Sniper in Helmand: Six Months on the Frontline Read online

  First published in Great Britain in 2011

  by Pen and Sword Military

  an imprint of

  Pen and Sword Books Ltd

  47 Church Street

  Barnsley

  South Yorkshire S70 2AS

  Copyright © James Cartwright, 2011

  ISBN 978 1 84884 663 0

  eISBN 9781844682348

  The right of James Cartwright to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

  Printed and bound in England by CPI

  Typeset in Times New Roman by Chic Media Ltd

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  Contents

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  FOREWORD

  PROLOGUE

  GLOSSARY OF MILITARY TERMS

  1 THE BEGINNING

  2 TRAINING AT CATTERICK

  3 BECOMING A VIKING

  4 BECOMING A SNIPER

  5 LIFE AS A SNIPER

  6 DEPLOYMENT

  7 FOB ROBINSON

  8 OPERATION SILICONE AND HBK

  9 MOBILE OPERATIONS

  10 SANGIN

  11 OPERATION LASTAY KULANG

  12 AFTERMATH

  13 R & R

  14 NOWZAD – THE GHOST TOWN

  15 KAJAKI I

  16 KAJAKI II

  17 BLUE ON BLUE

  18 SNIPER OPS

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgements

  I would firstly like to thank every single soldier who fought alongside me during Operation HERRICK 6 and watched my back as I watched theirs. This tour was not conducted by one man but by a group of highly trained professional soldiers. Also I would like to thank all the officers and senior NCOs under whose command I fought for their excellence in leading me and the other soldiers.

  I also want to extend a warm thanks to everyone who was involved in my treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Without your help my life would have gone in a very different direction, and it was also out of this treatment that this book was born.

  Another person I feel deserves a big thank you is Phil Dedman. Thank you, Phil for working very closely on this project with me, and for being such a good friend not only to me, but also to my family. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

  I also thank Ross Kemp and everyone behind the tour magazine for helping me put together my memories in the correct order and reminding me of events I had forgotten.

  A big thank you goes to Pen & Sword for putting this book together and for all of their help and support.

  My appreciation goes out to everyone who gave me copies of their photographs. I always feel that this form of media is best for remembering. I have tried to get in touch with everyone whose photographs I have used in this book. However, there maybe some outstanding so please accept this acknowledgment as my thanks.

  Of course not forgetting the families of the nine 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment soldiers who did not come home. My heart goes out to you and my thoughts are with you and them every year on 11 November at 11.00.

  Finally, I give massive thanks to all my family for supporting me during the difficult readjustment to normal life and, in particular, to Annie for putting up with my mood swings.

  James Cartwright

  Foreword

  by Andy McNab

  The British army has never been better trained, equipped and prepared for conflict, but that doesn’t stop the reality of a tour of duty being every bit as dangerous as it ever was. Conflict hasn’t stopped taking its toll both emotionally and physically. James Cartwright has experienced one of the most hostile and dangerous areas of conflict of the present war. The work of snipers is crucial to so many current military operations. What he successfully conveys in Sniper in Helmand is the real feeling of being in a war zone. He tells it how it is to the reader – allowing them to experience the tactical decisions, pressures, acts of courage and of sacrifice that serving men and women go through each and every day.

  Like me, James Cartwright started his army career as a boy soldier. We passed through many of the same establishments and I’m sure got bawled at by many similar RSMs along the way! We have both experienced the harsh reality of war zones and come home battle scarred emotionally and physically. Like him, I’d like to pay tribute to the men and women out there in the various war zones, the families left at home and also the many professionals who play such a vital role in the emotional and physical recovery.

  Prologue

  As the convoy came up the road, Deano was on top cover, standing up in a hatch in the roof of the Viking vehicle in which he and Teddy were travelling. Just behind him, strapped to the roof, were jerrycans of fuel and other items of kit. At that point a Taliban fighter launched an RPG from a nearby rooftop, scoring a direct hit on the roof of the vehicle, detonating on one of the jerrycans and causing a huge fireball that totally engulfed Deano in burning fuel. He dropped down back through the hatch of the vehicle, desperately trying to put out the flames and ripping off his helmet and body armour. Teddy meanwhile placed his hand on the rear door handle, readying himself to open it, but could clearly hear the sound of rounds literally pinging off the door on the outside. The Taliban had learned where our doors were and created a choice for those inside – either stay inside and burn to death or open the doors and be riddled with bullets.

  At this point Deano jumped back up into the hatch of the vehicle, with no helmet or any body armour, and began to return fire with his SA80 rifle. At the same time, there was a short lull in the bullets pinging off the back door, so Teddy threw it open and, armed only with his 9mm pistol, leapt out and headed for a nearby an alleyway. There was deafening noise and dust all around him as bullets rained down and RPGs flew in from all directions. As he scrambled into the alleyway he came face to face with a Taliban fighter, shooting rounds into the air and screaming ‘Allahu Akbar!.’ Teddy shot him dead on the spot before turning his attention back to the Viking. Realising that there was no movement from it, he ran back to the vehicle where he found Deano lying there unconscious inside, having been knocked out by the blast of another RPG hitting the roof.

