Children stop tending to the crop to watch the patrol
Fighting alongside the Afghan National Army and Police in Helmand
The patrol started off just like any other from Patrol Base Shaheed (2.5 Km North East of Showal) on Thursday 4 March 2010. The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police were in the lead. As usual they had with them a handful of soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh there to offer support if needed.
Patrolling in the green zone, the soldiers were out to dominate the ground taken during Operation Moshtarak just over two weeks ago.
The tranquillity was shattered an hour into the patrol after the Afghan Security Forces left a compound where they had been talking to village elders.
Insurgents opened up on the patrol from a few hundred meters away using neighbouring compounds for cover. The patrol took cover in an irrigation ditch observing the insurgent movements firing when they identified targets.
Using the ANA and ANP to suppress the insurgents the British troops moved location to join up with the ANA and ANP commanders. While the Afghans kept the insurgents pinned down the British patrol commander Lieutenant Adam Libby called in surveillance aircraft to monitor the insurgents movements.
The key to this firefight was to use just the right amount of force to suppress the insurgents and minimise damage to the area.
With aircraft up in the sky monitoring the situation the patrol headed back to base knowing that their every move was being tracked.
Picture Credit: Major Paul Smyth
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