earth, making the search easier, but the Paras still had to move painfully slowly, looking for the slightest clue as to the whereabouts of the two missing SBS men. Anything could help – a strip of clothing, spent ammunition shells, dried blood.
We’d seen no sign of the KIA or MIA since our arrival. It didn’t bode well.
Our flight had been scrambled at dawn to relieve the pair of Apaches up at Sangin before us. They – the Incident Response Team (IRT) – had been scrambled three hours previously. It had been a long night.
We’d been given a quick update on the ground as we were firing up the aircraft.
