Saturday December 22:

Christmas in Afghanistan

It doesn’t feel like Christmas at all.

I am sat at the helicopter airfield in Camp Bstion, basking in the warm sunshine with a welcome cooling breeze.

I suppose we have got used to the idea of snowy scenes on Christmas cards but in reality these are the conditions of the Middle East in December – the Victorians have a lot to answer for the skewed version of Xmas that we endure these days.

Our Black Hawk is delayed because of wind so it should be an interesting flight.

I am heading to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the Gereshk area and one of the more remote patrol bases.

Black Hawk Down

The flight was eventually delayed by about two and a half hours and in the meantime a few of the lads arrive from Tombstone before heading off for their R&R.

They leave by Chinook which arrives almost immediately – lucky for some. They all definitely look relieved to be going home for Christmas.

Eventually the Black Hawk arrives and I trudge out to the heli-pad. I am getting flashbacks to the film Black Hawk Down and hope that my flight will not be quite as eventful.

After being safely strapped in we take off and fly low over the desert. Dirtbag, our pilot, approaches FOB Price and banks steeply in a wide circle of the landing strip.

FOB Price:

I bump into a few lads from the North East and meet Major Bryn who will be leading a supply convoy to a recently established patrol base in the Green Zone – the fertile area along the Helmand River – and I manage to hitch a lift. It will be another early start at about 5am tomorrow.

I manage to kill time by taking a few photos around the base and catch up on a few messages home. Not having regular access to a computer means that I have to write everything out in longhand so the process will be quicker when I get back.

I am sharing a room with six Danish soldiers who have also brought a touch of Christmas spirit with traditional Xmas decorations. They have a lot of time to fill between watches, which they say is a struggle, but they try to kill the time by either watching DVDs on their laptops or sleeping.

Rats and mice are a big problem because they eat the food.