thedrifter
01-09-07, 06:09 AM
9 January 2007
LUCKY EDDIE: HOW I DODGED TALIBAN BULLETS
Royal Marines from Arbroath are hunting suicide bombers in Afghanistan. JAMES LYONS joins the men from India Company.
James Lyons
BRAVE Eddie Cain can laugh in the face of danger as he and his colleagues track down the Taliban.
He cheated death twice in three days on patrol in notorious Helmand province - and he can prove it.
Showing off a hole in his shirt made by a bullet that missed his shoulder by a whisker, Eddie, 25, said: "We are marines. It is part of the brief to laugh it off.
"If you don't laugh, you would cry and you can't do that out here."
Eddie, from Balloch, Dunbartonshire, and his fellow marines from Arbroath-based 45 Commando pride themselves on their sense of humour as they take on the fanatics in the frontline town of Garmsir.
Deep in the south of lawless Helmand province, it is the closest settlement to Pakistan, the key source of terrorist supplies and volunteers.
On Christmas Eve, the marines attacked a terrorist compound but the rebels put up stiff resistance.
Eddie and a comrade mounted the ridge of a hill overlooking the buildings but were beaten back by the fierce fire.
At the end of the 10-hour battle, his pal spotted the bullet hole in the left shoulder of his shirt.
The round had passed clean through the material bunched above his arm. In the heat of the battle, he hadn't even noticed.
Eddie added: "It was a bit of a shock at the time but it was a laugh because I had got back in one piece."
He still hasn't told his fiancee what happened but has kept the shirt to show her when he gets home.
She also won't want to hear that, just two days before the near miss, he was left with just a nasty bruise when he was hit by a ricochet during an intense firefight in Garmsir.
A bullet whistled past his commander's head before hitting a blast wall and slamming into his arm. Eddie said: "The boss thought I'd been shot."
Taliban recruits flock to Helmand, he says, to hone their deadly skills.
He added: "They come to prove themselves then move to other parts of Afghanistan.
"But they don't all make it back." Eddie is due to return home in a few weeks but admits he is grateful for his stint in Helmand.
He said: "These days, it's all 'over-the-horizon' fighting. But this was World War I and World War II tactics, which is a welcome change.
"The Taliban have trenches and use smoke and torch signals."
Fellow marine Mark Dodsworth was almost killed three times during his two-week tour in Garmsir.
Like Eddie, the 22-year-old, from Elgin, Moray, has developed a dark sense of humour.
He said: "We went down just as a ceasefire was done, so we weren't expecting any action. Three days in, the ceasefire was broken.
"That was when we started to enjoy ourselves."
His first close call came in an ambush on a town centre checkpoint. Mark stayed with a Land Rover, using its heavy machine gun to give his comrades cover as they climbed a roof to spot the enemy.
A bullet then whistled over his head.
He said: "I was fine until that round. That was closer than I would like."
Days later, Mark had his second escape during a patrol on "Taliban hill" - which overlooks a no-man's land between the area controlled by coalition troops and the zone held by the terrorists.
A Taliban mortar landed just five metres from Mark, who was saved by a crumbling mud and straw wall.
He said: "Mud blew everywhere and there was a big cloud of black smoke.
"A mortar landing or being shot at - you can't train for that. But we know we can't run scared. You have to get on with the job."
Later that night another mortar struck as he stood guard in a "sangar" - a reinforced sentry position.
Again, he escaped unharmed.
Mark still takes a ribbing from his mates about his luck, or lack of it, and says such "banter" helps them soldier on despite the risks. He joked: "People say they do not like being on duty with me but I will be doing the lottery when I get back."
Iain Urquart was alongside Mark during the ambush and first mortar attack.
The 20-year-old Marine, from Portree, on the Isle of Skye, only completed basic training four months ago.
He opted to join 45 Commando "partly because I knew it was the only chance to come out here".
His time in Garmsir make him far more experienced than many of his older comrades.
He said: "I could have been in for 16 years and not had the chance to have an experience like that. So it was great.
"I felt a bit scared on Taliban hill. I think you would be pretty stupid not to be."
Both men are now back at the British HQ in Lashkar Gah, 70 miles north, where the chief threat is suicide bombers.
However, they are looking forward to heading back to the town "fingers crossed", according to Mark.
He said: "It is very good to fight back. They kill themselves here. Down there you can fight back.
"We're going back, fingers crossed. It is something we want to do, that is why we joined up. Some people have waited years for that.
