thedrifter
12-13-07, 09:28 AM
12-10-2007
Recent Combat Ops by the 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, Operating in Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan - A Battle Narrative by the Commanding Officer
"We hit the deck amongst swirling dust and poured off the back into the night. Within half an hour we had nearly 300 soldiers right into the centre of an area where the Taliban thought they were untouchable."
Hello All,
For those of us based in Kandahar, we are all now back after our second, three-week operation. You can sense the collective sigh of relief – to be back in one piece, but also to have a chance draw breath. This has been a good one, demanding soldiering alongside Special Forces and troops from other nations, including the Afghan Army, and a real test of our versatility – individual and collective. I thought you might appreciate a little detail – looking first at the recent operation from Kandahar and then a bit on B Company.
Unlike the last operation, which saw those of us based in Kandahar working in Helmand alongside the other UK elements in Afghanistan, for this operation we were deployed to the province commanded by the Dutch task force – a province called Uruzgan. The terrain is quite different to Helmand. It is further north and far more mountainous. We were tasked to clear a valley, rather romantically called the ‘Baluchi Valley’. The land there is exceptionally beautiful – well-irrigated, cool and leafy. It is like this because it is relatively inaccessible and the country is very ‘close’. Of course, this also means that it is excellent terrain to defend! The area was last entered by coalition special forces 18 months ago. Since then it has been an established Taliban ‘sanctuary’ where they have had almost complete freedom of movement, where high-profile Taliban leaders have been operating, weapons and ammunition have been cached and from where the Taliban have been deploying forces to attack the surrounding areas.
We were told to expect stiff resistance and to have the build up of our forces prior to our ‘break-in’ closely monitored by the Taliban. It was clear from the start that two things would be key to success: surprise and a rapid build up of ‘combat power’. This logically led to the conclusion that we had to insert a significant force by helicopter. As you might imagine planning this sort of thing requires a huge amount of planning – landing a large number helicopters in daytime on a big open field that you know well in the UK, without the threat of being shot down is complicated enough; doing it at night, on a patch of ground you can’t physically check beforehand, with the threat of fire from the ground, is a different affair. To put this into perspective, no one here could remember when the British Army last did anything like this on such a scale. We planned very hard in conjunction with the Brit air people out here and in so doing, established an excellent rapport with them. There is little doubt that the personal relationships we formed during the period before we inserted were as important as the formulation of the joint plan. The pilots really pulled their fingers out for us in some very challenging flying conditions. We inserted in two waves of five helicopters each, right onto where we thought the Taliban were mostly grouped. I am afraid that if we’re honest, few of us could pretend that soldier in us wasn’t excited by this. We have trained for this sort of thing many times over the years, but from my perspective at least, it was more exhilarating than I had thought it would be. We were all crammed onto the helicopters and flew in formation to the ‘landing zone’, hugging the mountainside, flying low over the ground and swooped into our destination. We hit the deck amongst swirling dust and poured off the back into the night. Within half an hour we had nearly 300 soldiers right into the centre of an area where the Taliban thought they were untouchable.
Our prompt arrival shocked the Taliban, as we had hoped it would, but inevitably, fighting started pretty quickly. With C Company leading, we had to cross a river to get to their forward positions, but we’d done our homework and knew where to cross quickly and were into their defences pretty quickly. The first positions that we came across capitulated without resistance, but as the sun began to rise, the Taliban started to take us on. As usual, they fought hard and engagements were all close quarter. We weren’t alone, of course. In this case, as well as the boys on the ground, we had harrier fighter jets, apache attack helicopters, artillery, mortars, airborne surveillance devices, heavy machine guns, ground-based missile systems…all from different nations. Even with all that technology and firepower, with collateral damage a very real issue and in circumstances where combat is characterised by to toe-to-toe fighting, often the most precious commodity is raw human courage, and even then, luck has to play its part. Sadly, we lost a couple of men early on, one an Australian, who was killed and Rfn Alok Kandawa, who was wounded in the eye. The Australian and his SAS team had been a brilliant support to us leading up to our insertion and we had established a very close bond. His team came across a concealed Taliban bunker as they were moving round the flank of C Company. They came under immediate heavy fire and Sgt Locke was hit during the initial exchanges. We all felt it when we heard his team was in trouble. The boys responded instantly, fighting across the ground to link up, many displaying remarkable bravery under fire to try to help. Sgt Locke was mortally wounded, but we were at least able to secure the position for the Australians. He and Rfn Alok were then evacuated, by helicopter.
