Tuesday December 25

Christmas in Musa Qala

I find out I am definitely on the flight and set off at 8.30am to the helicopter landing strip at Bastion.

The Black Hawk lands and the crew emerge like astronauts with their flight helmets and kit. They are not very talkative and give sharp, abrupt, hand gestures to get us on board. After a short flight we land just outside FOB Edinburgh and I disembark.

It was only then that I find out no one was expecting me there and I should have stayed on for one more stop.

However, I do manage to hitch a lift on a passing truck to Musa Qala District Centre (DC). The journey was very bumpy and conditions in the DC are very basic.

Everyone is happy to receive their Christmas parcels because they are a small reminder of home.

Christmas lunch is the all day breakfast and Christmas dinner is lamb navrati which are both from the ration packs. They are very tasty considering they are foil wrapped and are basically boil in the bag meals.

I went on foot patrol around Musa Qala during the afternoon, which involved working with the ANA as part of their training, going through both the streets and surrounding fields.

It was quite scary considering we could have been targeted by the Taliban at any moment.

Every so often the patrol wold stop and talk with the locals to hear their concerns. As we progressed we passed by other locals who always met my camera lens with a smile. Again I felt I really made a connection with the Afghans and feel privileged to have been there.

At one point we are kept back because they have found a suspect IED by the roadside. The ANA is sent in to deal with it and they bizarrely decide to test it by kicking it.

I occupy my time by taking pics of the ANA with the local kids – only to be told I might be watched by the Taliban to see how we react to the situation because the explosives are on a regular route. It was a bit of an eye opener as to the danger to say the least.

Back at the FOB you have to pee into a tube which is made out of corrugated metal and known as a Desert Rose. And you also have to use makeshift toilets – basically sit on a plank over a pit. And there are no phone facilities.

The soldiers have adopted a couple of kittens which always want food. There are no lights so I end up sitting in the dark looking at the stars. Because of the lack of light pollution I have never seen so many.