0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains very strong language
0:00:04 > 0:00:06and scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07"Dear Mrs Gray,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14"My name is Bjorn Rose and I was your son Chris's Platoon Commander.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17"I was leading the platoon on the day that he was killed
0:00:17 > 0:00:20"and was with him seconds after he was hit by that fateful bullet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25"What I wanted to do was explain to you what had happened and try to help you
0:00:25 > 0:00:29"understand the circumstances surrounding his death."
0:00:29 > 0:00:32SHOUTING
0:00:32 > 0:00:35"Please be aware I am going to tell you everything
0:00:35 > 0:00:37"in as much detail as possible,
0:00:37 > 0:00:43"so if you feel you cannot read this yet then perhaps save it for a day that you feel stronger.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46"I am ultimately responsible for the lives of the men in my platoon,
0:00:46 > 0:00:49"and I feel it is my duty to tell you how it was that day."
0:00:53 > 0:00:56No modern conflict has been recorded like the one in Afghanistan.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Young soldiers take their own cameras to the front line
0:01:00 > 0:01:04and film the war as only they can see it.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08This, ladies and gentlemen, is fucking war!
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Fuck me!
0:01:11 > 0:01:14- EXPLOSION - Afghan camera. I'm here with the Sergeant Major.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I've been fucking smacked in the eye by shrapnel.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20At the moment, fucking Afghans are fucking all around us.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23We're just firing everything we've got.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25The cameras the soldiers use can go anywhere,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29and once set recording can easily be forgotten.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34Pull back!
0:01:35 > 0:01:38This war has been fought for ten years,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42and thousands of hours of this uncensored footage
0:01:42 > 0:01:44has been held by the Ministry of Defence.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46Die, motherfucker!
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Now, the MoD and the young soldiers
0:01:49 > 0:01:53have allowed us to use that footage to tell their extraordinary stories.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54RADIO CRACKLES
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Any last words for your bird?
0:01:56 > 0:01:58GUNFIRE
0:02:01 > 0:02:05This is the story of a close-knit group of friends
0:02:05 > 0:02:10led into battle by Lieutenant Bjorn Rose in the summer of 2007.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14By the end of their tour, one would be dead and others injured
0:02:14 > 0:02:18in what would become the defining summer of their lives.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38On March 25th 2007, 600 men from the 1 Royal Anglian Regiment
0:02:38 > 0:02:42waited to board a flight to Afghanistan.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Among them was Platoon Sergeant Simon Panter,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53He filmed the whole six-month tour.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59'We knew that it was going to be a tough, tough tour.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01'The information we were given -
0:03:01 > 0:03:05'expect a fight with the Taliban.'
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Chose to film it, you know, to look back on in years to come.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10You know, a bit of posterity, history.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13When I'm getting old and grey, sitting in my wheelchair,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15sit back and have a laugh.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21That's us now boarding the flight off...
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Take us to Kandahar on Op Herrick 6.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31- PILOT:- ..seat in front of you. As a reminder,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35you will require your helmet and body armour available for the descent into Kandahar.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39With Sergeant Panter on the plane were the soldiers of his platoon.
0:03:40 > 0:03:433 Platoon were a group of 19 young men.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Most had never been to a war zone before.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51'We were all quite young so... It's not that we didn't take it seriously,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54'but none of us knew really what to expect.'
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Afghan wasn't really a big thing then, it was all still Iraq.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01It was like, "I'm going to Afghan, and they're like, "OK, cool."
0:04:01 > 0:04:03No-one thought anything about it.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06I remember my Section Commander calling me up to the office
0:04:06 > 0:04:07and I'm thinking, "What have I done wrong now?"
0:04:07 > 0:04:11So he called me and he says, "Do you want to go to Afghanistan?"
0:04:11 > 0:04:14First I'm like, "Scuse me?"
0:04:14 > 0:04:19And then the first thing that came out of my mouth was "Yes!" I were excited.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22It took 3 Platoon almost two weeks to reach the front line.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26First there was an eight-hour flight to Kandahar.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37'When you step off the plane,'
0:04:37 > 0:04:39that's when it just feels reality.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42You're like, I'm here for six months.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Is it going to be a long one?
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Or is it going to go quick?
