Profiles

:: March 2007

Day 6

Bastion

This morning we look at dogs. Danny, the Colour Sergeant in the dog section takes us through his work here and it’s very varied. We meet Springer spaniels and Labradors who nearly wag themselves to death when they see you, and German Shepherds who'd like nothing better than to rip you to shreds. It's difficult to over emphasise how dangerous the attack dogs are. Danny says that they are referred to as a "non lethal force" but in reality if they ever had to release a dog on a man the fact is he'd be in a bad way. They are not used in the UK at all, but over here are considered necessary. There has never been a "full release" i.e. a dog let-off the leash to get someone, but if there was, the chances are they'd pull off a bicep or tricep muscle, or even an arm.

Apache: The UK has 67 of these helicopters

Doll, the singer, gets dressed up in the fat man suit and does a runner. The dog nearly kills him.

From the dogs to the Apaches. The Apache attack helicopter is the scariest war machine I've ever seen. A huge hulking insect like beast, it's a two man killing factory. It can fire 625 .30 cal rounds in a minute, a devastating amount of firepower. On top of that it holds 30 rockets and fires Hellfire missiles, it's accurate from 10 km away, and the UK has 67 of them. Looking at The Apache, you'd think we could win any war, it's so ominous. Once again, the lads working on it are down to earth, unassuming and generous with their time. The pilots answer our stupid questions, and then get rid of us when it all gets busy.

It's a touch Groundhog Day like now as we get ready for the show again, but we all pile in our little bus and get over the road to the aircraft hangar. Another great show, the best yet I think, and it's early to bed.

Day 7

Bastion

What did you do on Sunday morning? We made bombs.

The dusty road into the Bastion

Well, we went up on to the range after breakfast this morning and played around with plastic explosive, whilst a marine showed us how to blow our way through walls and ceilings. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to use these skills, but I am always losing my keys so you never know. We get chatting to some lads who are building the simulated villages up on the range. They are sappers from the TA who have found themselves out here for six months, and they are not the only ones. Over the time out here we've spoken to lots of TA who have volunteered to do tours, and get stuck in, and I can't quite get my head around it.

I can understand the attraction of being in the TA, running round at the weekend plying at soldiers, but these guys take it one step further by actually coming out to a war zone. Some are ex forces anyway, but most aren't. We meet one lad who is an architect, but who now spend his days running a database of kit that is out in theatre. To spend longer over here he packed his job in before he left, and may ask to do two tours.

We then meet to move Nick, who runs the airfield here at Bastion. A big, jolly bloke, we've seen him before at the gigs, and already know him to be good fun. It turns out he’s really important too. The problem is, we don't really understand the insignia people wear to denote their rank. We're OK up to Sergeant, and then it goes a bit messy. Nick is RAF and wears a mixture of thick and thin blue lines on his tunic that must mean that he's high up, as everybody does what he tells them. He runs Bastion airfield, so we get there and have a brew with the firemen before rushing round putting out fires that they light, and racing the fire engines down the runway. It's big boys toys and it's ace.

Last gig at Bastion tonight, and to be honest we're all a bit disappointed. We've loved all three gigs here, and really seem to have plugged in to the camp's mindset. Tomorrow, we've got a busy one, so it’s off to bed!