The fighting continued for about three days, but the effect was good. We were able to concentrate the Taliban resistance into a specific area, which gave A Company relative freedom of manoeuvre in the immediate surrounding area. This meant that as we ground the Taliban down, we were able to clear our initial objective for handover to an Australian reconstruction team, the task of which was to rebuild various local check points that had been previously lost to the Taliban.
Our progress during these early stages was gradual, but we always held the initiative and as you might imagine, the key is to keep these people guessing. They are no fools and many of them have considerable combat experience. It wouldn’t have taken them long to establish where we were and what our techniques were. Throughout, Sp Company had been watching them further down the valley from an ‘observation post’ that we had inserted 7000 feet up on the nearby ridgeline (more brilliant flying required here) and identified what was clearly a Taliban command centre and ammunition cache. The Taliban obviously felt safe in this area. They were walking around openly carrying weapons and moving ammunition from there to the point where the fighting was taking place – almost a daily commute for the fighters. We had provisionally planned to hit them a second time in depth positions. So, in a synchronised strike, we hit the ammunition cache with a single missile and landed A Company in another helicopter insertion. This proved to be decisive. The Taliban left the area very quickly thereafter and we then had the valley to ourselves.
The emphasis then switched to searching for Taliban weapons and ammunition and destroying the various bunkers they had constructed from which to fight throughout the valley. We coupled this activity with ‘reassurance’ initiatives aimed at the local population, including medical clinics and basic humanitarian assistance. As you might expect, families left the valley in droves when the fighting started, but as the fighting subsided they returned quickly. From the ridgeline ‘observation post’ we counted in the region of 600 locals returning to their homes that day. Over the days that followed we found a number of significant weapons dumps, lots of ammunition and the components for improvised explosive devices. We detained a number of individuals identified by the Afghan Army as potential Taliban activists and destroyed a series of what were very well prepared Taliban defensive positions. We were under pressure of time, but with Sp Company providing flank protection, A and C Companies combed the valley in some detail, all by foot, and with complete freedom of manoeuvre. By the time that we reached the fringes of the valley, we found locals destroying the bunkers for us. This was a good sign.
Then came the final push. We had been warned that we might have to reinforce the Dutch in the area closest to their main base in the province – a plain at the mouth of the Baluchi Valley – and the orders duly came through soon after we had made our final pass through the valley. The Dutch had had quite a fight trying to link up with us at the base of the valley and had had to stop just short of their final objective. We were briefed that Taliban were all over the area. Having been operating overtly in the region for some days by this stage, our positions were obvious and the Taliban would have been expecting us to assault from the mouth of the valley. Our best option was to get in behind them covertly. With Sp Company protecting us from interference from the north and A Company driving directly into the likely forward defences of the Taliban, C Company negotiated its way down a river bed, through 8 KM of Taliban positions. With the assistance of the Recce Platoon, we announced our arrival at dawn with explosive entry to a number of compounds previously identified as Taliban. We caught them at Morning Prayer time and there was absolutely no resistance. We changed our posture as soon as we sensed that we were unlikely to have to fight, but I have to say that, the atmosphere reminded me of Sangin, in Helmand, when I was here last year. Then, UK troops entered what appeared to be a calm village with berets on and 24 hours later were fighting for their lives. Local people were either over welcoming, reassuring us that we didn’t need to stay, or we were being watched by groups of what we call ‘fighting-age males’. Sure enough, we soon had a sniper engage one of our patrols, but thereafter attempts to catch us out with improvised explosive devices were thwarted. After a couple of days of ‘reassurance’ patrolling to check the area was stable, we withdrew and left the area to the Dutch.