0:04:53 > 0:04:543 Platoon travelled to
0:04:54 > 0:04:59their first Combat Outpost, or COP, by Chinook helicopter.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04You're looking out the windows, you're feeling it, you're nervous,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06your heart's pumping, you're sweating, really hot.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Flying over desert, thinking are we going to get RPG-ed here?
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Is the enemy in the mountains?
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Although they'd trained together in Kenya, they'd never fought together...
0:05:16 > 0:05:20and they had a new lieutenant, Bjorn Rose.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24'I joined A Company, 1 Royal Anglian, in January 2007.'
0:05:24 > 0:05:26The platoon I found was a mix of
0:05:26 > 0:05:28people who had operational experience,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32so people who had been away to Iraq 18 months previously,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34but also a lot of boys.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36I say boys because they WERE boys.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Sort of 18, 19-year-olds who had literally just come out of training
0:05:40 > 0:05:43and were joining the battalion for their first tour.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'It was a fixed platoon. No-one new coming in very often'
0:05:47 > 0:05:49and no-one leaving the platoon.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53So we all worked together loads on exercises,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55on all the live fire shoots we did.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59So it was a very close-knit platoon.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02'Matthew Duffy, he was a bloke who I went through training with.'
0:06:02 > 0:06:06He's a great laugh, can be very immature at times.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'Stringer's a good bloke. Don't know if he liked me to begin with.'
0:06:09 > 0:06:11I asked him if his mum knew he was there.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13And I don't think he appreciated that.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15'Duffy at that time was in a clique'
0:06:15 > 0:06:17with some other soldiers -
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Private Croft, who looked about 12,
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Private Chris Gray, who was only 19
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and yet I think he was quite mature for his age.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26As a soldier, Chris Gray was very professional.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30He probably loved it a bit too much, actually. Very keen.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33His kit had to be perfect.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36WOMAN: He had a thing about guns, Christopher did.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Even from a young age it was every toy, "Can I have a gun?"
0:06:41 > 0:06:42That's all he ever said.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46And I said when he was little, he's either going to be a mass murderer
0:06:46 > 0:06:48or he's going to join the Army.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51It had to be one or the other. I'm glad it was the Army.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Well, no, I'm not glad it was the Army.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56But I wouldn't want him to be a mass murderer either.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03After a 20-minute flight,
0:07:03 > 0:07:073 Platoon were dropped on the outskirts of a town called Now Zad.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20"You're running off thinking what's happening, what's happening?"
0:07:20 > 0:07:23There's dust everywhere, you can't see or hear anything
0:07:23 > 0:07:26because of the helicopter. And the helicopter sets off.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30And you're lying there and all the dust then settles. And you're looking around, wow.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38Home for the next two months was this fortified compound,
0:07:38 > 0:07:39a disused town hall.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46The troops that had been here previously had come under intense attack by the Taliban.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Int cell.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52This is where they do all the analysis.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56It's the hub of the intelligence world within Now Zad.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00We also give briefings in here, but it's very hot and sweaty so I don't like it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03The spike that's come through the ceiling, that's where they put the flag pole up
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and didn't quite realise how thin the roof was.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07The whole place is falling down, really. This here, I like this bit.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11This is when the Fusiliers were here, spray of blood in the corner. Excellent.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16I couldn't believe it, all these houses were made out of mud huts.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21You know. It was quite amazing how small they actually are.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25With the doors, as you go in you have to bend down,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28which was quite annoying, especially with kit.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32You were literally living in what seemed like a dusty cave.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37You spent a lot of your time just making it a bit more comfortable, a bit more homely.
0:08:39 > 0:08:433 Platoon's new home was a long way from anywhere
0:08:43 > 0:08:45and in the middle of enemy territory.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49It would take reinforcements at least 20 minutes to get there
0:08:49 > 0:08:50if they came under attack.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Now Zad sits in a valley bowl
0:08:53 > 0:08:57surrounded by mountains that go up to about 2,000 metres.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59It was surrounded by a cluster of small villages
0:08:59 > 0:09:02that were known to be occupied by the Taliban.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06The Gurkhas had occupied this District Centre,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10had found themselves surrounded and under siege
0:09:10 > 0:09:12and the situation had developed to the point
0:09:12 > 0:09:15where there was a status quo established in Now Zad,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18where they were in the District Centre
0:09:18 > 0:09:21and the Taliban were over a dry wadi, a dry river bed,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23on the other half of the town.