  Deano was in a mess. Severely burned from the blast and injured by shrapnel, he was losing blood and rapidly losing consciousness. He needed emergency medical treatment and quickly, as he was in a really bad way. Teddy clambered into the vehicle and dragged him out of the vehicle, all the while under fire from RPGs and automatic weapons, and slung him over his shoulder. Somehow he succeeded in reaching another Viking, throwing open the doors and heaving Deano inside. There was no room for himself so he had no choice but to run back another 50 or 60 metres, still under heavy fire, to another vehicle in which he took cover
in the back.

  All the while the fire support teams were bringing fire down on the enemy, but it was a relatively built-up town with high buildings all around which made manoeuvring almost impossible. The convoy was still under very heavy fire as it drove out of Sangin.

  Glossary of Military Terms

  2IC Second-in-command

  .338 L115A2 .338 calibre long range sniper rifle

  AK-47 Soviet origin 7.62mm x 39 calibre assault rifle

  ANA Afghan National Army

  ANP Afghan National Police

  CLU Command Launcher Unit – for Javelin missile

  CO Commanding Officer

  CQMS Company Quartermaster Sergeant

  CSM Company Sergeant Major

  CVR-T Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance – Tracked

  CWS Common Weapon Sight – used with L85A2

  DC District Centre

  Dragunov Soviet origin 7.62mm x 54 calibre sniper rifle

  F-15 Eagle All-weather fighter

  FAC Forward air controller

  FFD First field dressing

  FOB Forward operating base

  FSG Fire support group

  FST Fire support team

  FUP Forming up point

  GPMG General purpose machine gun

  HE High explosive

  ITC Infantry Training Centre

  JDAM Joint Defence Attack Munition

  JTAC Joint Terminal Air Controller

  L96 L96A1 7.62mm x 51 NATO calibre sniper rifle

  LMG Light machine gun

  LUP Lying up place

  MFC Mortar fire controller

  Minimi L110A1 5.56mm x 45 NATO calibre belt-fed LMG

  MOGs Mobile operation groups

  MRE Meals ready to eat

  MT Motor transport

  NCO Non-Commissioned Officer

  OC Officer Commanding

  OMLT Operational Mentoring Liaison Team

  OP Observation Post

  OPTAG Operational Training Advisory Group

  Orbat Order of Battle

  Pinzgauer Light 4x4 or 6x6 vehicle

  PRR Personal role radio

  Puritabs Water purification tablets

  PVCP Permanent vehicle checkpoint

  QRF Quick reaction force

  RPD Russian or Chinese 7.62mm general purpose machine gun

  RPG Rocket propelled grenade

  R & R Rest and recuperation

  RSM Regimental Sergeant Major

  RSOI Reception, Staging & Onwards Integration

  SA80 British 5.56mm x 45 NATO calibre assault rifle – official designation L85A2

  SF Special Forces

  Sitrep Situation Report

  SPG-9 Russian 73mm tripod-mounted recoilless gun

  SUSAT Sight Unit Small Arms Trilux – used with L85A2

  UGL L17A2 underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher – fitted to L85A2

  Viking BvS10 Armoured all terrain vehicle

  Wadi Permanently dried-up river bed

  WMIK Weapons Mounted Installation Kit

  WO2 Warrant Officer Class 2

  CHAPTER 1

  The Beginning

  There was never really any doubt that I would join the Army in some form or other. My father served in the Royal Navy seeing action in the Falklands War, and my two grandfathers served in the RAF and the Royal Army Service Corps during the 1950s. When you are bought up with this kind of heritage, and hear the stories that surround these experiences, I guess it was simply in the blood. My father and maternal grandfather were both marksmen and in due course I would follow in their footsteps, achieving marksman status in all of my annual personal weapons tests and ultimately becoming second-in-command of a sniper section.

  At the age of sixteen, I attempted to join the Royal Marines. In hindsight this was far too early as my body had simply not developed sufficiently to cope with the physical standards required. However, I was close and completed the assessment tests satisfactorily apart from one that required you to lift your own body weight in the form of three overhand pull-ups immediately after a gruelling non-stop session in the gymnasium. I would have been able to pass it a few years later, but at that time I could not quite manage it and thus failed.

  Soon afterwards, I telephoned the Army recruitment office in Reading, where I lived with my father at the time, to book an appointment to speak with the recruiting sergeant there. As I entered his office, I felt at ease and generally comfortable in myself. The sergeant himself was tall and amusing, and was in the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (RGBW), now amalgamated into The Rifles. I recall a song playing in the background that I really liked at the time and I still play to this day called My United States of Whatever by Liam Lynch. I also remember feeling generally relaxed and at ease while talking to the sergeant, enjoying a feeling of being at home within the military whose sense of humour is different from that in civilian life, much of it based on banter between comrades.

