Last Night-Another Soldier… Read online

  Last Night-Another Soldier…

  Andy Mcnab

  Andy McNab

  Last Night-Another Soldier…

  Chapter One

  It was going to be another long night. The Taliban weren't giving up those poppy fields as easily as we had first thought. We were now eight years on from when the British Army first rolled into Afghanistan, and we were still aggressive camping, that's what we call fighting, on both sides of the Helmand River. The whole area was known as the 'Green Zone'. Basically, hundreds of miles of green fields where the local lads grew maize and poppies.

  Sergeant MacKenzie told us that Afghanistan supplied ninety per cent of the world's heroin and made the Taliban shedloads of money. He said it was up to us to stop it. Clear. Hold and Build was what the Americans wanted us to do. Kick the Taliban out of the area, take control, and then maybe the farmers wouldn't have to grow poppies for the Taliban no more. Good plan, but the thing is MacKenzie forgot to tell the Taliban. They just kept on coming out of the maize, shooting at us like they never wanted to stop.

  That night was my first ever fire fight, and we'd already been hard at it for over four hours. Up until then, I'd only ever practised being a soldier back in the Army Training Centre in Catterick. I'd never actually done it for real.

  I was eighteen and had only been in Afghanistan for three weeks. And there I was, stuck behind a mud wall for cover, in a major contact with the Taliban. Not that I'd actually seen the enemy yet. It was so dark out there in the fields, and the maize was so thick, that all I could see was the flash of their weapons pointing towards me when they shot at us. What made it worse was that the flashes seemed to be getting brighter and brighter, which could only mean the Tali were getting closer and closer.

  Out of nowhere, a lightning flash from one of their rocket-propelled grenades streaked across the sky. It headed straight towards us. Some of the lads yelled out, 'RPG!' but none of us needed the warning; we were already taking cover. After a rocket flash, there was always a couple of seconds of nothing, then boom… you never knew where it was going to hit. Or whether, that time around, it was going to be you.

  I got lucky. The rocket hit some rocks about ten metres away from where I was crouched down. I waited a couple of seconds, then got the weapon back onto my shoulder, ready to fire again. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Toki do the same. Even though he was only a couple of metres away, he needed to yell above the sound of the Apache attack helicopters overhead.

  'Briggsy, they're closing in on the left. They're nearly on top of us. Move up on the parapet. Go!'

  I did what I was told. Toki was my corporal, and when he told you to do something, you did it. He was a big giant of a man from Fiji. Cool, calm, with the world's flattest nose and hands like shovels. He'd joined the army to make his fortune, he told us. That was a laugh. He'd be hard-pushed on what they paid us. But I was glad he was my boss. I liked him. Even though he was in charge of our patrol, it still felt like he was one of us.

  I ran up to the top of the parapet to join Si and Flash. I could hear the Taliban hollering and shouting at us from the other side of the mud wall. They were obviously closing in, but I still couldn't see a thing out there.

  Si gobbed in the mud before he spoke, 'Mate, where are they? I can't see a thing!'

  I caught a glimpse of three dark shapes moving left to right across the open ground. 'There. Look! Half left.' I started to fire, then Si and Flash joined in. The Tali were getting a bit too close for comfort, but I still wasn't scared. I had a big, fat SA80 rifle in my hands, plus I had new mates.

  Si was one of them. He had white blond hair and a face full of zits that he couldn't stop squeezing. His crew-cut made him look harder than he actually was. He was only a year older than me and was already married to some Polish bird. He came from Liverpool or somewhere like that. He must have done as he sounded just like the curly-haired scouse geezer in Hollyoaks.

  'Mate, you're right. They're heading for our bit of wall by the looks of it.' His voice rose higher as he realized quite how close they'd got.

  Flash reloaded his weapon with a fresh thirty-round mag without looking down. We all needed to stay focused on the darkness for any sign of movement. 'Keep switched on, Briggsy. They're trying to take one of us alive. They've been trying for weeks now… let's make sure we don't let them.'

