Update From Afghanistan
Saturday, 25th Dec 2010 11:09

What a difference a week makes!

6 days ago I was sleeping under the stars while roughing it out in the field - now I'm writing from the comparative luxuries of Kabul International Airport as I wait for tonights stupid o'clock flight back to Bastion where I'll then try and get on to a helicopter back to Lashkar Gah.

Since my last round of letters/emails three weeks ago when I was down in the far Southern District of Khan Neshin I've met David Cameron, discovered 2 previously unknown (to us!) Basic Health Clinics, applied for funding to complete two more, delivered health education training packs in 3 more communities, met the Secretary of Defence for Denmark, started an investigation into the bombing of a clinic and initiated plans to rebuild it and been a key speaker and panel member at an International Conference focusing on Health Sector Reconstruction and Development! Politics, corruption and red tape can be a hugely frustrating part of the job, but at times the shining light at the end of the tunnel does appear to be ever so slightly closer.

I was lucky enough to be invited out with the Lashkar Gah tankies (although they drive Huskies - huge armour plated open topped 4 seater beach buggies) a week ago for a 48hr patrol into the south of the District with the intent of visiting a number of villages to discover what health and education provision they had and to generally get a feel for what they wanted and needed - often two very different things! The locals keep on asking but I've not yet consented to supplying x-ray machines, scanners or operating theatres to single room mud hut basic clinics that have rarely got sufficient medicines or qualified staff. You have to admire them for asking though!

The Huskies offer excellent protection from improvised explosive devices, but almost none from the elements - the 40 minute drive at up to 40 miles an hour at 8am in a completely open top vehicle with no windscreen was slightly chilly to say the least. Temparatures here are now about 20 during the day but easily down to -4/5 at night, so the early morning dash down South, me the only muggins without a face scarf, certainly blew away the cobwebs! Our destination was the area of Qaleh Bost, and we would stay within the walls of the 5000 year old castle built by Peter the Great. I'd been told that the castle was spectacular but wasn't quite prepared for what greeted us - imagine an English castle, built from scratch, with dungeons and turrets and many interlinking rooms, but then excavate all the earth around it to then completely coccoon all the bricks and mortar to create what appears to be a huge mud hill, with the odd exposed turret. Only when you climb to the top and discover the hidden entrances can you then descend down one of the staircases and realise that you are in a honeycomb of corridors and rooms that are the castle itself. One of the young and highly enthusiastic tankies came within about 2 ft of running straight to the top of the 'mountain' only to then fall 300ft down one of the main shafts!

The picture above shows me on one of the turrets, taken about 2 minutes after climbing up from the centre of the castle, about 400 steps, wearing body armour - about 3 days later I recovered and got my breath back!

After our 'discovery' of Qaleh Bost Castle we then started on the work of patrolling the local villages - in the first we chatted to a large number of locals and immediately found the elusive clinic, and the single nurse who has responsibilty for the healthcare of the 8000 residents in the area. Once again a dilapidated mud building, but well stocked with medicine and equipment, so serving the community quite well.

In the next village we found a half completed 'new' clinic - such a waste as the quality of the build is very good, but threats from the Taliban and lack of funding (corruption) have meant that building stopped two years ago - my job therefore is to apply for new funding, get the Royal Engineers to do a full survey, liaise with the Ministry of Public Health for staffing and supply and hopefully get building started again early in the New Year.

In the final village we surveyed the local school, which had been bombed by the Taliban some weeks before - thankfully it isn't completely demolished and my education counterpart that was with us was able to offer cash for works so the locals could rebuild/repair as much as possible so that the 100s of kids could get back to school - the enthusiasm from the locals is certainly there in abundance, every village we go to we are almost mobbed by kids wanting sweets/pens/paper and adults keen to tell us what the mighty US $ can be spent on next, often they just need a little support/kick up the backside/direction now and then to get them into action!

