December 2008

A sad week for the Corps, I'm told they got a kid to push the wheel barrow across the town and then set off the bomb by remote control, probably without his knowing it was going to happen.

Daily life goes on in these markets and bazaars. The Taliban are animals, they have no qualms about killing their own people to get one of us. There are no rules out here, its very confusing for a westerner to understand what makes them tick. West Belfast was a doddle, at least you knew where they lived and that they were never going to risk their own skins to get one of us.

Plenty of hats and comfort boxes have been arriving. I have sent them out to the patrol bases. These bases are very basic but fit for purpose. They have up to a 100 guys in them, limited power generation, toilets and showers. Food is composite ration packs supplemented by the odd apple, banana & onion. The lads have to poo into plastic bags that are then burned in oil drums. There are 4-6 showers per 100 men; it's a ships routine to keep clean, in, wet, water off, soap on, water on, rinse and out.

The cold is numbing until the sun comes up. There are good gyms type facilities, the lads work out to relieve the boredom, stay fit and stretch their aching muscles. The back packs are particularly heavy, if you couple those with the new body armour, water and helmets and all the .50 ammunition and grenades it is a pretty restrictive weight to carry. I would say Royal Marines, Ghurkhas and Paras' are better suited to this kind of patrolling, carrying heavy weights etc but it certainly is no picnic, sweating like a good un most of the time then shivering the rest.

At night it is too cold to hang around chatting and socialising so the off duty lads go to bed early, light a candle and read or listen to music. There isn't enough power for heaters and such, besides the roofs are corrugated tin and would let it all out anyway. If they do show a DVD/movie there is only one TV, everyone sits around with all their warm clothes on looking a little like Santa with red noses and the like!

Most locations have adopted a dog for comfort. The dogs often follow the patrols out. They are visited by the Royal Vetinary Corps, they Frontline them, inject and in some case neuter. Officially they are not allowed as the stroking can lead to hand to mouth infection, in reality they go a long way towards easing the stress and I wouldn't like to be the Sergeant Major telling them they have to get rid.

As I mentioned, the small packets of hand wipes are good, tubes of moisturisers (its very dry and the cold chaps the skin), ginger biscuits, digestives and plain Nice (there is quiet a lot of sweet stuff, chocolate and tea/coffee makings in the ration packs). A card, letter and photo from normal people would cheer them up, if you search the Royal Marines website and go own to individual Commando Units(CLR, 42 & 45) you can find the names of key people to send the odd letter to. These are then posted onto the notice boards for all to read and enjoy.

Thank you all for the support,
G - WO2