Girls on the Frontline
Girls on the Frontline - gallery
- Medic Holly Percival (left) & Bombardier Adele Sharrock (right) getting ready for a patrol at Forward Operating Base Inkerman, Helmand, Afghanistan. (C) BBC (41.59kb)
- Bombardier Adele Sharrock prepares to go out on a patrol with 2 RIFLES into a neighbouring village. Her role will be to search any women suspects and to fight as hard as the infantry if needs be. (43.52kb)
- Programme producer Marc Perkins (second right) walking between Medic Holly Percival (right) and Bombardier Adele Sharrock (left), shortly before they left Forward Operating Base Inkerman on patrol in Helmand, Afghanistan. (45.14kb)
- Bombardier Adele Sharrock sitting next to artillery ammunition at Forward Operating Base Inkerman, Helmand, Afghanistan. (28.41kb)
- Bombardier Adele Sharrock on a fitness test at Forward Operating Base, Inkerman, Helmand, Afghanistan. (C) BBC (33.45kb)
- Captain Fiona Aitchison burning charges at Forward Operating Base, Inkerman, Helmand, Afghanistan. (C) BBC (31.83kb)
Girls On The Frontline is a new documentary scheduled for broadcast on BBC THREE on Thursday 25 March at 9pm.
The programme follows a group of extraordinary young women on the frontline in Afghanistan - and their families back home.
Officer Fiona, bombardier Adele, lance-bombardier Zanna and medic Holly are based just north of Sangin in Helmand province at a forward operating base (FOB) called Inkerman. It's been fired on so many times that it's nicknamed "FOB incoming".
The documentary includes footage shot during one of the biggest artillery engagements of the war, with Fiona and Holly's patrol surrounded by the Taliban. Ducking rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire for four hours, they desperately run through the irrigation ditches of the green zone as they try to get back to the base. Meanwhile, Adele and Zanna are back at the FOB firing more than 400 rounds of artillery in a bid to get the patrol safely home.
The documentary explores how these young women, all in their twenties, face the challenges of some of the most violent months so far in Afghanistan for British Forces. The four of them have to live side by side with around 170 men on a tiny base. They sleep in cots close to the men and share the same facilities. They also have to give orders and demand respect in a very male-orientated environment.
The documentary also examines how their relationships with those back home have changed. Adele's mum and fiance are busily preparing for her wedding on her return. However, after six months on tour, Adele is having second thoughts. Unusually, Zanna's fiance is also on the base, although they are not allowed to even hold hands and worry constantly about each other whenever the base is attacked..