Xmas day in 2007 was always going to be different because I got to the recently liberated town of Musa Qala. I was the first regional journalist to get there. Here is the tale of someone who was actually on the frontline…

A SOLDIER from the Scarborough area has told of his experiences during the liberation of the former Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala, deep in the heart of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, and said it was easier than he had expected.

Cpl Carl Storr, 30, who is from Whitby and is currently serving with 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), was involved in the Afghan National Army (ANA) led operation last month.

He said: “We set off in early December in a convoy of at least 200 vehicles carrying about 1,000 people. We were told we were getting into something big. We had the thought ‘what could happen?’ but we had been training for over a year.”

The operation involved B and C companies of 2 Yorks, as well as other British units attached to the regiment, as well as members of the ANA.

Cpl Storr said they camped in a small village on the outskirts of the town and had an uneventful night. “On the second day we moved off to clear a small village which was a success. I don’t think it kicked in what was happening,” he said.

“We believed there were a few Taliban in there but it didn’t take as long as we expected and we were

finished before sunset so we stayed there for the night.”

He added morale was high because the job had not taken as long as they were expecting and they left the village with a sense of achievement. “We were looking into the village to see if there were any more people entering or exiting and we set off the following morning,” he said.

Cpl Storr said morale suffered when Sgt Lee Johnson from Stockton, was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). “He was well known and well liked throughout the battalion, with a lot of friends” he said.

“He knew his job and he did his job well. No matter what he did he’d always give it a go. It hit everybody in a lot different ways. Who he was, and what had happened, it was a big shock.”

He said the officer commanding B company, Major Jake Little, got everyone together and gave the men a talk. “He struggled himself,” he said. “We had to crack on as Jonno would’ve wanted us to do.”

On the fourth day the battle group gathered together before getting ready to enter Musa Qala and continued along a wadi – a dry river bed – before entering the town.

Cpl Storr said: “It was very, very quiet which was unusual to what we were expecting. We’d got further than we expected in the amount of time that we had which was another achievement.

“We were very apprehensive because we were expecting everything to come at us but we were ready for it. This was the biggest operation that we’d had for a while, just that in itself, everybody was ready to go in there.

“There was nothing there. I think the Taliban had pulled back and probably moved to different locations. A lot of civilians left as well.”

He added that some of the locals were pleased the Army had moved into the town and the soldiers tried to reassure them and make it clear they were not a threat to them.

During his time in Musa Qala they found a massive haul of opium – about 200 potato sacks which each weighed 25kg – which was destroyed.

He said: “The person whose house it was wasn’t at home. He’d get a shock when he came back.”

From The Scarborough Evening News on Monday, January 7, 2008.