RAHIM KALAY, Afghanistan – British soldiers from 12th Platoon, 4th Company, Irish Guards performed a resupply for members of their company located at patrol bases in the villages near Patrol Base Rahim, Feb. 2.
Instead of using vehicles, these supplies were delivered by foot. Walking the supplies in may not be the easiest, but it is the best option for the platoon.
“The reason why we walk is because there are many different routes that we can take, but it’s easiest to walk instead of taking the quad,” said Lance Cpl. Wayne Golding, a rifleman with 12th Plt., 4th Company, Irish Guards. “The quad makes a lot of noise and we don’t want to give away our position. It’s easy to resupply them instead of taking the quad that makes us a bigger target.”
During these resupply patrols, the soldiers must carry water and food to the people staying in the smaller patrol bases. Even though the positions are only a short 15- or 20-minute walk from PB Rahim, the difficulties are numerous for the soldiers. Not only do they have to worry about providing security for themselves while walking through the difficult areas, they are also beginning to deal with the muddy terrain that is caused by the annual rain in Afghanistan. Falling while carrying the extra supplies makes things a little more difficult, but the soldiers are prepared for the challenge.
“It’s quite hard, quite slippery and quite challenging at night with your night vision, but we are British soldiers we are meant to be hardcore, the best of the best, so you get that weight on your back and march,” said Golding, 28, from Birmingham, U.K. “We are used to the rain, that’s what we are mainly working in the U.K. This weather is nothing to us, really.”
While the British soldiers are used to the difficult weather conditions, the terrain of the area presents the most challenges. Afghanistan’s usually dry climate causes the ground to turn to mush during the rainy season, further complicating the uncommon terrain features they have to navigate.
“There isn’t really any easy route of getting down there, really. Everything is hard in this country, the terrain is different,” said Golding. “There are a lot of irrigation ditches, a lot of mud and everything different from our country, so there’s not really an easy way.”
| Date Taken: |
02.02.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
02.08.2011 05:05 |
| Story ID: |
64979 |
| Location: |
RAHIM KALAY, AF |
| Web Views: |
108 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, Resupply patrol not as easy as it looks, by Cpl Jeremy Fasci, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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