16th of May 2005
PROLOGUE
ARMY MAN, EH?
“Come on Hawkins! Quick or else we’ll leave without!” yelled Captain Jones as I put my water canister in my bag. I ran to the chopper as my best mate Private Watts handed me a rifle.
“This is new.” I said surprised looking at the new weapon HKMP5 stencilled on the gun.
“State-of-the-art, Matt, Heckler & Koch MP5 sub machine gun it’s what the SAS use” replied Corporal Spencer
“So where are we going?” I asked
“Do you ever listen, Privet Hawkins?” asked the rich stuck-up so-and-so named Lieutenant Tolley
“No can’t say I do Jackie-boy” I replied to a round of laughs
“Well as you asked, Private, I’ll tell you. We’re going to Helmand Province the most dangerous part of this disgusting nation” Tolley said with utter distaste on the word “Private”. You see the Tolley family were the classic posh Brits serving “Queen and country” as they put it for as long as people care to remember. Tolley spoke like a proper Toff and only knew us as “Private/ Lance Corporal/ Corporal/ Sergeant whatever “commoners”, what cheek! He’s not quite what I’d say friendly and in the mess he goes off with his posh “associates” as he calls them, they go off to the front to call about “rugger” rugby one of the worst sports in existence, a game of massive men charging into each other with an egg in hand, the talk of rugby amongst a platoon so football-orientated disgusts me the speech is disgraceful.
“Oh, old chap,” they say “how could such an intelligent fellow like you feel that Northampton could beat Leicester! That’s like saying a Welsh team could win the Heineken Cup!” they talk constantly about the Welsh with utter disgust, those idiots call us a “third-world country” and that we’re of no use to the UK.
As the copter started taking us away from the camp I felt a sudden plunge in my stomach and I knew the reason, around this time the camp was in a jovial mood the FA Cup final and all the Play-offs were to be played and the build-up was amazing but now, as we were going to Helmand we’d miss it all we’d be out there for months hiding in the sand and trying not to get killed. It sounds like **** but I was looking forward to it, anticipating the battles I guess I’m a bit mad but for me this is what being a soldier is all about, they say you need a certain personality, grit and determination, a drive to succeed. The 1,055 kilometer flight from Feyzabad in Badakhshan in the north to Sangin in Helmand in the south wasto be a long one, so I decided to have a little nap as we flew over the snowy mountains of the northern province.
THE PRESENT (JULY 2011)
I’m still haunted by that day at night. The month of May is a month which I dread like a German/Spanish football fan dreads the winter break. Of course you must be thinking, what the **** is this guy on about? All he did was take a quick nap. I can explain. The copter crashed due to a fault in the system, no terrorists, no bombs a faulty flaming cylinder in the engine, its ridiculous! It had been built to withstand sand in the engine and it crashed and killed most of us. The Captain, Watts, Spencer, Tolley and I were the only survivors. I’d woken after a few hours and felt a jolt in the copter then heard a bang, I’d been alerted by the noise and I’m extremely paranoid so I bailed immediately followed by Tolley a few of the lads were to slow and were then engulfed in flames some managed to bail with flames on them but seeing their charred bodies did it for me. I’d been thinking about leaving the Army and then I decided I would. I left the Army and returned to Wales a few weeks later I had received an envelope which was quite heavy, a letter thanking me for my service and then a handwritten note and some mug shots
Hi Matt, thought you’d want to hear this don’t show anyone else though, OK?
Your mate,
Private Watts
I picked up a mug shot of Tolley and read underneath
Lieutenant Tolley
DOB-13.7.1982
Status-KIA
It was the same for Spencer and I doubled over. My allies, people I’d shared a tent with, people I could trust well, the ONLY people I could trust either dead or under fire in Afghanistan. Life isn’t fair, I thought, it’s a whole bag of lies. Perhaps I could find work as a policeman or in TESCO but then realised, I couldn’t do a 9-5 I crave action that’s why I joined the Army so that I could fulfil my craving for action so that my job would be interesting. I only joined the Army for action, not honour, not pride in the nation, I wanted a thrill and I got one al right? Six years of service in the British Army would look good on a cv mind. I’m a football nut you see, born and bred Cardiff City. I’ve watched City since the age of four and enjoyed watching the games thoroughly and developed a bit of tactical interest and after I’d left school I went to take the courses needed to be eligible to be a Football League coach/manager. The course had been hard but I’d come out in flying colours (apparently) now it was time to put those skills to the test. I decided I wanted to become a football manager (or coach).
**********************************************************************************************
Hey guys, I’ve done a few stories in the past, none have been that successful I’d like to know how you think the story is coming on and which areas I could Improve on and how you think I should play and who I should sign
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISCM IS EXTREMELY WELCOME
PROLOGUE
ARMY MAN, EH?
