Week 9 - Commanding Officers Notes

Operation OQAB STERGA, which translates from Pashtu as Eagle's Eye, has seen 1 R IRISH BG HQ deployed over the last 10 days with 3/205 Bde ANA HQ in a concerted Task Force Helmand operation to deepen security in the Upper Gereshk Valley. Kandak 4, elements of Kandak 1, the Combat Support Kandak, the CSS Kdk in support along with all of their paired R IRISH Battlegroup mentors have been pushing back Taliban (TB) resistance fighters, forcing them further north up the west bank of the Helmand river away from the town of Gereshk.

Manoeuvre in the desert and the vegetated green zone (GZ) flanking the Helmand river has been conducted in regular daytime temperatures around 45C. The operation has enabled the introduction of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to areas previously dominated solely by Taliban and militias.  Initially resistance was light and the force and scale of our advance appeared to surprise the enemy.  

Entrance into the lush valley floor on 9 May by 4th Kdk was preceded by the insertion of a screen and guard on the west flank by Danish Leopard tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers and an ANA mobile interdiction force. Movement and coordination of the advancing ANA companies proved difficult as did the heat and going. Motivating the ANA proved testing for all of the mentors, however 4th Kdks confidence should have been boosted following this, their first Kdk level manoeuvre operation. Several Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and IED caches have been identified in wadis and desert approaches. In the GZ, anti-personnel IEDs and limited small arms fire and RPG attacks were employed to delay and disrupt the advance. By 12 May, 4th Kdk had exploited up the valley and gained 7km of ground and the recce and selection of a suitable permanent operating base location had taken place.

The local nationals' response to the arrival of the ANA in the Upper Gereskh Valley has been mixed, but generally positive. There have been natural concerns expressed by villagers about TB retribution against those who have communicated with or cooperated with both us and the ANA. The coming weeks will be critical to winning the peoples' support for the Afghan National Security Forces.

The last 4 days have been spent frantically converting 2 requisitioned mud walled compounds on the desert/GZ periphery into a secure forward operating base (FOB), from which a permanently established combined ANA/OMLT force will operate to influence the surrounding area and people. Engineers have been busy building HESCO BASTION defensive walls, observation sangars - and all hands have been filling sandbags to augment the new bases' protective qualities. All this has been conducted against the inevitable backlash from the enemy in both the desert to the west, and in the GZ.  Whilst conditions have been tough, often frustrating and occasionally very fraught - the boys morale is in tact and they are performing extremely well.  Yesterday, our first mail got through to us in the field since we left on 8 May. As you can imagine, morale soared.

Thank you all for your letters, parcels, wishes and prayers. I apologise if our responses are slow (or non-existent !) until we establish a more civilised routine in a week or so.