All in all we covered some 29 KM of Taliban-dominated territory. I understand we got a couple of significant leaders amongst the dead and wounded and by disabling their defences, destroying their weapons and trauma medical facilities, the boys will have undermined their hold on the area. However, one has to be realistic, in this sort of campaign, the man fighting you one moment can be ploughing the field next to you the next. The Afghan Army are good at sniffing these bods out, but it is inevitable that a good number go undetected and we can’t detain individuals without good grounds. Obviously, the best way to be rid of the undesirables is to convince the communities in which they reside to reject them. But these people live in fear of retribution and need convincing of our intent and commitment. This takes time, but it has been reassuring to see quite how well equipped our boys are for this task – they are proving highly effective at dealing with the enemy and are making friends with locals and allies alike. They changed gear on this operation. The Australian SAS could not have been more effusive in their praise of their performance under fire and the RAF crews aboard the helicopters carrying us in remarked at how calm the boys were. Apparently, others in such circumstances have been less poised! When it comes to switching posture, they are naturals: the locals can’t sell them enough chickens and goats for field-consumption; the reach of the ‘Bollywood’ film industry is such that communication in Hindi is possible; and because of the cultural linkages, the interaction with the Afghan military is reportedly more developed than it is between these Afghans and other European/US troops.
And what or B Company? As you know, they are working with the Household Cavalry in Helmand and they were recently reinforced with their 16 new recruits. They took over from the Grenadier Guards Company which featured in the recent 'Panorama' documentary. Their experiences will be quite different from the remainder of the Battalion. Rather than manoeuvring through varied areas of southern Afghanistan, they are responsible for dominating a very important piece of ground, right at the southern tip of coalition-controlled territory in Helmand, around 'Forward Operating base DELHI'. Everything to the north of them is friendly, and everything to their south is mostly hostile. They see the Taliban every day and as the injury to Rfn Laldhoj Gurung indicates (we saw him as he flew through Kandahar on his way back to the UK and he was in remarkable form for someone shot in the chest), they have to put up with quite a lot of enemy fire. But I am getting such good reports about them. The Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry is tremendously impressed with their work. With the cultural links, they have made real in-roads into the local population and they are giving the Taliban more than they get. The UK Brigadier out here also singled me out yesterday to tell me how content he was with the job the Company is doing. We think of them a lot and it is good to see the boys who have started to trickle through on their way back for R&R. Secretly we hope that we will get the chance to do something together before Operation HERRICK 7 concludes.
As you can see it’s quite a mixed picture – some proper combat at one end of the spectrum, and good old ‘hearts and minds’ activities at the other end (what the boys describe as operations ‘with chillies’ and operations ‘without ‘chillies’!). And on that lighter note, we have also had some very amusing moments too, such as an un-named officer falling off a bridge into a river (nearly went in myself, if I’m honest), confused Gurkhas disembarking from helicopters in the wrong location and being employed temporarily as cohorts to other nations’ special forces (don’t worry, we got him back), and coming to the collective realisation in my tactical headquarters as dawn broke on day one, during the initial battle, that we had taken refuge in a field full of marijuana – breakfast was good that morning! Furthermore, the Gurkha Major, who went to visit B Company in Helmand, reports that the area surrounding their base has been cleared of chickens and that the local Taliban have taken to mounting check points to prevent the importation of any more – only a Gurkha unit could have that sort of effect on the enemy! We also had an excellent evening to celebrate Tihar on Remembrance Sunday, after having taken time out, of course, to remember the fallen, including Lex Roberts and our wounded.
So life has been very busy – there have been few slack days in the two months since those of us based in Kandahar arrived, and the B Company boys are at it every day – but time out here is passing quickly as a result. Our living conditions in the field are basic – we sleep rough and carry our life on our backs, most of which is ammunition, radios and their batteries and water – but those of us in Kandahar have just taken possession of our accommodation (renamed 'Camp ROBERTS'), where we are now housed together as a unit, and when we are back here life is fine. Things are different for B Company, welfare facilities at FOB DELHI are tight, but they are making significant improvements to their base too, in the way that our boys do. We all feel a long way from home, but we couldn’t ask for better support from you all – a pile of welfare parcels arrived this week (disconcertingly, all addressed to the RAO, but even he can’t handle that much welfare). So the message is: don’t feel too sorry for us. We can’t wait to be back with our loved ones again, but in many ways this is also an extraordinary experience and I suspect that for many this will prove to be a rich personal journey.
Across the Battalion, in Kandahar and Helmand, we all send you all our love and sincere thanks again for your fabulous support. The B Company boys have already started returning for R&R, but for the remainder of you, it is not too long to wait now, so make the most of the final few weeks of peace. In the mean time, have a drink on us…I think we’re all dying for a beer!