0:09:23 > 0:09:24So we were there essentially
0:09:24 > 0:09:28just to make sure that the status quo remained the same.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31The only thing we really controlled was about 500 metres
0:09:31 > 0:09:35around where we found ourselves in the District Centre.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37And that's the situation that we took over.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44The conflict that had brought 3 Platoon 3,500 miles
0:09:44 > 0:09:47to this remote outpost
0:09:47 > 0:09:51was sparked by events one Tuesday morning six years earlier.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56- TV:- In the past few minutes, a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59- TV:- ..a cloud of grey smoke coming from the top of it,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02and now, in the last 30 seconds, another explosion...
0:10:02 > 0:10:05On September 11th 2001,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07the world watched in horror as hijacked airliners
0:10:07 > 0:10:12were deliberately crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and the American military headquarters -
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the Pentagon in Washington DC.
0:10:17 > 0:10:23- TV:- So this looks like, frankly, the largest terrorist operation we've probably ever seen on the planet.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26I was on the school bus on the way back,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and, literally just pulled up outside my house,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and I think the bus driver said, "Make sure you check the news, the twin towers have been hit."
0:10:35 > 0:10:39And I remember thinking, what are the twin towers? Didn't have a clue.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42I was at school at the time.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I didn't really think much of it, to be honest,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48it's just something that happened in America to me.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55My mother was watching the news
0:10:55 > 0:10:59when I got home and she said, "Look at that," and I was like, "Whoa..."
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Big explosions and stuff.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03I was only 14, at school.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Didn't really have much on my mind at all.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Within days the men behind the attacks were identified as Al-Qaeda -
0:11:13 > 0:11:18an ultra-Islamist terrorist network run by Osama Bin Laden.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20UNTRANSLATED
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Everyone knew that Bin Laden and his men were being protected by the Taliban,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26who'd seized power in Afghanistan.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Bin Laden became the world's most wanted man.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Deliver to United States authorities
0:11:39 > 0:11:42all the leaders of Al-Qaeda who hide in your land.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Within a month, war was declared.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55The Taliban were swept aside, Allied forces claimed victory.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06But Bin Laden was nowhere to be found.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17OK, this is the mouse hole that goes through to the back gate, which is there.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21It comes through into this compound, there's another mouse hole there.
0:12:21 > 0:12:27There's also another mouse hole going through there...
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Back in Now Zad, 3 Platoon were settling into the COP
0:12:30 > 0:12:34and discovering just how smart the enemy was.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39The whole outpost was riddled with a network of firing points and tunnels
0:12:39 > 0:12:43from where the Taliban could spy or attack.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45GUNFIRE
0:12:45 > 0:12:48It's so easy for them to get so close to camp.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51You're lying in bed thinking, is tonight the night?
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Are they going to come? What's going to come through that wall? Are they going to explode through my bedroom?
0:12:55 > 0:12:59For the first three, four weeks I'd sleep with my weapon
0:12:59 > 0:13:02always there on my bed, looking at this wall thinking,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06if they're going to come through, they're going to come through there.
0:13:08 > 0:13:14This is a pucker's ambush location, isn't it?
0:13:14 > 0:13:18They've got another firing arm just down there, another one there,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21three of the fuckers here.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26One by one, Bjorn and his men laid mines to blow up the hundreds of walls and ambush points.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29It took a week to secure the base.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Right, are you turning off your radio, or not?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34I'll get behind that wall and stay there.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36OK. I'm going back.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39When we started doing a few more patrols and started getting used to it,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41things started getting a bit more comfortable.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Duffy, instead of looking down at the ground,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47where should you be looking?
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Right, let's fucking do it.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Everything didn't seem completely different in very...
0:13:52 > 0:13:54It's like you're actually there.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56To begin with it's like you're watching somebody else do it.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59It's very abstract, if you know what I mean.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02But then, yeah, you get comfortable when you get into a routine.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09- Stay down!- Stay down!
0:14:09 > 0:14:11- Dom.- Yeah?
0:14:11 > 0:14:13- Coming out. - MAN LAUGHS
0:14:13 > 0:14:15That was half a barmine...!
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- That's half!- Shit!
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Fuckin' hell!
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- And that's half. - That's half a barmine.