“Come on Hawkins! Quick or else we’ll leave without!” yelled Captain Jones as I put my water canister in my bag. I ran to the chopper as my best mate Private Watts handed me a rifle.
“This is new.” I said surprised looking at the new weapon HKMP5 stencilled on the gun.
“State-of-the-art, Matt, Heckler & Koch MP5 sub machine gun it’s what the SAS use” replied Corporal Spencer
“So where are we going?” I asked
“Do you ever listen, Privet Hawkins?” asked the rich stuck-up so-and-so named Lieutenant Tolley
“No can’t say I do Jackie-boy” I replied to a round of laughs
“Well as you asked, Private, I’ll tell you. We’re going to Helmand Province the most dangerous part of this disgusting nation” Tolley said with utter distaste on the word “Private”. You see the Tolley family were the classic posh Brits serving “Queen and country” as they put it for as long as people care to remember. Tolley spoke like a proper Toff and only knew us as “Private/ Lance Corporal/ Corporal/ Sergeant whatever “commoners”, what cheek! He’s not quite what I’d say friendly and in the mess he goes off with his posh “associates” as he calls them, they go off to the front to call about “rugger” rugby one of the worst sports in existence, a game of massive men charging into each other with an egg in hand, the talk of rugby amongst a platoon so football-orientated disgusts me the speech is disgraceful.
“Oh, old chap,” they say “how could such an intelligent fellow like you feel that Northampton could beat Leicester! That’s like saying a Welsh team could win the Heineken Cup!” they talk constantly about the Welsh with utter disgust, those idiots call us a “third-world country” and that we’re of no use to the UK.
As the copter started taking us away from the camp I felt a sudden plunge in my stomach and I knew the reason, around this time the camp was in a jovial mood the FA Cup final and all the Play-offs were to be played and the build-up was amazing but now, as we were going to Helmand we’d miss it all we’d be out there for months hiding in the sand and trying not to get killed. It sounds like **** but I was looking forward to it, anticipating the battles I guess I’m a bit mad but for me this is what being a soldier is all about, they say you need a certain personality, grit and determination, a drive to succeed. The 1,055 kilometer flight from Feyzabad in Badakhshan in the north to Sangin in Helmand in the south wasto be a long one, so I decided to have a little nap as we flew over the snowy mountains of the northern province.
THE PRESENT (JULY 2011)
I’m still haunted by that day at night. The month of May is a month which I dread like a German/Spanish football fan dreads the winter break. Of course you must be thinking, what the **** is this guy on about? All he did was take a quick nap. I can explain. The copter crashed due to a fault in the system, no terrorists, no bombs a faulty flaming cylinder in the engine, its ridiculous! It had been built to withstand sand in the engine and it crashed and killed most of us. The Captain, Watts, Spencer, Tolley and I were the only survivors. I’d woken after a few hours and felt a jolt in the copter then heard a bang, I’d been alerted by the noise and I’m extremely paranoid so I bailed immediately followed by Tolley a few of the lads were to slow and were then engulfed in flames some managed to bail with flames on them but seeing their charred bodies did it for me. I’d been thinking about leaving the Army and then I decided I would. I left the Army and returned to Wales a few weeks later I had received an envelope which was quite heavy, a letter thanking me for my service and then a handwritten note and some mug shots
Hi Matt, thought you’d want to hear this don’t show anyone else though, OK?
Your mate,
Private Watts
I picked up a mug shot of Tolley and read underneath
Lieutenant Tolley
DOB-13.7.1982
Status-KIA
It was the same for Spencer and I doubled over. My allies, people I’d shared a tent with, people I could trust well, the ONLY people I could trust either dead or under fire in Afghanistan. Life isn’t fair, I thought, it’s a whole bag of lies. Perhaps I could find work as a policeman or in TESCO but then realised, I couldn’t do a 9-5 I crave action that’s why I joined the Army so that I could fulfil my craving for action so that my job would be interesting. I only joined the Army for action, not honour, not pride in the nation, I wanted a thrill and I got one al right? Six years of service in the British Army would look good on a cv mind. I’m a football nut you see, born and bred Cardiff City. I’ve watched City since the age of four and enjoyed watching the games thoroughly and developed a bit of tactical interest and after I’d left school I went to take the courses needed to be eligible to be a Football League coach/manager. The course had been hard but I’d come out in flying colours (apparently) now it was time to put those skills to the test. I decided I wanted to become a football manager (or coach).
**********************************************************************************************
Hey guys, I’ve done a few stories in the past, none have been that successful I’d like to know how you think the story is coming on and which areas I could Improve on and how you think I should play and who I should sign
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISCM IS EXTREMELY WELCOME