Jonny Bourne
Gurkha
Ellie
Recent Combat Ops by the 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, Operating in Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan - A Battle Narrative by the Commanding Officer
"We hit the deck amongst swirling dust and poured off the back into the night. Within half an hour we had nearly 300 soldiers right into the centre of an area where the Taliban thought they were untouchable."
Hello All,
For those of us based in Kandahar, we are all now back after our second, three-week operation. You can sense the collective sigh of relief – to be back in one piece, but also to have a chance draw breath. This has been a good one, demanding soldiering alongside Special Forces and troops from other nations, including the Afghan Army, and a real test of our versatility – individual and collective. I thought you might appreciate a little detail – looking first at the recent operation from Kandahar and then a bit on B Company.
Unlike the last operation, which saw those of us based in Kandahar working in Helmand alongside the other UK elements in Afghanistan, for this operation we were deployed to the province commanded by the Dutch task force – a province called Uruzgan. The terrain is quite different to Helmand. It is further north and far more mountainous. We were tasked to clear a valley, rather romantically called the ‘Baluchi Valley’. The land there is exceptionally beautiful – well-irrigated, cool and leafy. It is like this because it is relatively inaccessible and the country is very ‘close’. Of course, this also means that it is excellent terrain to defend! The area was last entered by coalition special forces 18 months ago. Since then it has been an established Taliban ‘sanctuary’ where they have had almost complete freedom of movement, where high-profile Taliban leaders have been operating, weapons and ammunition have been cached and from where the Taliban have been deploying forces to attack the surrounding areas.
We were told to expect stiff resistance and to have the build up of our forces prior to our ‘break-in’ closely monitored by the Taliban. It was clear from the start that two things would be key to success: surprise and a rapid build up of ‘combat power’. This logically led to the conclusion that we had to insert a significant force by helicopter. As you might imagine planning this sort of thing requires a huge amount of planning – landing a large number helicopters in daytime on a big open field that you know well in the UK, without the threat of being shot down is complicated enough; doing it at night, on a patch of ground you can’t physically check beforehand, with the threat of fire from the ground, is a different affair. To put this into perspective, no one here could remember when the British Army last did anything like this on such a scale. We planned very hard in conjunction with the Brit air people out here and in so doing, established an excellent rapport with them. There is little doubt that the personal relationships we formed during the period before we inserted were as important as the formulation of the joint plan. The pilots really pulled their fingers out for us in some very challenging flying conditions. We inserted in two waves of five helicopters each, right onto where we thought the Taliban were mostly grouped. I am afraid that if we’re honest, few of us could pretend that soldier in us wasn’t excited by this. We have trained for this sort of thing many times over the years, but from my perspective at least, it was more exhilarating than I had thought it would be. We were all crammed onto the helicopters and flew in formation to the ‘landing zone’, hugging the mountainside, flying low over the ground and swooped into our destination. We hit the deck amongst swirling dust and poured off the back into the night. Within half an hour we had nearly 300 soldiers right into the centre of an area where the Taliban thought they were untouchable.
Our prompt arrival shocked the Taliban, as we had hoped it would, but inevitably, fighting started pretty quickly. With C Company leading, we had to cross a river to get to their forward positions, but we’d done our homework and knew where to cross quickly and were into their defences pretty quickly. The first positions that we came across capitulated without resistance, but as the sun began to rise, the Taliban started to take us on. As usual, they fought hard and engagements were all close quarter. We weren’t alone, of course. In this case, as well as the boys on the ground, we had harrier fighter jets, apache attack helicopters, artillery, mortars, airborne surveillance devices, heavy machine guns, ground-based missile systems…all from different nations. Even with all that technology and firepower, with collateral damage a very real issue and in circumstances where combat is characterised by to toe-to-toe fighting, often the most precious commodity is raw human courage, and even then, luck has to play its part. Sadly, we lost a couple of men early on, one an Australian, who was killed and Rfn Alok Kandawa, who was wounded in the eye. The Australian and his SAS team had been a brilliant support to us leading up to our insertion and we had established a very close bond. His team came across a concealed Taliban bunker as they were moving round the flank of C Company. They came under immediate heavy fire and Sgt Locke was hit during the initial exchanges. We all felt it when we heard his team was in trouble. The boys responded instantly, fighting across the ground to link up, many displaying remarkable bravery under fire to try to help. Sgt Locke was mortally wounded, but we were at least able to secure the position for the Australians. He and Rfn Alok were then evacuated, by helicopter.
