Afghanistan: A reporter's diary

BBC reporter Mervyn Jess has been spending time with Northern Ireland soldiers in Afghanistan. You can see a special series of his reports on the programme this week. During his time, he kept a diary of his travels.

Mervyn Jess spent some time with the Northern Ireland troops in Helmand province.

Day One

Departures at RAF Brize Norton is much like any other airport lounge except most of the passengers are in military uniform and the aircraft parked outside are all painted the same colour of gun metal grey. It's a coldly efficient sort of place.

The only warmth to be found is in the coffee bar area where families say goodbye to their loved ones pre-flight.

A soldier gently hugs his two young children as their mother struggles to hold it together. It's a scene that would wring a tear from a stone.

As I look around the departure lounge, I try not to dwell on the thought that some of these young men and women may not be returning home alive.

The RAF Tristar lumbers slowly into the air above the lush green countryside. Next stop Afghanistan.

Getting on board the Tristar minutes earlier, as one of the few civilian passengers, I was immediately struck by the sight of medical stretchers on special racks across the rows of seats in the forward cabin.

Half an hour out of Kandahar we are instructed to put on our body armour and helmets and told to close the window blinds Mervyn Jess

This flight would be returning to England with the casualties of war on board. It was a stark reminder that this was no charter to the Costa del Sol.

Half an hour out of Kandahar we are instructed to put on our body armour and helmets and told to close the window blinds.

The cabin is plunged into darkness in preparation for landing. Nobody speaks. The only sound is the whine of the jet engines as the pilot pitches the aircraft about on final approach.

Outside we have become nothing more than a black noise in the night sky - precisely the way RAF pilots wish to present to any Taliban on the ground armed with rockets, with the aim of bring down a military troop transporter.

Normally we'd all be peering out of the windows at the lights of the destination below.

This is like sitting inside an airborne submarine. Your senses are searching for indicators of terra firma.

I'm told the pilot is wearing night vision goggles the whole way into Kandahar, only switching on the aircraft's landing lights after crossing the perimeter fence of the airfield.

With a gentle thud the Tristar touches down. We have arrived in Afghanistan.

Day two

Night flying is a necessary precaution because of the threat of Taliban rocket attack.

Consequently, the staging area for people passing through Kandahar airport is a hive of activity in the early hours of the morning.

Soldiers are coming in and others are going out, all queued in lines between breeze block blast walls in the big tents or gathered in groups outside on the dusty fringes of the runway aprons.

Northern Ireland soldiers are involved in a massive operation in Afghanistan

Those outside in the night heat, shout at each other to be heard above the constant noise of aircraft taking off or landing.

Dark silhouettes of enormous transport and trooping aircraft scream down the runway.

Occasionally, in between these goliaths of the air, the spectators catch glimpses of much smaller outlines illuminated by the lights on the other side of the airfield.

These are the pilotless drones as they take off on their surveillance missions over Afghanistan.

I understand that the live CCTV pictures from their powerful on-board cameras can be beamed to military operations rooms in Afghanistan, the USA and the UK.

The drones are controlled by pilots on the ground who fly them with a control panel system not unlike the average electronic game console.

There is time to take in and consider all this because our C130 aircraft for the next stage of the journey to Camp Bastion in Helmand, is still waiting to be refuelled.

As the minutes tick by the aircrew inform us that we have a window of about an hour and a half to get off the ground and land again before first light.

Otherwise we will be spending another 24 hours in Kandahar.

We get off just in time. Landing in Bastion, the scene that greets us is much the same as Kandahar: dark, dusty and hot.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version