19th October

Well……fucking hell, last night 2200 on the 18/10/10 we were taken by Merlin out of Camp Bastion to our new home for the next 6 months, CP Qudrat. All went well apart from the amount of kit we loaded and unloaded was a joke. 100lbs + bergan, daysack, grip, weapon full fighting order felt in clip in the first 5 minutes. Merlin took off from Bastion and was skimming the desert floor, so ally, one of the things that got me was just how close to Bastion we are, we were in the air for what felt like about 8-10 minutes, quite comforting more than anything.

We hit the ground, now we are at our most vulnerable point for attack. The tail gate dropped, there was no time to think, and we could be contacted at any point that wouldn’t be a good start. 17 of us burst out of the back of that chopper like caged animals, it was manic. Luckily half way through getting all the kit of the chopper we found out it was a green landing site. Which meant it was secure. Then the RAF door gunner shouts out ’60 seconds’, with half our kit still on board we hauled ourselves and got all the kit off, and before we knew it, the chopper took off in a dust storm and was gone.

First impressions it fucking stinks, the place is a fucking shithole of a compound, but when we get our stamp on it and make it a Para’s place then it will be the nut’s, oh and we have a compound dog too it’s a brown Afghan dog, fuck knows what breed she almost got a greyhound type by the look to her, almost a bit of normality in this crazy place.

Any way I’ll be back in a bit it’s now 2100 I’m on stag at 2130 and the Merlin’s coming back at 2300 to pick up haroldo that were here before us so I’ll see you in a bit.