The fighting continued for about three days, but the effect was good. We were able to concentrate the Taliban resistance into a specific area, which gave A Company relative freedom of manoeuvre in the immediate surrounding area. This meant that as we ground the Taliban down, we were able to clear our initial objective for handover to an Australian reconstruction team, the task of which was to rebuild various local check points that had been previously lost to the Taliban.
Our progress during these early stages was gradual, but we always held the initiative and as you might imagine, the key is to keep these people guessing. They are no fools and many of them have considerable combat experience. It wouldn’t have taken them long to establish where we were and what our techniques were. Throughout, Sp Company had been watching them further down the valley from an ‘observation post’ that we had inserted 7000 feet up on the nearby ridgeline (more brilliant flying required here) and identified what was clearly a Taliban command centre and ammunition cache. The Taliban obviously felt safe in this area. They were walking around openly carrying weapons and moving ammunition from there to the point where the fighting was taking place – almost a daily commute for the fighters. We had provisionally planned to hit them a second time in depth positions. So, in a synchronised strike, we hit the ammunition cache with a single missile and landed A Company in another helicopter insertion. This proved to be decisive. The Taliban left the area very quickly thereafter and we then had the valley to ourselves.
The emphasis then switched to searching for Taliban weapons and ammunition and destroying the various bunkers they had constructed from which to fight throughout the valley. We coupled this activity with ‘reassurance’ initiatives aimed at the local population, including medical clinics and basic humanitarian assistance. As you might expect, families left the valley in droves when the fighting started, but as the fighting subsided they returned quickly. From the ridgeline ‘observation post’ we counted in the region of 600 locals returning to their homes that day. Over the days that followed we found a number of significant weapons dumps, lots of ammunition and the components for improvised explosive devices. We detained a number of individuals identified by the Afghan Army as potential Taliban activists and destroyed a series of what were very well prepared Taliban defensive positions. We were under pressure of time, but with Sp Company providing flank protection, A and C Companies combed the valley in some detail, all by foot, and with complete freedom of manoeuvre. By the time that we reached the fringes of the valley, we found locals destroying the bunkers for us. This was a good sign.
Then came the final push. We had been warned that we might have to reinforce the Dutch in the area closest to their main base in the province – a plain at the mouth of the Baluchi Valley – and the orders duly came through soon after we had made our final pass through the valley. The Dutch had had quite a fight trying to link up with us at the base of the valley and had had to stop just short of their final objective. We were briefed that Taliban were all over the area. Having been operating overtly in the region for some days by this stage, our positions were obvious and the Taliban would have been expecting us to assault from the mouth of the valley. Our best option was to get in behind them covertly. With Sp Company protecting us from interference from the north and A Company driving directly into the likely forward defences of the Taliban, C Company negotiated its way down a river bed, through 8 KM of Taliban positions. With the assistance of the Recce Platoon, we announced our arrival at dawn with explosive entry to a number of compounds previously identified as Taliban. We caught them at Morning Prayer time and there was absolutely no resistance. We changed our posture as soon as we sensed that we were unlikely to have to fight, but I have to say that, the atmosphere reminded me of Sangin, in Helmand, when I was here last year. Then, UK troops entered what appeared to be a calm village with berets on and 24 hours later were fighting for their lives. Local people were either over welcoming, reassuring us that we didn’t need to stay, or we were being watched by groups of what we call ‘fighting-age males’. Sure enough, we soon had a sniper engage one of our patrols, but thereafter attempts to catch us out with improvised explosive devices were thwarted. After a couple of days of ‘reassurance’ patrolling to check the area was stable, we withdrew and left the area to the Dutch.
