Whose Name We Share

63 Afghanistan – Bull’s Troop 2007 In October of 2007, 15 gunners from 8/12 Regiment were selected for secondment to the British Army for one year, 8 of whom came from the 103 rd Battery (the rest being 101 st ). They departed for 7 Parachute Regiment, RHA based in Colchester, Essex. For six months the RAA with their British counterparts attended multiple exercises whilst they trained on the British L118 guns. The exercises were held across England, Scotland and Wales during the tail end of the year and the conditions proved to be freezing and arduous to anyone – let alone a Darwin local. The battery were destined for FOB Armadillo (Later renamed FOB Budwan), which resided in the Upper Gereshk Valley of the Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The FOB was created by the 1 st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards (a British Army Foot Guards Regiment) and the Danish Forces alongside FOB Sandford, FOB Keenan and FOB Price. A popular Danish documentary named “Armadillo” was filmed during the deployment and followed a group of Danish Guard Hussars stationed there. Anthony Lloyd, a writer from The Times recounts the founding of FOB Armadillo in an article he published on 21 January 2008. He first describes the original structure before the arrival of the British and Danish. Afghan locals lived within it, tending livestock and performing their activities for daily living – almost 50 of them. They were the extended family of five brothers. These people were farmers and had lived in the area for generations, with their ancestors buried in a cemetery on a hill just outside their compound. Their day would start just like any other. But, unknown to them, that day would be the day a contingent of British and Danish soldiers arrived. Their home would be the focal point of Operation Thunder, an ambition of the British and Danish to establish a foothold in a chunk of territory in the Taliban heartland: the Upper Gereshk Valley, Helmand. This compound was the intended base for FOB Armadillo. The 50 or so Afghan locals would have to leave. The Danish lead the negotiations whilst the British provided security and the 5 brothers would agree to move on the basis of compensation. Its reported that the Danish agreed to pay a four figure sum in dollars, followed by a monthly rent for the use of the compound. The deal was struck and the Afghan locals would leave. At this time in January, Helmand saw the entire province covered in freezing rain and so it left a horrible aftertaste in the mouths of those British soldiers who were there to witness the Afghan locals leave their home. Captain Jamie Russel, commander of the Coldstream Guards said “…The sight of an 8 year old girl walking out of her home into the rain with a watering can in one hand and a chicken in the other, knowing that you have been somehow responsible for that. A lot of the blokes felt bad about it…” This origin story, however harrowing, would be far into the past by the time the battery arrived at FOB Armadillo. Danish troops arrived in Afghanistan in 2002, the Battery’s first tour is documented as 2008. The FOB was fully operational on the arrival of the battery, the