Chapter 4

By the end of October, Robert had the last of three operations on his knee.

Sir Royston assured him that the prosthetic knee cap that had been made in the Granges own prosthetic workshop would be infinitely better than his own, it wouldn’t crack when he bent down in later life.

Robert had asked not to have any visitors, not wanting to be seen in his present state.

So instead he had been given a laptop on which he could reply to the e-mails he received from Jeremy, and the folks from Aventon and the lad’s in the squadron. He also tried to reply to letters and cards he received from grateful family members of the men who had been in the wadi, but he never really felt comfortable about it, feeling embarrassed.

By now he was familiar with the routine and was no longer embarrassed about bed baths or answering nature’s call. He still felt intense pain from his leg as the muscles began to knit; nevertheless he longed to be free of the bed.

Finally, in mid-November he was allowed into a wheel chair and for the first time he was taken outside. To be able to breathe fresh air, all be it, cold November air, and to escape the slightly antiseptic smell that always invades any medical facility was just the tonic he needed.

The following day he had two visitors, Group Captain Alan Carr, and an Air vice Marshall. Alan was Station Commander of RAF Renton, Robert’s squadron’s home base in the UK.

He introduced the Air vice Marshall as Sir John Bradbury. Robert was sitting in his wheel chair by the coffee table; so, they drew up chairs by it.

After going through the routine of asking about his wellbeing, Alan got down to business.

“Robbie” he began “you have been put up for the VC.”. Robert was stunned “but” he began but he was cut off by Alan’s raised hand.

“I know what you are going to say but don’t knock it. At the moment due to your action the RAF is the flavour of the month with the British public. More to the point we are the flavour of the month with the MoD, and we fully intend to exploit that.”

Sir John broke in, “As you are aware Flight Lieutenant, the war in Afghanistan is a ground war fought in the main by ground troops. Whilst we know the RAF is involved in it, it doesn’t get much recognition for its efforts. We intend to redress that to our advantage.”

“I see Sir,” said Robert meekly but not really understanding.

“By the way Robbie” said Alan, “We are withdrawing the Harrier from Afghanistan, it’s a good aircraft but it was never intended for the role it’s had to play out there.”

“What do you think is the best ground support aircraft we have out there?” Asked Sir John, directing his question to Robert.

“The Apache attack helicopter” said Robert without any hesitation, he went on, “With its Longbow radar and target systems, not to mention its weapons array it’s the most cost effective, clinical means of targeting the Taliban we have.”

“What do you mean by cost effective?” Sir John enquired.

“Well Sir” Robert continued, “I know we can drop smart bombs and fire guided missiles but when you consider the cost of one of those just to take out a couple of the enemy hiding in a hut or the trees, well it doesn’t seem cost effective to me.”

“Point taken” replied Sir John, “But does the Apache have a down side?” already knowing the answer.

“Its cost and maintenance are pretty steep sir, and of course it’s the Army’s.”

“Um quite” said Sir John. “Can you think of any fixed wing aircraft that would be suitable for the sort action we encounter out there?”

“The only one that springs to mind sir, and it’s not perfect, is the American A10 Thunderbolt II. Its airframe has been built to take punishment from ground fire; it can fly and fight at low speed, 130 knots or so, but still achieve 450 knots. It’s fairly cheap to build and is low maintenance. The big problem with it is it was built around its gun, a Gatling 30mm cannon which fires off some 800 rounds a minute in a burst. This is over kill for the type of engagement we have in theatre.”

“So hypothetically speaking, what would be your ideal solution?” Enquired Sir John.

“The A10, but given some of the characteristics of the Longbow radar and infrared targeting systems. A new gun that could have dedicated burst control, wing mounts to take both Hellfire missiles and rockets, would be a start sir.” Robert replied.

Sir John looked over to Alan, “An interesting theory.” “Well we mustn’t take up any more of this young man’s time Group Captain.” He said addressing Alan.” You will be hearing from us in due course.”

After shaking hands, they left leaving Robert wondering what the hell that had all been about.

The following week he started physiotherapy. The first two weeks in his room, Gale the young physiotherapist, would gently massage his back and leg, each day increasing the movements of his leg.

One evening Ann Walker entered the room carrying a laptop computer case. “Good evening Robert” she announced.

“Evening Ann” he replied.

Ann had helped him with the correspondence to all the mail he had received from well-wishers, and they had struck up a quick friendship.

“Sir Royston noticed that old laptop you have been using. We’ve had it for years, and it must be on its last legs by now, so he’s given you this.”

With that she unzipped the case and took out new Sony Vaio. “You will find this much quicker. It already has Microsoft Office installed and there is a built in camera and microphone so you will be able to see who you are talking too, I’ve already registered you, and created an account with Skype, so you are all ready to go.”

Ann knew that Sir Royston was concerned about Robert seeming to wish to cut himself of from the world regarding visitors. And she had suggested this as a means of breaking the ice and getting him back into the swing of things. She showed him how to set it up, and he was relieved to see it only displayed his head when it was placed on the desk. After a chat Ann left.

Robert, keen to try out his new toy, entered Julian’s e-mail address into the Skype page, remembering to make it an international call. He was amazed when Julian’s face appeared on the screen.

“Bob this is wonderful, how are you?”

Robert was suddenly filled with emotion and had to blink back tears that threatened to engulf him. “Great man, living the life of ease”, he lied.

He saw Julian turn away and he could hear him yelling “Pearl, Pearl I’ve got Bob on the PC you can see him.” Julian’s head was pushed to one side and Pearl’s lovely face was there.

“Oh Bob it’s so good to see you at long last, how are you feeling? How are they treating you?” She rattled off question after question not giving him time to answer, tears streaming down her face.

After 45 minutes of catching up and trying to answer all their questions he ended the conversation promising to contact them the next day and broke the connection. When he closed the laptop he sat back and smiled. It was good to know they cared, he thought.