cryptosal

Not really, in terms of special forces the teams generally have a massive mutual respect for each other. However the Americans had orders that they were under no circumstances allowed to drink alcohol or gamble with the British so you can work that one out haha

Worst thing I saw was the aftermath of a Taliban school shooting, the engineers (im not sure if British or American) had built a school for a local community, the taliban weren’t happy because girls were allowed to go to the school there, I think the school was operational for about 2 weeks before we got reports of an attack. When we turned up they had shot every young girl at point blank to send a message. That one stays with me.

Nightmares whilst I was there no, you’re so busy you don’t get a minute to dwell on things. But since I have left the military I started struggling, I’ve received a lot of help from charities and I’m getting a lot better. I had been given advice about talking to people about what I experienced hence the idea to do an AMA. So it’s sort of therapy for me and I guess it’s interesting to others.

It differs from location. To answer this in the best way you need to understand the social climate in afghanistan. You have the NATO countries who are assisting locals, building schools, electricity, water and they are clearly grateful for this. But when you leave the taliban move in and threaten the locals for speaking to us and a lot worse if they found out a local had given information.

The communities where nato held were very welcoming to the extent that they would tell you where the taliban had planted IED’s and such. however the further you go out the more the taliban had a hold on the local population and they would all disappear as soon as they knew you were coming. But again this was a massive indicator that something was about to kick off because the locals would all disappear and then you’d get incoming. So it’s extremely difficult to answer your question and it all depends on what village you were in.

The difference in opinions were so vast.

The one that sticks out in my mind, it was funny afterwards but at the time it could have gone horribly wrong. We had “solid intel” that a man we’ll call ‘Mr A’ was gonna be in a compound at a certain time. We had quite a while to prepare and the usual nerves start to set in, getting your equipment ready, cleaning weapons and checking explosives for entry.

We arrived there at that certain time and not only was it incredibly dark (no moonlight), the compound they had told us about was actually three separate compounds connected like terraced houses. Our radios were absolutely useless at the best of times but we did our best to clarify which compound Mr A was in and got sweet FA back.

The officer in charge on the ground decided we’d gamble on the 3 in 1 chance, so we stacked up on the first compound and detonated the side of the wall out, I was first in and I was met by a very confused and aggressive farmer who wasn’t overly pleased that we’d just destroyed the side of his house. So after doing a quick sweep and clearing each room. Nothing.

We stacked up on compound number 2 in sort of a frantic rush as now we were sure they knew we were coming. We blew the wall out again and entered with a lot more aggression this time expecting to come under contact as soon as we entered. But the odds were clearly against us as the second compound was empty and it looked like it was used as some kind of storage.

Now the panic had really set in as we knew what we were entering was now going to be an extremely dangerous bloke who knew we were there and we had to go in anyway. We blow the side of the third house and enter half expecting the first man in to be shot instantly. To our surprise (and luck), Mr A and one of his buddies were still fast asleep on the floor, they was so out of it from smoking opium they’d not even heard the first two blasts and they woke up to me screaming at them with a rifle in there face.

All in all a massive shit show that we all absolute piss ourselves about now, Ive never gambled at a casino or anywhere since haha

Compensation was payed at way above market price for the damage to the farmers house also.

They’re all horrendous, however if I had a choice it would have to be the full English breakfast or the chicken in yellow curry and rice