Ellie
LUCKY EDDIE: HOW I DODGED TALIBAN BULLETS
Royal Marines from Arbroath are hunting suicide bombers in Afghanistan. JAMES LYONS joins the men from India Company.
James Lyons
BRAVE Eddie Cain can laugh in the face of danger as he and his colleagues track down the Taliban.
He cheated death twice in three days on patrol in notorious Helmand province - and he can prove it.
Showing off a hole in his shirt made by a bullet that missed his shoulder by a whisker, Eddie, 25, said: "We are marines. It is part of the brief to laugh it off.
"If you don't laugh, you would cry and you can't do that out here."
Eddie, from Balloch, Dunbartonshire, and his fellow marines from Arbroath-based 45 Commando pride themselves on their sense of humour as they take on the fanatics in the frontline town of Garmsir.
Deep in the south of lawless Helmand province, it is the closest settlement to Pakistan, the key source of terrorist supplies and volunteers.
On Christmas Eve, the marines attacked a terrorist compound but the rebels put up stiff resistance.
Eddie and a comrade mounted the ridge of a hill overlooking the buildings but were beaten back by the fierce fire.
At the end of the 10-hour battle, his pal spotted the bullet hole in the left shoulder of his shirt.
The round had passed clean through the material bunched above his arm. In the heat of the battle, he hadn't even noticed.
Eddie added: "It was a bit of a shock at the time but it was a laugh because I had got back in one piece."
He still hasn't told his fiancee what happened but has kept the shirt to show her when he gets home.
She also won't want to hear that, just two days before the near miss, he was left with just a nasty bruise when he was hit by a ricochet during an intense firefight in Garmsir.
A bullet whistled past his commander's head before hitting a blast wall and slamming into his arm. Eddie said: "The boss thought I'd been shot."
Taliban recruits flock to Helmand, he says, to hone their deadly skills.
He added: "They come to prove themselves then move to other parts of Afghanistan.
"But they don't all make it back." Eddie is due to return home in a few weeks but admits he is grateful for his stint in Helmand.
He said: "These days, it's all 'over-the-horizon' fighting. But this was World War I and World War II tactics, which is a welcome change.
"The Taliban have trenches and use smoke and torch signals."
Fellow marine Mark Dodsworth was almost killed three times during his two-week tour in Garmsir.
Like Eddie, the 22-year-old, from Elgin, Moray, has developed a dark sense of humour.
He said: "We went down just as a ceasefire was done, so we weren't expecting any action. Three days in, the ceasefire was broken.
"That was when we started to enjoy ourselves."
His first close call came in an ambush on a town centre checkpoint. Mark stayed with a Land Rover, using its heavy machine gun to give his comrades cover as they climbed a roof to spot the enemy.
A bullet then whistled over his head.
He said: "I was fine until that round. That was closer than I would like."
Days later, Mark had his second escape during a patrol on "Taliban hill" - which overlooks a no-man's land between the area controlled by coalition troops and the zone held by the terrorists.
A Taliban mortar landed just five metres from Mark, who was saved by a crumbling mud and straw wall.
He said: "Mud blew everywhere and there was a big cloud of black smoke.
"A mortar landing or being shot at - you can't train for that. But we know we can't run scared. You have to get on with the job."
Later that night another mortar struck as he stood guard in a "sangar" - a reinforced sentry position.
Again, he escaped unharmed.
Mark still takes a ribbing from his mates about his luck, or lack of it, and says such "banter" helps them soldier on despite the risks. He joked: "People say they do not like being on duty with me but I will be doing the lottery when I get back."
Iain Urquart was alongside Mark during the ambush and first mortar attack.
The 20-year-old Marine, from Portree, on the Isle of Skye, only completed basic training four months ago.
He opted to join 45 Commando "partly because I knew it was the only chance to come out here".
His time in Garmsir make him far more experienced than many of his older comrades.
He said: "I could have been in for 16 years and not had the chance to have an experience like that. So it was great.
"I felt a bit scared on Taliban hill. I think you would be pretty stupid not to be."
Both men are now back at the British HQ in Lashkar Gah, 70 miles north, where the chief threat is suicide bombers.
However, they are looking forward to heading back to the town "fingers crossed", according to Mark.
He said: "It is very good to fight back. They kill themselves here. Down there you can fight back.
"We're going back, fingers crossed. It is something we want to do, that is why we joined up. Some people have waited years for that.
Ellie