Posts Tagged ‘Afghanistan’

Household Cavalry on Parade in London

We hear a good deal about our US forces in Afghanistan, but sometimes it seems we’re the only ones over there.  We’re not.  There are Canadian, British, and many other warriors fighting beside us, that we never hear much about.  A friend of mine in the UK sent this report to me, and I wanted to share it with you.  To some it might seem a bit boring, but between the lines it tells of the immense sacrifices these soldiers of the Queen are making.

I’ll provide the report in several parts to allow the reader to take a breath.  I have also cut out a very few parts which seemed a bit too technical in order to shorten the overall length.

This mid-tour report was submitted by LtCol Harry Fullerton, Commanding, The Household Cavalry Regiment.  Yes, folks – this is one of the same spit and polish regiments of the Household Guard that protects the Royalty of the United Kingdom – when it isn’t fighting in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.  The report, submitted in January 2010, is as follows:

“For the last three months the Household Cavalry Regiment [HCR] has been deployed in three distinct groups in Helmand province.

Household Cavalry in action

“These first three months have been challenging, but a great deal of success has been achieved during this time and the Battle Group and our detached squadrons feel confident of doing more to ensure the security of the people of Helmand, to defeat the insurgency, and to partner and train up the Afghan security forces.

“We had an excellent handover from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, giving us enough knowledge and insight of the area that we could maintain the tempo of operations in Musa Qaleh.

“Musa Qaleh has been an area of increasing stability and security over the past 12 months, with the area under control of the government growing on a regular basis. Such is the confidence of the local people that there is a bustling bazaar area, and two large markets that occur each week in the wadi, and all this is done without the need for any overt military security presence.

“An area of approximately 100 square kilometres is controlled by ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces]. In late October, in a joint Afghan and ISAF operation, a further three villages and farming land were retaken off the insurgents, forcing them back further.

“…  most important of all, the insurgents have become more unpopular with the locals, who see them more and more as an external threat of foreign fighters, who live off the population by taking their food and resources.

Modern Marines in Combat Dress

The soldiers and Marines we see on the television today in Iraq and Afghanistan are the best equipped in history.  They carry all the paraphernalia necessary to fight a modern war.  Even in WWII, Marines landing on Pacific islands from Navy ships were pretty well equipped for their mission, and that was over sixty years ago.

WWII Navy Corpsman and wounded Marine.

Did you ever wonder what a soldier might have carried on landing from a ship in 1854, during the Crimean War?  Why I’ll bet that’s been a burning mystery for you for many years, or perhaps not.  Well, we folks obsessed with such military history minutia, we inquiring minds, want to know.  I know there’s at least one of you out there.

The British soldiers about to land in the Crimea and face “the Russian Hordes” were not in the best of shape.  Cholera and other illness had taken a toll.  Lord Raglan wanted his men to land with as light a load as possible.  A noble thought, to look out for his troops, but not a well thought out one.

He ordered that the men and officers were to carry specific items in their landing kit.  The rest was to be left behind and would catch up to them later.  Few of these professional soldiers believed that chestnut.  They were even to leave behind their knapsacks, the one place they could secret away personal items to enhance their standard of living on campaign.

They had the uniform on their backs, a spare pair of boots, a pair of socks, a cotton shirt, and a forage cap.  These things were to be rolled into a single blanket, and along with their greatcoats, they were kitted up for the fight.  This blanket roll was to be carried in their knapsack straps.  Any personal items went in their pockets, in their small haversack (which also carried rations), in the blanket roll itself, or fastened creatively to one of the above or their canteen strap.  That included their cup, mess tin and eating utensils.

Off they went.  Landing from wooden ships in long boats and barges, only to be confronted by rain and foul weather.  They had no tents, and were to sleep under the stars, which weren’t there because of the severe rain.

These gross miscalculations were only the beginning of a long, cruel, series of mistakes in judgement and conspicuous incompetence surrounding arguably the most mismanaged war in history.

Private soldier in the Crimea. Apparently a replacement later in the war, since he's wearing his knapsack

Crimean War soldiers as winter set in, heading for a cold night in the trenches before Sevastopol.