0:14:21 > 0:14:243 Platoon continued their work
0:14:24 > 0:14:29and it became clear that an enemy that was apparently defeated in 2001
0:14:29 > 0:14:33was still very much a threat.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38REPORTER: 'Royal Marines and engineers surveying how to begin the task of reconstruction.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:44In the two years after victory was declared, the allies set about rebuilding Afghanistan.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Big plans were made and money was promised.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54But then the West's war on terror switched to a new target.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Britain and America committed massive resources to the Iraq war,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06that rapidly spiralled out of control.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14Iraqi insurgency was born, and they fought back in any way they could.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Holy shit!
0:15:19 > 0:15:22All this took everyone's eyes off Afghanistan.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Quietly, the Taliban were watching and learning from what was happening in Iraq.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31Videos were produced showing the best ways to kill British troops
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and more and more young men were joining the fight against the West.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40And then, on 28th January, 2004,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45the first British soldier died at the hands of the enemy.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50The Taliban was back and ready to fight.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03With the perimeter of their base secured,
0:16:03 > 0:16:053 Platoon were able to push out into the old town
0:16:05 > 0:16:07for their first patrol.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11I was quite nervous.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14It was, like, a Taliban training camp.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Just walking around is proper eerie.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20The town, when we occupied it, was deserted -
0:16:20 > 0:16:21there was nobody there at all.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24All the civilians had moved out because of the fighting.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Literally, you imagine some sort of Spaghetti Western.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30You know, there was a main drag
0:16:30 > 0:16:36and it was tumbleweed going down, shutters flapping.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39It was eerie, really eerie. There was nothing there.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Like a ghost town, innit, Clarky?
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Madness.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48To be totally honest, first patrol,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50I was actually kind of shitting myself,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52cos I didn't know what to expect.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54It was my first patrol on my first tour.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Every little bang and stuff you'd look, you'd jump,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00and have a look, see what it was.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08It was only about an hour and a half long, if that. Just a satellite patrol.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11I remember when I first walked out and thinking,
0:17:11 > 0:17:13"Cor, it's like being in Norwich."
0:17:13 > 0:17:15It was just weird seeing it not be lived in.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It was like it wasn't real, like it was a film set or something.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20And you were a bit, "What was that?"
0:17:20 > 0:17:22A bit jumpy.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Go on, then. Here you go.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39"I'm not sure if Chris informed you of where he was or what it is like.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44"I thought it might help if I painted a picture of the town in which he found himself.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50"Now Zad is the northernmost town that we have British troops in Helmand Province.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53"It boasts one of the only metalled roads
0:17:53 > 0:17:55"that runs through the district centre.
0:17:55 > 0:17:56"It was on this road
0:17:56 > 0:17:59"that all the shops from the old bazaar were located.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03"In happier times these were thriving
0:18:03 > 0:18:05"with people selling all their local produce
0:18:05 > 0:18:08"they had harvested from the surrounding fields.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11"Today the town is utterly deserted,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15"the old bazaar a bombed-out ghost town.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16"It's deserted
0:18:16 > 0:18:19"because it had been the centre of intense fighting on and off
0:18:19 > 0:18:21"since last 2006."
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- REPORTER:- 'This is the centre of Now Zad town
0:18:25 > 0:18:27'the aftermath of a bombing raid
0:18:27 > 0:18:29'called in by British forces.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32"Chris may have said
0:18:32 > 0:18:37"that until the 13th of April, Now Zad had been very quiet for us.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39"Not a single shot had been fired in anger.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42"We'd all begun to think that the Taliban were a myth.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46OK, it's recording now.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50It's all going to go!
0:18:52 > 0:18:54INDISTINCT SPEECH OFF-CAMERA
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Fuckin' hell!