  There was a muzzle flash about twenty metres in front of us. We all gave it a five-round burst. The Taliban didn't fire back. All the same, all three of us kept on firing into the darkness to make sure they never would.

  Flash was another mate in my patrol. He was called Flash only because he wasn't. He was much older than the rest of us, even older than my mum, I think, but he was sound. His hair was totally grey and he had a chin big enough to balance a mug of tea on. All he needed was a dance partner and he'd be Bruce Forsyth's longlost twin brother.

  Flash was in the Territorial Army, so of course all the patrol gave him a hard time for being a part-time soldier. Even I, the new boy, was allowed to join in. He came from way up north, near some big car factory. They'd made him redundant and then he'd lost his house. So with a wife and two boys older than me, he was out here aggressive camping with us lot just to pay the bills.

  Flash glanced down at the mags in his chest harness and jerked his head round to the right. 'They're getting closer. Toki, we need more ammo. More ammo!'

  Toki's voice boomed over to us above the sound of gunfire, 'Stand your ground! John's coming with the ammo. He's coming!'

  I looked over my shoulder and could just make out John's massive body as he staggered through the mud, his boots sinking deeper with every step. He was trying to run but was almost doubled over with the weight of the ammo boxes. John was a good laugh. He was from Peckham like me, only from a different estate.

  More muzzle flashes kicked off in the darkness as the Talis tried to shoot at us. I raised my rifle back over the wall, aimed at the burst of light and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

  'Stoppage!'

  I needed to let everyone know I couldn't fire before I took cover and sorted out what had happened. I landed on my arse, cocked the weapon and tried to get my finger in to free up whatever was stuck in there. The hot metal of the working parts burnt my fingers, but I kept on digging. Rounds were slamming into the other side of our wall as the Talis kicked off again.

  There was a piercing scream and a dull thud as a body fell into the mud behind me. I already knew who'd been hit before I spun round.

  'Man down, man down,' I yelled into the air. It was John.

  He screamed out in the darkness, his arms and legs jerking about in the mud as he fought the pain. Toki's voice came over as calm as ever, taking control of the situation. 'Get that weapon going, Briggsy! Cover us. Flash, with me. Get John.'

  Flash broke into a run, bending down low for cover as more rounds slammed into the wall, while Si returned fire from just above me. My fingers kept fumbling with the empty case that was blocking the weapon. I told myself to slow down and stay calm, but it wasn't working. All I could hear or think about was the sound of John screaming. I knew the screaming was good. So long as he was screaming, he was breathing, and that meant he was still winning!

  Toki was on the radio, calling in MERT, the Medical Emergency Response Team. I willed the Chinook to come quickly, lift John out and get him to hospital in Camp Bastion.

  The screaming started to die down a bit. Flash must have pumped some morphine into John after plugging up any holes and getting more fluids in to replace lost blood. I could hear Toki clearly as he gave MERT a sit rep (situation report).

  'Confirm. We have a T1 casualty, Tango 1. We need MERT now.'

  That wasn't good. T1 m
eant we were losing him. He was critical. Flash was thinking the same as me. 'Where the hell is that Chinook!'

  I got the empty case out of the weapon and was back in action.

  'It's clear, Si!'

  'I'll get the ammo. We need more ammo!' Si ran over to where John lay screaming and jerking about as if he was getting electric shocks. I scrambled onto my knees just as a three-round burst of Taliban fire hit the wall. I leant my chest into the mud bricks and got the weapon back into my shoulder. I never got to take aim, though. My rifle jolted skywards and a dark mass rose up from the other side of the wall.

  Two large hands glued themselves to the front of my weapon. I tried to pull back but lost my footing, and a Tali the size of a house started to climb over the wall. He was using my rifle to help lever himself over.

  As his feet inched higher up the wall, he pulled the barrel down hard onto his shoulder, the hot steel singeing the cloth of his shirt. He took no notice as the heat burnt through to his skin. The stench of sweat, cigarettes and burning flesh hit my nostrils, and within seconds the giant hands flailed out again, this time grabbing hold of my chest harness.

