2007 Basrah, Iraq

So I went to sunny Basrah between April & August 2007 - and in that time, we had a massive 400 IDF's (Indiscriminate Direct Fire), or rocket attacks, on the COB (Contingency Operating Base).

We lost some lives there, both British Forces (Army & Air Force), TCN's (Third Country Nationals) and locally employed civilians.

The lasting memory of Basrah I'll take with me is never knowing where the next rocket would land. These were not small rockets; they were 120's, 240's & 330's rocket that did a lot of damage.

Anyway..enough doom and gloom....I did enjoy it.....in a weird sort of way. I was A/Sgt of a shift of 14 on Force Protection. We did PAR (Post Attack Recovery) - chasing after the rockets to see what they hit &, as RAF Police, dealt with whatever they hit. We also did patrols outside the wire on anti intmidation patrols to protect the locally employed civilians.

That's me at the entrance to the international airport. It was about 1.5 miles from the COB.

Here's a typical morning. 1500 LEC's would turn up at the airport for work. Even at this time of the morning (0700hrs) the temperature was well over 35 degrees

We worked closely with the Czech army and the Iraqi Military Police

These lads were all 10 Division (Iraqi Army) Military Police. Despite what has been reported in the media,these guys were brave and fiercely loyal to Iraq.

The challenger II is a beautiful piece of hardware. Scared the crap out of me so God alone knows what it did to the insurgents!!

Here's our accommodation. Corimecs with air conditioning - bliss in the 55 degree heat

This was my little pad. The air conditioning unit fell on me during one IDF attack. I moved my bed shortly after that!!!

Thats's me building a welfare tent where we managed to get a television rigged up! The bricks really do help stop the affects of nearby IDF attacks.

And to prove a point. Here's one of our lads posing for a picture, At the same time, a rocket hit nearby...

& trashed our medical centre.

Here's another one. We were on patrol one night when the road erupted in front of us. That's me confirming it's a 'full detonation'.

..........................& in the morning, we reviewed our lucky escape.

If you've ever wondered what a partial detontion looks like, here's a 122..and to how the scale, I stuck my 9mm pistol nearby.

Here's me on an anti intimidation patrol.

And here's a very relieved me after....!!!

And a very good team of RAF Police persons.

I loved getting to know the Iraqi's, and I loved the closeness that we shared as a section..working, eating, sleeping as one unit, but I don't want to go back there again. I just don't wat to go back to the same place. Can't see any point. I don't really want to revist any placeI've been before. I'll enjoy Afghanistan when I go, & I'll enjoy Bahrain (Oct 08 to Feb 09)