I was a 28 year old guy loving life and
everything else and I was in the Special
Air Service I remember flying in first
thing that came over here the headset
was the pilot saying welcome to Iraq
from that point on you game was on the
eight-man Patrol was tasked to observe
140 miles into Iraq to locate mobile
Scud launchers when the call the SES and
it’s not to do negotiations it’s to
resolve a situation of violence Saddam
Hussein had sent messages out that if
any local found a coalition soldier will
be rewarded in some way if they capture
us then you’re going to be subject to
interrogations the chance of being
compromised was going to be really
really high fear it’s a good emotion to
feel it keeps you alive we’re sitting in
the wadi this kid came right on top of
the overhang his reaction was immediate
we’d actually been badly compromised and
we’ve got to get going now we’ve got to
move
more or less the same time two vehicles
turned up and straightaway the firefight
happened it’s fun or easy everybody was
opening two rounds were going back and
forth
we started getting rid of all our
equipment but necessary equipment in our
rucksacks just ditching anything that we
didn’t need to lighten alone any other
day we could have had all eight of us I
mean it was a shooting gallery so we
were very lucky to get out of it at that
point we cross the series of trucks and
got to the foot of the ridge line I
turned around expecting to see the whole
of the patrol into my shock those two
men standing that nobody else how we
came separated I have no idea but the
bottom line is during you know a night
we ended up by ourselves it’s such a
fright because he diluted this patrol
now into you know three men with with
two weapons I was thinking it can’t get
any worse it just can’t get worse but it
was going to get a lot worse at the
beginning of this operation if I being
told this is what’s going to happen to
you I’m not sure if I could have carried
it out I reached that point where I
thought you know two days maybe three
and you’re going to be lucky if you get
a third day now every time you get
knocked down you get back up and then
you start looking at things positively
you can see your way out
I think I’ve got a technique in terms of
blocking things out of my mind when I’ve
been hurt and then moving on if you
don’t do anything you’re going to die
it’s just you or death and all you’re
willing to accept it when you read about
stories of men on the battlefield dying
they’ll either call for God or they’ll
call for the mother or call for the wife
for me it was my daughter and I suppose
that’s what pushed me on and right up
until the end
you
everything else and I was in the Special
Air Service I remember flying in first
thing that came over here the headset
was the pilot saying welcome to Iraq
from that point on you game was on the
eight-man Patrol was tasked to observe
140 miles into Iraq to locate mobile
Scud launchers when the call the SES and
it’s not to do negotiations it’s to
resolve a situation of violence Saddam
Hussein had sent messages out that if
any local found a coalition soldier will
be rewarded in some way if they capture
us then you’re going to be subject to
interrogations the chance of being
compromised was going to be really
really high fear it’s a good emotion to
feel it keeps you alive we’re sitting in
the wadi this kid came right on top of
the overhang his reaction was immediate
we’d actually been badly compromised and
we’ve got to get going now we’ve got to
move
more or less the same time two vehicles
turned up and straightaway the firefight
happened it’s fun or easy everybody was
opening two rounds were going back and
forth
we started getting rid of all our
equipment but necessary equipment in our
rucksacks just ditching anything that we
didn’t need to lighten alone any other
day we could have had all eight of us I
mean it was a shooting gallery so we
were very lucky to get out of it at that
point we cross the series of trucks and
got to the foot of the ridge line I
turned around expecting to see the whole
of the patrol into my shock those two
men standing that nobody else how we
came separated I have no idea but the
bottom line is during you know a night
we ended up by ourselves it’s such a
fright because he diluted this patrol
now into you know three men with with
two weapons I was thinking it can’t get
any worse it just can’t get worse but it
was going to get a lot worse at the
beginning of this operation if I being
told this is what’s going to happen to
you I’m not sure if I could have carried
it out I reached that point where I
thought you know two days maybe three
and you’re going to be lucky if you get
a third day now every time you get
knocked down you get back up and then
you start looking at things positively
you can see your way out
I think I’ve got a technique in terms of
blocking things out of my mind when I’ve
been hurt and then moving on if you
don’t do anything you’re going to die
it’s just you or death and all you’re
willing to accept it when you read about
stories of men on the battlefield dying
they’ll either call for God or they’ll
call for the mother or call for the wife
for me it was my daughter and I suppose
that’s what pushed me on and right up
until the end
you
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