That evening it was back to the castle for a (not so roaring) log fire and a night under the stars - with no unnatural light whatsoever it really is an incredible sky. As the only RAF member of the 10 man patrol I was well looked after by the Army, although for some odd reason landed the 2am-4am guard duty - which actually wasn't too bad as someone had left a thermos of hot chocolate and I got the chance to play with my issue night vision goggles for an hour. Sat there in the complete dark, and complete silence, for two hours was an interesting experience - although the knowledge that within ten feet were 9 highly skilled soldiers, two bloody great grenade launchers, high calibre machine guns and enough firepower to invade a small country, was somewhat comforting!

That night also gave me the opportunity to understand why we had been issued so much kit back in the UK, as I managed to get most of it on - two pairs of thermal socks, thermal (ballistic protective!) cycling shorts, trousers, t-shirt, combat shirt, softie, jacket, gloves, beret and sleeping bag - and I was still cold! I was out there for one night - the boys that are out in the field for nights on end have my utmost respect!

Up at dawn for a hearty breakfast of 'biscuits brown and biscuits fruit' and then it was off again for a couple more village patrols and then back into the Base at Lash by dinner time - the showers and accommodation at Lash may be poor, but that evening, just as my feet were starting to thaw, they were bloody luxury!

Last Sunday night three of us from the Helmand Health Team travelled up to Kabul for a joint forces health conference - the idea being that health teams from all the different Provinces get together and share their ideas and experiences. The helicopter flight to Bastion from Lash had an Aeromed team on board so I briefly got to see one of the other members of my Sqn doing his bit, and then we faced a 4hr wait for check in to the Herc flight up to Kabul. Another pitch darkness take off and tactical landing and we arrived about 9am so decided to do a little explore - where we quickly discovered the disco!! I kid you not - an alcohol free bar serving 'near' beers, pool tables, bright lights and video screens, and packed full of Danes, Germans, Italians, French, Croatians, Americans, Spaniards and various other nations - there was even a fair amount of groin grinding and smooching going on! The three of us from Helmand must have been quite a picture - as we stood there in complete amazement, jaws dropped and wide eyed at what is clearly a nightly event as no one else seemed to bat an eyelid at 'Club Kabul'!

The Conference lasted a couple of days, and in addition to the nations already mentioned above there were military representations from Estonia, Australia, Poland, Turkey and even China and Korea - this really is a multi national force. The Afghan Minister for Public Health was also in attendance along with a British Major General, an American Admiral and various other 'Sir's and Ma'ams'. Various presentations of varying interest on day one and then an hours Q&A panel discussion to finish - what we are doing in Helmand is held in very high regard so I was asked to be part of the 5 person panel, and by far and away the lowest Rank on the stage - as you'll probably imagine I wasn't too shy about offering my opinion, which unusually most people seemed to agree with! That evening another Kabul surprise - a delegate meal out at the on camp Thai restaurant, complete with lady-boy waiter, but sadly no alcohol. By far and away the best meal I have had in almost 3 months away - as was noticed as I finished off almost every platter that was brought to the table.

Second day of the Conference and it was the turn of each Regional Command (RC) to give a 30 minute presentation on structure, plans, best practice, success stories etc and then face questions from the wolves - you'll not be surprised that I was volunteered to do the presentation for RC(SW). We were the 7th one up of a total of 8 - I think it went quite well, although was a little concerned when the Health Minister decided to join me on stage for the questions, which he hadn't done for any of the others! However, all seemed to be OK, a US Navy Captain suggested that I probably shouldn't have lingered quite so long on Afghan corruption within the health service, although several others congratulated me for doing it. Ever the diplomat!

I've still got one more trip out before Christmas, fingers crossed we will make it back to Lash in time as there have been alot of flight cancellations recently - Christmas will be bad enough without being stuck out in the field, although 1000s of UK and US troops will be, please raise a glass or two to them as you dig into the turkey.