All in all we covered some 29 KM of Taliban-dominated territory. I understand we got a couple of significant leaders amongst the dead and wounded and by disabling their defences, destroying their weapons and trauma medical facilities, the boys will have undermined their hold on the area. However, one has to be realistic, in this sort of campaign, the man fighting you one moment can be ploughing the field next to you the next. The Afghan Army are good at sniffing these bods out, but it is inevitable that a good number go undetected and we can’t detain individuals without good grounds. Obviously, the best way to be rid of the undesirables is to convince the communities in which they reside to reject them. But these people live in fear of retribution and need convincing of our intent and commitment. This takes time, but it has been reassuring to see quite how well equipped our boys are for this task – they are proving highly effective at dealing with the enemy and are making friends with locals and allies alike. They changed gear on this operation. The Australian SAS could not have been more effusive in their praise of their performance under fire and the RAF crews aboard the helicopters carrying us in remarked at how calm the boys were. Apparently, others in such circumstances have been less poised! When it comes to switching posture, they are naturals: the locals can’t sell them enough chickens and goats for field-consumption; the reach of the ‘Bollywood’ film industry is such that communication in Hindi is possible; and because of the cultural linkages, the interaction with the Afghan military is reportedly more developed than it is between these Afghans and other European/US troops.
And what or B Company? As you know, they are working with the Household Cavalry in Helmand and they were recently reinforced with their 16 new recruits. They took over from the Grenadier Guards Company which featured in the recent 'Panorama' documentary. Their experiences will be quite different from the remainder of the Battalion. Rather than manoeuvring through varied areas of southern Afghanistan, they are responsible for dominating a very important piece of ground, right at the southern tip of coalition-controlled territory in Helmand, around 'Forward Operating base DELHI'. Everything to the north of them is friendly, and everything to their south is mostly hostile. They see the Taliban every day and as the injury to Rfn Laldhoj Gurung indicates (we saw him as he flew through Kandahar on his way back to the UK and he was in remarkable form for someone shot in the chest), they have to put up with quite a lot of enemy fire. But I am getting such good reports about them. The Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry is tremendously impressed with their work. With the cultural links, they have made real in-roads into the local population and they are giving the Taliban more than they get. The UK Brigadier out here also singled me out yesterday to tell me how content he was with the job the Company is doing. We think of them a lot and it is good to see the boys who have started to trickle through on their way back for R&R. Secretly we hope that we will get the chance to do something together before Operation HERRICK 7 concludes.
As you can see it’s quite a mixed picture – some proper combat at one end of the spectrum, and good old ‘hearts and minds’ activities at the other end (what the boys describe as operations ‘with chillies’ and operations ‘without ‘chillies’!). And on that lighter note, we have also had some very amusing moments too, such as an un-named officer falling off a bridge into a river (nearly went in myself, if I’m honest), confused Gurkhas disembarking from helicopters in the wrong location and being employed temporarily as cohorts to other nations’ special forces (don’t worry, we got him back), and coming to the collective realisation in my tactical headquarters as dawn broke on day one, during the initial battle, that we had taken refuge in a field full of marijuana – breakfast was good that morning! Furthermore, the Gurkha Major, who went to visit B Company in Helmand, reports that the area surrounding their base has been cleared of chickens and that the local Taliban have taken to mounting check points to prevent the importation of any more – only a Gurkha unit could have that sort of effect on the enemy! We also had an excellent evening to celebrate Tihar on Remembrance Sunday, after having taken time out, of course, to remember the fallen, including Lex Roberts and our wounded.
So life has been very busy – there have been few slack days in the two months since those of us based in Kandahar arrived, and the B Company boys are at it every day – but time out here is passing quickly as a result. Our living conditions in the field are basic – we sleep rough and carry our life on our backs, most of which is ammunition, radios and their batteries and water – but those of us in Kandahar have just taken possession of our accommodation (renamed 'Camp ROBERTS'), where we are now housed together as a unit, and when we are back here life is fine. Things are different for B Company, welfare facilities at FOB DELHI are tight, but they are making significant improvements to their base too, in the way that our boys do. We all feel a long way from home, but we couldn’t ask for better support from you all – a pile of welfare parcels arrived this week (disconcertingly, all addressed to the RAO, but even he can’t handle that much welfare). So the message is: don’t feel too sorry for us. We can’t wait to be back with our loved ones again, but in many ways this is also an extraordinary experience and I suspect that for many this will prove to be a rich personal journey.
Across the Battalion, in Kandahar and Helmand, we all send you all our love and sincere thanks again for your fabulous support. The B Company boys have already started returning for R&R, but for the remainder of you, it is not too long to wait now, so make the most of the final few weeks of peace. In the mean time, have a drink on us…I think we’re all dying for a beer!
Jonny Bourne
Gurkha
Ellie