0:19:01 > 0:19:04'After two weeks of patrolling in Now Zad,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07'getting familiar with the area, testing our weapon systems,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10'feeling confident and acclimatised in the country,'
0:19:10 > 0:19:16Major Biddick decided that... he would shatter the calm.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Major Dom Biddick,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21the Officer Commanding the Royal Anglians in Now Zad,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23was a former intelligence officer
0:19:23 > 0:19:25who had served in Afghanistan twice before.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29His task was to implement a new strategy for the British Army.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Take the fight to the enemy.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35The operation on Friday the 13th
0:19:35 > 0:19:38was to clear an area called Sorkani,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41which was an area to the east of the district centre, where we were based.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46It was an area where we knew there was a Taliban stronghold, basically,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49so it was about getting on the front foot, letting them know
0:19:49 > 0:19:54that they were no longer going to be able to feel secure and unmolested in that area.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59At the end of the day, we was out there to get rid of the Taliban,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and if we had to go and find them, we had to go and find them to do that
0:20:02 > 0:20:06and upset their little apple cart, and upset the way they live
0:20:06 > 0:20:09and let them know that we are here
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and we are here to stay.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21We were all in the wadi, formed up,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24ready to cross the line of departure at dawn.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27At the back of all the soldiers' minds they're thinking,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29you know, "This is it. We're crossing the wadi,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31"we're going into Taliban-held area
0:20:31 > 0:20:34"and the likelihood is we're going to get in a scrap,"
0:20:34 > 0:20:35and they were all up for it.
0:20:38 > 0:20:39Candid Camera, you're on.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46The plan was for Platoons 1, 2 and 3 to move through Sorkani house by house
0:20:46 > 0:20:51until it was clear of Taliban fighters, weapons and firing points.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57The town was dead once we'd crossed the wadi, there was no-one there.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I think Stringer, he saw a little boy run off as soon as they saw us.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Didn't think nothing of it.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08There's, like, fires that had been put out, so there'd been people there
0:21:08 > 0:21:10as we'd been moving up.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14It was like we knew something was about to happen, but we didn't know when.
0:21:14 > 0:21:1651, on me.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26We were conscious of the fact that the Taliban had been talking on the radio,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30and we could intercept their radio communications and we could hear what they were saying,
0:21:30 > 0:21:35and they gradually became aware as the sun came up that we were there in Sorkani,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39and the essence of what we got from their radio messages
0:21:39 > 0:21:42was that we'd stirred up the hornet's nest a little bit.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49After four hours of clearing, the troops had found nothing
0:21:49 > 0:21:54and Number 1 Platoon had reached the edge of the village.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57We knew that this was actually a point of high risk,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00not least cos it put us at the greatest distance from our base
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and the greatest proximity to the enemy.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06It was a bit of a pause, because we knew it was a delicate time in the operation.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10The order was going to get called to withdraw back.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14We've now cleared through, we've found nothing and we're thinking,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16wrong, why is there nowt here?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It came on the radio we were going to withdraw.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23As soon as that happened, I remember just a world of fire came down.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25EXPLOSION, RAPID GUNFIRE
0:22:25 > 0:22:281 Platoon had walked into an ambush.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36There was an almighty eruption of fire from our north,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37where we knew 1 Platoon were.
0:22:37 > 0:22:43And when I say an almighty eruption of fire, it was a coordinated ambush.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47- Is that 51 firing there?- I don't know what it is. I think it's 51.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Fuck! So, what's all that, then?
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Did they get our blue smoke, did they?
0:22:53 > 0:22:56We're going to put another one up. Give me another smoke.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00- This is what it's all about!- 'When we first started getting shot at,'
0:23:00 > 0:23:02I'm like, that's got to be someone else.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06On exercise, there's usually a lot of people cutting around on the area.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08I was like, hold on, there's no-one else here.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Then I thought, hold on, I could get hit.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19So, for some reason I tried taking cover behind some grass that I was in,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22so I figured that really wasn't going to work, so I just sat down,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25leaned against a wall and just waited out to be told what to do.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Get spread out in this fucking BUND line.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31Get spread out.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38I want a GPMG or a fucking LMG there.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44I remember walking down an alleyway thinking, oh, this is brilliant, this is my first contact.
0:23:44 > 0:23:45I remember looking at Chris Gray
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and he did the "rock on" symbol to me, like, this is it!
0:23:48 > 0:23:51We spoke about this for ages, what's the first contact going to be like?
0:23:51 > 0:23:53So, I was like, yeah, rock on back.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55BULLETS WHISTLE
0:23:55 > 0:23:59That was coming this way, that one. That one was coming this way.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Right, let's go, then, boss. Lead off, boss.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09I'll bring up the rear, let's go.