  I scrambled backwards to escape his grasp, but he was quicker and stronger. He pulled me back towards the wall, trying to force me over with him. My helmet crashed into his head as I tried to headbutt him, but he took the pain and kept on pulling. I don't know what I shouted, but I yelled and screamed into his face as I butted him again, using all my body weight to stay on the right side of the wall. We were so close I could feel his beard scratch against my face. His spit sprayed into my eyes as he screamed back at me, his eyes fixed on mine.

  I clung to the butt of my weapon as I tried to heave back against the pull on my chest harness. Getting rounds off was my only chance. I tried to curl my finger around the trigger, but couldn't make it. He pulled down heavily again, and my feet left the ground. My body inched forward over the top of the wall. I arched my spine backwards, resisting with everything I had, but it was no good. I was hooked like a fish.

  I heard Toki shout something again and again. His voice grew louder as he ran towards me, but still I couldn't make it out. He kept on yelling and then finally it sunk in. 'Pistol, Briggsy. Pistol!'

  I'd forgotten I had one in my thigh holster. I let go of my weapon with my right hand and the Tali felt the change in pressure. He leant back once more, putting all his weight into toppling me forward. I felt my hip bones pressing into the ridge. I could hear myself breathing loudly as I pushed my hand down my leg, feeling for the pistol grip.

  My fingers closed around the hard steel and I pulled the weapon out of its holster. I raised my arm, brought the pistol round in front of me and shoved it in the Tali's face. As soon as the barrel made contact with skin and bone, I squeezed the trigger hard. One shot straight to the head. His giant hands let go of me and his body dropped like a stone, crashing into the darkness on the other side of the wall.

  I pushed myself off the wall just as Toki reached it. He grabbed hold of my body harness and half dragged me over to where Flash and Si were crouched down beside John. I didn't know if I was looking for praise or comfort from my two mates, but I could tell by their bowed heads and motionless bodies that the two of them had other things on their mind. John was no longer screaming… or breathing.

  Chapter Two

  It was just after seven o'clock when we got back to the Forward Operating Base (FOB). There was no time for breakfast, we were straight back to our patrol's eight-man tent to clear away John's kit. You'd think you might get a bit of time off to take it all in, but maybe that was the point. Best just get on with things and not think too much about anything.

  The four of us sat around John's bed space. Or at least the other three sat. I stayed standing as my arse was killing me. We were all going through John's kit, stuffing his gear into bin liners so it could be shipped home to his wife.

  Si had switched on John's radio while we worked. I reckoned we were all glad of that as it saved us having to say anything to each other. Well, there wasn't really much to say. When the news came on at half past, we all stopped to hear the report on Afghanistan. As usual, the news girl kept it brief: 'Last night in Afghanistan, British Forces continued their military offensive against the Taliban. Over three thousand British troops are currently taking part in Operation Condor. Their aim is to take control of the Taliban poppy-growing region in Southern Afghanistan. The MoD's spokesperson, Major Jennifer Dufton, said that British ground forces were encountering small pockets of resistance, but that good progress was being made…' Si got really pissed off and hit the Off button. 'Good progress my arse. I can't listen to any more of that crap.' He leant forward on the bed and pulled out John's patrol pack from underneath it. Toki nodded his agreement, and pointed at a pile of thin blue airmail letters sticking out of the top.

  'Flash. Those blueys. Sit down and read 'em. Check they're all from John's wife, will you? Or his mum and dad. If not, burn them.'

  Flash shook his head as he bent down for the blueys. 'The man's dead. It's not right.'

  'I know, but do you really want his wife reading letters from some other woman? They could just be from a sister, but we can't take that chance, mate. It happened in Basra when a guy from A Company got hit by a sniper. His wife got all his personal kit, and in there was a pile of blueys from another woman. John's family have enough problems as it is.' Toki scanned our faces as if searching for clues. 'That goes for all of us. Let's get John's stuff sterile. If we see anything dodgy, bin it.' Flash quickly started sorting through the blueys while we got back to sorting out John's kit.

