Chapter 29: Continued

On the fourth day he received communication from Tim that his and Tom’s aircraft were now set up, and the two aircraft bays were completed. They agreed that Tim and Tom would return to Kandahar to rearm with live munitions before returning to Bastion the following day. Chinooks would be ferrying the ground crew along with spares and munitions over the next few days back to Bastion. He and Bill would wait until they arrived before leaving.

When they arrived Robert lost no time in explaining about the Skype connection. He also gave them the time that Julie had set up with Carol for them to contact her and Sue, since Sue didn’t have a laptop. Bill had agreed to leave his behind for them, it having a bigger screen than Robbie’s, he said lecherously.

Back at Bastion Robert found a hive of activity as Taff organised the storage of equipment that was arriving on the Chinooks. Since Taff had it well in hand, he left it to him. Robert returned to his porta-cabin and found another, about a third bigger, alongside it. It was for Tim, Bill, and Tom’s accommodation, but best of all they were both connected to air conditioning units He couldn’t help but notice the USAF markings on the AC units.

The following afternoon Tim and Tom returned, looking happy. Robert was now in a position to announce that the flight was ready for active service.

The first few weeks were mundane, flying escort to Chinooks resupplying forward ground bases, or over flying convoys. In between times Robert was having meetings with Local Air Controllers, LAC’s, stressing the importance of clear target information. What they could see at ground level was quite different from a pilots view some two to three hundred feet above. To stress the point Robert showed them gun camera footage of the pilots view and soon a rapport was formed with them.

The first contact came to Tim and Bill, a LAC had reported taking fire from five Taliban. When the ground troops returned fire they had jumped into a Toyota truck and made off at high speed. Tim and Bill soon spotted the dust cloud from the truck. One of the Taliban panicked and opened fire on the aircraft, committing a cardinal sin. Under the rules of engagement neither Tim nor Bill could return fire unless fired upon. A forty round burst of 30mm cannon fire, left the truck a smoking wreck, there were no survivors.

Back at Bastion Tim reported to Robert about the kill, they all went to look at the gun camera footage. They could clearly see the man with an AK47 firing seconds before Tim pressed the trigger. “The thing was,” explained a jubilant Tim, “they didn’t hear us until we were right on top of them. Throttled back for the attack run the A10 hardly makes a noise.”

That was a big advantage they would have over the ‘chop chop’ made by the Apache helicopters, Robert realised.

Over the next ten days they all had contacts with the Taliban. Robert had the satisfaction of putting a Hellfire into a lone building that Special Forces claimed was being used to manufacture IED’s, the secondary explosions confirming it. On another occasion Bill was tasked with firing on a clump of trees that the ground LAC claimed was hiding a Taliban sniper. Bill fired eighty rounds into the trees reducing them to stumps. Later they were informed that the ground squad had found body parts and a mangled ex-Russian sniper rifle.

Robert received a communiqué from Alan Carr saying the other four A10’s would be flying out to Kandahar in three days’ time. That evening he called the other three to gather to discuss plans for their arrival. Tim and Tom would fly back to Kandahar so that Dave Hardy and Bob James could begin setting their weapons up on the range. When they had completed they would change with Dick Winter and Jim Robbins. Tim and Tom would return and Robert and Bill would fly down to Kandahar.

When all the aircraft were set up Robert and Bill would return, Dick and Jim remaining at Bastion with them.

Tim would be in charge at Kandahar and undertake any missions given to them there. After three weeks the four aircrews would change places to enable them to become familiar with the Helmand province.

Four days later Dave and Bob arrived, Tim and Tom having left. After getting squared away, they joined Robert and Bill in the small mess tent for a coke. Dave was commenting on the difference between Bastion and Fort Call. He spoke of the relationship they had with the American service men, and the kindness of Chuck in flying them down to Phoenix at the weekends. It soon transpired that they had run into Sherry working in the bar and through her Tina and Rosa, who remembered the original four.

“Did you meet Jill, a tall leggy blond?” Bill asked.

“No,” replied Dave, “she’d left the condo, so Sherry said, her boyfriend had his foot blown off over here. She’d moved closer to the hospital he was in. But we met Stacey who took over her apartment.”

Robert had mixed feeling about that, glad she hadn’t taken up with the new boys but sad that Jimmy had been hurt. At least he’s out of it now and alive, he thought.

By the end of nine days the squadron was fully operational, and began flying in earnest sometimes undertaking three missions a day. Most of the time they never saw the Taliban but laid down fire on positions indicated by the LAC’s, getting reports back that blood trails had been found afterwards.

They had gotten in the habit of wearing the windcheaters and hats they had been given by the Americans at Fort Call, and Robert noticed that the ground crew were now wearing badges of the Wild Boar motif on their overalls. The squadron was adopting an identity he realised.

One day he was informed by Captain Maynard head of intelligence at Bastion that the Taliban was aware of the squadron too. They were calling the A10s the silent death or cobras and were determined to bring one down.

Robert sat in the cockpit of the A10 sweat running down his face from the blistering heat waiting for the clearance from ground control to roll. He felt the nervous tension in his stomach that always preceded a mission, knowing that it would disappear once he was in the air. ‘Wild boar 1 clear for take-off,’’ the voice came over the intercom.

He released the breaks and slowly applied thrust, increasing it as the A10 began to roll forward. His actions now on automatic going through the routine he had done so many times in the past. He climbed steadily levelling out at 2000 feet, noticing that Bill had taken up position on his starboard side and a little behind. He switched the radio receiver over to the LAC band to listen in.

A marine squad were going to search a disused village that had been used by the insurgents in the past and they expected trouble.

Robert picked up the dust trail of their vehicles two miles from the village and eased back on the thrust leaver. He toggled the radio, “Wild Boar 7 swing to the east side of the village I’ll take the west side, see if you can see anything.”

“Wild Boar 1 roger,” Bill’s reply came back.

Robert dropped down to a 1000 feet and reduced thrust to almost stalling point. He was offering the insurgents a target, but his hand hovered over the thrust control ready to move if he was fired upon. He knew Bill would spot the enemy and take him out; it was a routine they had practiced before. He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved when no one fired on him.

Bill’s voice came over the radio “seems no one wants to meet the 72 virgins the mullahs promised them in paradise.”

Robert chuckled, before contacting the Marine’s LAC to tell him the village seemed clear.

They stayed flying figure of eights while the Marines swept the village, finding nothing the LAC thanked them and relieved them to return to Bastion.

“Well another day, another dollar,” Bill’s laconic voice came over the radio. Robert smiled as he prepared to land.

At last the day came when they could rotate with Tim’s flight at Kandahar, Tim would be staying for a further 24 hours while his aircraft underwent a service. Toms had already been serviced. After reporting in he was told he was stood down until his aircraft was serviced, Bill’s would be serviced after his.

He found Tim in his room; apparently they had seen little action over their tour, mainly flying top cover for American ground troops.

Tim brightened when Robert asked him if he had managed to contact Sue. “Oh yes,” he beamed, “every other night, she has to go to Carols flat to use her laptop. We have to stick to certain times because the first few times Carol answered thinking it was Tom and it was a little embarrassing. But now we have a routine.”