In the.
In the six months we were there,
there were, I think,
Some of them were single rockets,
It's about 750 in total.
Any one of those rockets or all
But through a combination of good drills,
I'd like to think us keeping
insurgents away from the line of sight,
and probably luck, we got through to July
I mean, there was one very lucky escape
a sentry on some vehicles, when the
climbed into one of the armoured
door, a rocket landed about two feet away.
And apart from a bruise on his arm where
he actually emerged unscathed.
Even though the Land Rover looked
But, you know, we were really riding our
And then on the 19th of July,
So by a horrible set of coincidences,
on one of the accommodation blocks.
It was the biggest rocket
and it was fired from in basra city,
240 millimetre rocket, I think
It was picked up by the.
The radar, the anti.
Sorry, the rocket detection radar,
guns that had been mounted at the cob,
these big naval Gatling guns,
it was going for accommodation areas
hit it and it broke it up.
But unfortunately the warhead was intact
the top of the sort of hesco,
accommodation and the sunshade
Now, if it hit either of those things,
but it wouldn't have done what it did.
So this horrible set of circumstances.
And then, just to add to it,
were in their accommodation lines
An hour earlier
they'd be away,
in the middle of them.
So it killed four men,
It wounded a whole host more.
It devastated the flight
an absolute hammer blow on the squadron.
I was in the command post at the time and,
I was in the office with my warrant
magnificent
And the alarm went off, got onto the desk,
Like, we could tell immediately there was
So as soon as that landed, as soon as the,
clear hadn't gone, but the alarm stopped.
So we went around into the main command
That was quite normal.
And the operations officer said,
Down to your lines, your accommodation.
And I could hear on the radio lots
for medics and firefighters.
So we got an Air Land Rover,
on the way, with the crew flat the deck,
And it was just a scene of absolute chaos.
Well, not chaos, actually,
thing, but it was devastation.
And I think I realised
One,
two, that B flight were out of the battle.
That was patently obvious.
And the third thing is that I
There was a lot of activity.
I could have stood and watched.
There was no need for me
Everyone was doing the right.
The firefighters were getting people
The medics were treating them
whether it was my gunners or whether it
were just getting stuck in,
you know, whatever they could.
So I went back to the CP because I
stand watch, you know, this catastrophe.
It was to get back and make sure
and that the gap the B flight had suddenly
for a second waiver from our mission,
And so we did that and then went back.
We got several visits from the generals
But, you know, at that moment,
It had been a challenging one up to then.
We'd had various incidents,
because suddenly everyone, not just ours,
in the RAF in the Expeditionary Air Wing
And my troops were
It was a mix of rage and.
And shock, horror at what
And it was perfectly obvious
I think we've all
its bearings because
One of the NCOs said,
Iraq is going to get it now.
No more water supply project, no more
We're going to get,
So
operation, they were still going on,
of the troops, but I got my officers
as soon as I could
absolutely undaunted and we
You know, that attack could
It could have not happened at all.
It could have happened
It was just coincidence.
So nothing had changed.
The insurgents were still
We were still trying
We were still doing all we could to keep
to make sure that the Iraqis
The civilians knew that we were
We'd help them where we could because they
Jayshal Mardi kilometres into the city.
And I told them what I expected of them,
and that the mission came first, always.
And then I got the whole squadron
It's about half past four, I think,
the first glimmers of dawn.
I had to get them together quickly
those things to them and I said, you know,
you know, the, you know, Lip Caulwell, Pete McFerran and Chris Dunsmore
the three had been killed.
We'd be letting them down if we did
keeping our compass pointing north.
And it was back to that point
I don't know if it made a difference.
You know, you
Inspiring speeches
But at least everyone knew what I expected
we would not waver in our purpose.
And I also told them we would find
We would go on.
I did make sure we had a short ceremony
and that was as much, I think,
Expeditionary Air Wing as for us.
So I Invited everybody.
We got the padres doing a lovely service.
The base commander said a few words,
My audience wasn't my squadron
It was everyone else who'd helped.
Firefighters, the medics,
I.
I made a big thing of thanking
you know, as I said it,
the sky, because I didn't want anyone
that coincidentally,
They'd done the best.
And I knew that everyone was now
We were there to set an example.
Obviously not everyone needed that,
Because now a rocket attack
It had blown a huge hole in the middle
the expeditionary Air Wings lines.
It was impossible now
I felt that we.
We as a squadron had to have our heads
And if that could rub off on.
On others, that was a good thing.
And then we.
We went on, and luckily there were no more
But there could have been.
It was just the risk
But, you know, I did feel,
I knew it at the time.
I knew I had to be absolutely rock solid.
These things start at the top.
I mean, I have huge faith in my people.
I knew that whatever I did
But if it mattered a tiny bit,
I had to be rocks.
And there are no good or bad squadrons.
There are good and bad officers.
And if the officers stay tight
does the same with the senior ntos,
then the squadron will stay firm.
I knew if I started
capricious or emotional, that would start.
That would be contagious.
So.
And, you know, my people continued to do
but it was a tough time.
I learned a lot about leadership.
I learned a lot about
There was one time I wept.
You know, I was exhausted.
I was in my accommodation one evening,
in the middle of the night, none
And I was reflecting on how we dignify
We don't talk about people being killed,
We make sure that
It's rightly so.
There has to be.
You have to do that, because otherwise
You've got to have
It's got to be.
You've got to know you're
So anyone who does get killed,
It's important.
But I reflect on the word fallen.
I mean, they didn't fall,
And it just.
At that moment,
you know, the utter waste of it.
You know, they'd just been
They'd been working hard.
You know, Pete McFerrin and Matthew
They had a fantastic.
They'd be future warrant
And Chris Dunsmore was a reservist
given his year of service, and he was.
I remember talking to him a few weeks
to trying to do all he could
He'd come to help them.
And I just.
At that moment, just all
But the only reason I allowed
And then you brace up and you carry on,
As any commander, any officer,
You have to stay absolutely solid,
People have got to know
But you.
You cannot succumb to
And I think of all the.
I got, you know, I wouldn't say
I wouldn't say, you know,
but I got that right.
Sa.