  I kicked a pile of magazines with my boot.

  'What about these, Toki? FHM, Zoo…'

  'Cookhouse. Julie won't want those. Anyone know if he has any porn on his laptop?'

  I started to pick up the magazines. 'I know he was making a music video using all the film he'd been taking.'

  'I'll check it out while you lot are on fatigues. Don't want Julie seeing us chewing up Taliban either.'

  Red flecks appeared on Si's cheeks joining his zits like some crazy dot-to-dot quiz. His eyes flashed between us. 'He's dead, and for what? For nothing, that's what. Three days aggressive camping just to get a good kicking? We should have stayed and smashed 'em up big time.' He brought his fist down hard on the bed. 'At least John would have died for something. Where are the pencil necks giving these orders? I didn't see any of them out there last night.'

  He was right. No one from HQ ever came to our FOB. I started rolling up John's sleeping bag. 'Probably sitting in those air-conditioned Portakabins in Kandahar, never even been in the Green Zone. Why did they rip us out, Toki?'

  Toki was checking out the rest of the patrol pack, pulling out dirty socks and dark-green sweat-stained T-shirts. 'D Company were getting hit big time last night. They needed all the Apaches and support up north. Once they've cleared and are holding their area, we'll be going out on the ground again.'

  I put the pile of magazines on top of three bags of boiled sweets, which were all destined for the cookhouse. 'Better had! Makes us look like right wimps.'

  Si wasn't finished yet. 'Why ain't we got loads of helis and all the gear like the Yanks got?'

  Toki sighed, raising his legs and plonking his desert boots on John's camp bed. 'No money, I guess. Never is.' We all nodded as we knew it was the truth.

  A calm female voice came over FOB's loud speaker system. 'Standby. Standby. Firing. End of message.' Sure enough, the rattle and whoosh of two massive rockets kicked off into the sky. We called them 70km Snipers, because they could still reach their targets from that far away. At least this time it was our guys giving the Talis the good news.

  Toki shoved everything he'd been sorting through back into John's patrol kit. There was nothing to be found. 'D Company must still be getting a hammering,' he said.

  Toki wasn't wrong. D company were getting smashed up big time on the other side of the valley. It was taking all our helis to keep the Talis down.
Another rocket kicked off, forcing Si to shout above it as he picked at a new zit on the side of his neck. 'Hey, Briggsy, heard you did a touch of the old Kung Fu Panda with a Tali this morning, right before you head-jobbed him. Good one, mate.'

  'Yeah. Sort of.' I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about it, so I stared into the bin liner I'd just put John's iPod into, in the hope that we could just carry on packing the kit away.

  'And?' Si wasn't going to let it go that easily.

  'Mate, what happened? Cough up.'

  'Well…' I revved myself up to tell the story as best I could.

  Si nodded with excitement as I explained what had happened. I tried to tell it as dramatically as I could, because I knew that was what he wanted to hear. 'All I could hear was Toki yelling, "Pistol. Pistol." I was flapping so much I'd forgotten about it. So I reached down to my leg holster and jammed my pistol into his nut and slotted him. Job done. Cheers, Toki.'

  'No biggy. I'd have done it for you if I'd been able to get near enough. You were too close to him for me to be able to fire from that far away. Anyway, you did well. Have a dig about for his laptop lead, will you, Briggsy? It might be in with all that stuff in your bin liner.'

  I dug around in my sack and pulled out the only lead that looked as if it might work. Si kept looking in my direction, waiting for more of my story. When he realized that was it, he gave me a big thumbs up with both hands.

  'Good one, mate. Like you said, job done. Big time!' He beamed at the three of us like he was over the moon I'd killed someone, but maybe he was just pleased that he'd finally burst his zit.

  I hoped that would be the end of the conversation, but I should have known he wouldn't leave it there. 'Mate, just think what would've happened if they had, you know, got you? We'd be watching you online getting your head cut off.' Si slid his index finger across his throat. 'Cos you know they'll get one of us one day, don't you? They keep trying. I just hope it ain't me.'