Times Online : The drain on men and machines

The drain on men and machines

Analysis by Michael Evans | September 4, 2006

THE British troops who have been sent to southern Afghanistan and the equipment supporting them, especially the helicopters, ground attack, transport and surveillance aircraft, are under increasing strain.

Operation Herrick, the codename for the Afghan campaign, may sound like some sort of fishing expedition, but it has become one of the toughest assignments for the British Armed Forces for decades.

The casualty toll has risen dramatically since the weekend crash of the RAF Nimrod MR2, with the deaths of the 14 on board, but it has also served as a reminder that it is not only the combat troops of 3 Para battle group who have had to endure the perils of fighting the Taleban. All three services are heavily involved in the campaign and many of those who have died have been serving in crucial supporting roles.

Despite the claims by politicians that the dispatching of troops to Helmand province was all about assisting the Afghans to rebuild their lives after years of war, the senior military commanders given the job of carrying out the political objectives knew that the Taleban would not look favourably on the arrival of thousands of foreign troops in an area of Afghanistan where they had previously enjoyed a dominating role.

However, even the British commanders have had to acknowledge that the assignment has proved tougher than expected and, in a hostile environment where temperatures in the summer can reach 50C (122F), anything mechanical starts to suffer.

All the helicopters, from the Apaches to the Chinooks, have been worked so hard that frequently they have to be taken off operational duties to be given a thorough overhaul. Clearing out the sand and dust is one of the key tasks for the mechanics. There are never enough helicopters for all the potential requirements.

The Nimrod MR2, like the C130 Hercules, is an old-stager, but without these aircraft Operation Herrick would grind to a halt. The Nimrod provides invaluable airborne surveillance, and the Hercules, like the old trooper it is, weaves back and forth with troops and supplies.

There is only one road in Helmand going north to the British military outposts at the far end of the province, in isolated places such as Musa Qala, Sangin, Nowzad and Kajaki, so supplies have to go by helicopter as well as by truck.

Often, when it is too dangerous to get a road convoy into these places, there is no alternative but to send a helicopter.

On one occasion in July, a group of 25 soldiers from the Pathfinder Platoon of 3 Para, who had been holed up in the reinforced district centre in Musa Qala for eight weeks, ran out of food and water because attempts to resupply them were thwarted by the Taleban.

In some parts of Helmand, Operation Herrick is more like a full-blown counter-insurgency war, although the Taleban attacks are by no means province-wide.

A large chunk of Helmand is desert. But RAF Harrier GR7 bombers, Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopters, which have been providing firepower and intelligence while hovering a mere 10m (33ft) from the British combat troops engaged in fighting the Taleban, the Nimrods, Hercules, Chinooks and other aircraft have to traverse the province from south to north every day. At the current level of combat operations, that is a flying endurance course which matches anything the troops on the ground have to face each day.

PREVIOUS BRITISH CASUALTIES

The deaths of 14 Britons in an aircraft crash on Saturday brings the death toll of British Forces personnel in Afghanistan to 36 since the start of operations in November 2001. Of these, the MoD classifies 15 as killed in action, including as a result of hostile action, while 21 are known to have died either as a result of illness, non-combat injuries or accidents

April 9, 2002 Private Darren John George from the Royal Anglian Regiment, serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, died during a security patrol. Hostile action was not a factor

August 17, 2002 Sergeant Robert Busuttil and Corporal John Gregory, both 30, died from gunshot wounds at the British base at Kabul airport. Both served with the Royal Logistic Corps

January 28, 2004 Private Jonathan Kitulagoda, 23, was killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack. A member of the Rifle Volunteers, a Territorial Army battalion, he was in Kabul with the ISAF

October 29, 2005 Lance Corporal Steven Sherwood, 23, was killed during hostile action in Mazari-Sharif. He was a member of the 1st Battalion of The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry

March 22, 2006 Corporal Mark Cridge died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds three weeks before his 26th birthday in Camp Bastion

March 27, 2006 Lance Corporal Peter Edward Craddock of 1st Battalion The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, died in Lashka Gah after a road accident

June 11, 2006 Captain Jim Philippson, 29, of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, died in a firefight with Taleban rebels while providing assistance to Afghan forces

June 27, 2006 Captain David Patten and Sergeant Paul Bartlett were killed when their patrol came under attack. Captain Patten, 38, of the Parachute Regiment, and Sergeant Bartlett, 35, of the Royal Marines, are believed to have been on a mission in the Sangin valley

July 1, 2006 Corporal Peter Thorpe, 27, of the Royal Signals, and Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, of the Intelligence Corps attached to the Royal Signals, were killed following an attack on their base in Sangin

July 5, 2006 Private Damien Jackson, 19, was killed while taking part in a 3 Para battle group foot patrol in Sangin

August 1, 2006 Lance Corporal Ross Nicholls, 27, 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Johnson, 24, both of the Household Cavalry, and Captain Alex Eida, 29, of 7 Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, were killed when their patrol vehicle came under attack in northern Helmand

August 6, 2006 Private Andrew Barrie Cutts of the Royal Logistic Corps was killed in Musa Qala in northern Helmand

August 9, 2006 Private Leigh Reeves, 25, of the Royal Logistic Corps, died in a road accident at Camp Souter in Kabul

August 12, 2006 Lance Corporal Sean Tansey, 26, of the Household Cavalry, was killed in an accident in northern Helmand while servicing a Scimitar tank at a British base near Sangin

August 20, 2006 Corporal Bryan Budd, 29, from 3 Para, was killed in a fight with the Taleban in Sangin while on a routine patrol

August 27, 2006 Lance Corporal Jonathan Hetherington, 22, from 14 Signal Regiment, was shot dead during an assault on his platoon house in Musa Qala in northern Helmand

September 1, 2006 Ranger Anare Draiva of 1 Royal Irish Regiment, who was Fijian, died when he was attacked by insurgents in northern Helmand province