I thought I'd jot down a few lines as a few people are asking about my little holiday;
Here we are, the night before deployment. Kit's packed, just one day left with the family. The house is quiet with the pressures of a 4 month tour hanging overhead. The journey out to Camp Bastion is long and tiring, it starts with a coach trip to RAF Brize Norton, check-in baggage at the terminal then a night spent in the Gateway Hotel, the RAF's equivalent of the Hilton...or answer 'B'!
Then a good 8 hour trip on-board an RAF Tristar, cattle class all the way. The time difference isn't to severe, 4 1/2 hours. Easier enough to manage time for calls home. Once we land we'll be booked in to theatre so all of our extra allowances can start accumulating. Then it'll be on to the RSOI training, after that for us it will be getting familiar with the theatre flying rules, and getting up to speed with the threat and area familiarisation.
Then the fun starts, we get out in the aircraft and get familiar with the TFH (Task Force Helmand) area. knowledge of the patrol base landing sites and enemy firing points are key, the enemy we face are cunning and motivated and if given the the opportunity they will try and engage us. Of course all the Aviation Crewman hope they're stupid enough to try this, at our disposal we have the FN Herstal M3M .50 Cal machine gun, it fires 16 rounds a second of High Explosive Armour Piercing rounds. This will, without a doubt ruin your day.
Anyhow, that'll be all for now. I will do a summary as and when anything interesting happens.
Enjoy the ride.
