30th December

After the success of yesterday everyone was buzzing. We were tasked to push out, as re supply convoy was heading our way. M.. the medic was leaving, and we were getting T.. back from RnR. I was point man again as we pushed west, all was quiet, no i-com, apparently The Turp had heard that there were the funeral’s today from the dead fighter’s yesterday. So we made it to the mosque in M1N, C15. All fine, all round defense, the boss had a little shura with the locals. We had very faint eye’s on the lead Mastiff making his way down from PBK, moving rather gingerly after a week ago that Mastiff was turned over. There was a Barma team in the open field 300m down from us, and they stopped to confirm, and found a battery pack with two wires coming out of it with the wires leading to the road. ‘Fuck it’, we were now going to be out for a long time.

Well we had already been firm for a while, and all was okay, the locals were out, kid’s running around, banter in English and Pashtu was being exchanged and it felt like barriers were being broken. We were waiting for the EOD to come out and clear that shit in the ground, and well they took fucking ages so we were told to crash back to Qudrat, as we were no good where we were just more of a target then doing any good. 4 hours past and the EOD finally came, and we pushed out again to do a screening to the north but didn’t push out as far as we were earlier, we went firm at C3 M1P, and were there for 3 fucking hours sat on out arses waiting for this IED to get blown, which it did. We then patrolled back into Qudrat, got re supplied and that was the day, not as exciting as yesterday, but a success more in the fact that the locals were okay talking and having banter with us.