  I had two or three meetings with the sergeant over a period of time, discussing where I would go, which part of the armed forces I would join and where I would undergo my training. There were a number of choices open to me regarding training; although approaching the age of seventeen, I would still be joining the Army as what is known as a ‘boy soldier.’ I had to choose between the standard twenty-four weeks training at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick, in North Yorkshire, or a longer period of training at the Army Foundation College at Harrogate. Despite the fact that those who were trained at Harrogate tended to be promoted a little more rapidly, I decided that I wanted to complete my training as soon as possible and so opted for Catterick.

  My first day in the British Army for training was Valentine’s Day 2003, but not exactly filled with romance! I made my way down to the Army Training Regiment at Pirbright to undergo the selection process for the Army, which lasted two days. Having previously trained hard to pass the three-day selection assessment for the Royal Marines, which I had come so very close to achieving, I experienced little difficulty with the Army tests because of my high level of physical fitness

  One of these was the ‘bleep test’ where you have to run a certain distance before the bleep sounds and back again before it sounds again and so on, until too exhausted to make it before the next bleep. There was a target of fourteen bleeps set by the Royal Marines and twelve for the Army. I completed sixteen and can recall, as everyone dropped out, myself and another lad sprinting back and forwards like mad men for what seemed an eternity. We also underwent a number of command tasks. I remember one in particular where there were mats, vaulting horses and other items of gymnasium equipment neatly arranged to resemble cannons. We had to work in teams of four or five, dismantling our cannon and carrying it from one mat before reassembling it. I was placed in charge of my team and generally tried to do what I thought was correct, such as taking command, making decisions and issuing orders.

  Other tests included completing a timed mile and a half run. In the Royal Marines it was three miles, so once again my previous training paid off and I completed the test without any difficulty. Those two days at Pirbright cemented my enjoyment of Army life. I had been used to living away from home, spending time with my father in Reading and my mother in Peterborough, so homesickness was not a problem for me. That, together with my high level of physical fitness, made things easier and not too daunting. I was, of course, somewhat naïve. I remember thinking that I would join the Army and be allowed to choose the job I wanted, in my case to be a member of a sniper platoon. This is most definitely not the case, because selection for the platoon is based on skills and aptitude for the role.

  For the moment, anyway, I had passed the selection tests for the Army and now had to undergo training as an infantryman. If, in due course, I wanted to become a sniper I would have to win my place in platoon on merit alone.

  CHAPTER 2

  Training at Catterick

  On arrival at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick, I found a real mix of
characters of whom the majority were from the north of England with only around four or five of us coming from southern counties. I was initially nicknamed the ‘posh sounding bloke’ or on occasions something less polite. As we got to know each other during the first few weeks, I became more widely known as, ‘Soap Dish’ because I used to put my cigarettes in a soap dish to stop them getting crushed or wet in the rain. I suppose everyone has to be called something. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but it did not catch on and everyone else thought it was funny.

  Training did not prove to be particularly tough for me, nothing like that shown in films such as Full Metal Jacket, for example, which depicted basic training in the 1960s US Marine style. I do remember that it was initially a bit of a shock to the system sharing a room with three or four other guys for the first time in my life. This strange experience was further compounded by the fact that for the first six weeks we were not allowed to have any luxuries at all. We were not permitted to go home or allowed to wear berets at this stage, wearing what were known as ‘crow caps’: peaked combat caps which signify the newest batch of recruits who know nothing.

  At this early stage of our training the only proper contact we had was with each other. I do remember our section commander literally ordering us to write a letter home. His name was Corporal Hindmarsh, a proper Geordie who was really quite an amusing guy and who, fortunately for me, took a shine to me. He really knew his stuff, was fair and did not muck any of us about. We liked and respected him for his knowledge and skills although, to be fair, all of the corporals really knew their stuff as the army tended to pick the best of the bunch from the infantry to be instructors at Catterick. The standard of training was high and after completing a two-year posting at the Infantry Training Centre, instructors were either promoted, if already qualified for the next rank up, or sent on a promotion course.

  After the initial six weeks training, things became a little easier and we were allowed to have just a few of life’s luxuries that had been lacking up until that point. These were just simple things that you would normally take for granted in normal life – televisions, DVD players and being permitted to put up posters. This extended to being allowed to have duvets, whereas previously we had to make our beds in the old school way with sheets, blankets and ‘hospital corners.’ The latter, along with literally every aspect of our kit, were inspected almost daily and I lost count of the number of times my bed was torn apart. In fact, it became such a frequent occurrence that I decided to save time in the morning before an inspection by making my bed perfectly the night before and sleeping on the floor in my sleeping bag. At one point we were actually shown how to shave; looking back on it now, I suppose we were all still very young at that time and I think I had only actually shaved twice in my life up to that point.