Review
A compelling true account of serving in Afghanistan, says Richard Doherty.
- Task Force Helmand: A Soldier’s Story of Life, Death and Combat on the Afghan Front Line
- Pen & Sword Military
A Solider’s Story
Suicide bombers, roadside booby-traps, dead children and a Taliban fighter murdered by Afghan soldiers line up with dysentery, Hesco bastions, six-foot-high maize, incredible courage, loyalty and surgical skills in this story of war in Afghanistan’s Helmand province from one who was there last year.
Captain Doug Beattie commanded a small mentoring team from 1st Royal Irish whose job was to train Afghan National Army soldiers on operations. During the six months of Operation HERRICK VIII, Beattie led his men at Kajaki, Marjah and Patrol Base (PB) Attal in the Gereshk valley.
Beattie’s team were involved in 50 major clashes with Taliban fighters and, on occasion, were saved only by their ability to call in massive firepower that allowed them to escape ambushes set by the Taliban. Those enemy fighters were determined and unafraid of death and it took all the skills of the Royal Irish and their supporting elements to defeat them in battle and wrest control of ground from them.
This book tells the story so often summarised coldly in news announcements that soldiers have been killed or injured in Afghanistan. It makes for compelling, insightful and, at times, disturbing reading.
Richard Doherty’s Helmand Mission: With the Royal Irish Battlegroup in Afghanistan 2008 is published by Pen & Sword Military and available in all good bookshops now.
Richard Doherty