0:24:09 > 0:24:121 Platoon were pinned down.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16From his position, Major Biddick spotted an immediate threat.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19If the Taliban sent men around to the left,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22they could cut 1 Platoon off and attack them from behind.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26So, he ordered 3 Platoon north to stop it from happening.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Corporal Moore was first, he was going to lead with 1 Section,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32and his point man was Private Chris Gray.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Chris Gray was one of the front two,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38the reason being he had the light machine gun,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41so if it did kick off, there was a heavier rate of fire
0:24:41 > 0:24:44that could be put down straight away.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46You and I'll cover the rear.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Where's Stringer? You're with me.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50You've got the rifle, cover our fucking arse.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52- You're last man, right.- Will do.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56We got told we was going to go round and try and outflank the enemy
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and cos I was Platoon Sergeant's group,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Platoon Sergeant's group is generally at the rear,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03I stayed back, the other sections went forward.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Right, pass it down, keep the fucking noise down now.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Fucking hell! Jock's just had a five-metre contact with the Taliban.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Corporal Jock Flight was moving through the alleyways
0:25:33 > 0:25:37in a very similar direction to us, he was just slightly north of us.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42And all of a sudden it came over the radio that he'd had what he called
0:25:42 > 0:25:44a five-metre contact with the enemy,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46which essentially means that he'd bumped into the enemy.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50He'd walked round a corner and had a meeting engagement with them.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53But that immediately rang alarm bells in my head
0:25:53 > 0:25:57because as I plotted on the map where he was, and I worked out where we were
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and I worked out the course that we were taking, would pretty much...
0:26:01 > 0:26:05any Taliban that was fleeing from him would run into us.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09There was a light bulb moment when I realised, we're going to run into them.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17At the front of the platoon, Billy Moore and Chris Gray had just walked into an orchard.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20I made the rest of the section stay back slightly,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24stay in cover, while me and Chris went forward to clear.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28We heard some noise and then we saw five guys walk out in front of us
0:26:28 > 0:26:32carrying weapons and belts of ammunition strapped round them.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35So, there was no question that they were enemy
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and we knew what they were going to go and do, so we didn't hesitate.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42The visibility, limited by the trees, was only about 15 metres,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44and I can just about see the front of the platoon
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and there was smoke coming off the guns as they started firing.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51We dropped the enemy that was to our front, and then once we'd done that,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55the enemy behind the wall started engaging us.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57RAPID GUNFIRE
0:27:00 > 0:27:05At the rear of 3 Platoon, separated by 150 metres of mud wall,
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Sergeant Si Panter was unaware of the seriousness of the situation.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Get here! Get here, you cunt!
0:27:13 > 0:27:16The bullets had started flying, there's a little bit of excitement,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18and I was at the back - tail-end Charlie.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24And being in contact is almost like a drug. It's good fun.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30I know it sounds very strange, but being a soldier, there's nothing like being in contact.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32It lets you know you're alive.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Let's go.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36GUNFIRE
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Shh!
0:27:40 > 0:27:46We got the upper hand. I give Chris a kick on the arse and tell him to do the first bound backwards.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49He turned, he looked at me and said, "Bill, I'm hit."
0:27:49 > 0:27:51And then he dropped at my feet.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Next thing, "Man down! Man down! Man down!"
0:27:54 > 0:27:55The whole world came down on us.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59All I could hear was rounds going off, grenades going off.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01As soon as we heard that, "Man down, man down!"
0:28:01 > 0:28:03It's the worst thing you can hear as a soldier.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07I was out there on a limb, on my own, guys were trying
0:28:07 > 0:28:10to get forward to me, they were getting beaten back by the fire.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14I had to do everything I could to try and get help forward.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17That's where I dropped my rifle, picked up his
0:28:17 > 0:28:21light machine gun, and I just basically sprayed
0:28:21 > 0:28:24the general direction where the enemy fire was coming from.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26GUNFIRE
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Keep fucking facing rear!
0:28:33 > 0:28:35And you.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39'The drill is that when somebody says "man down"
0:28:39 > 0:28:40'because there's a casualty,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44'it should be said by every man in the platoon until it reaches the Platoon Sergeant'
0:28:44 > 0:28:46at the back of the platoon.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52And I heard "man down" and I thought, "No".
0:28:52 > 0:28:56And it got shouted all along, it got to me and I didn't say it.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00And I was in denial and I thought, "No, this isn't happening."
0:29:00 > 0:29:02And I thought, "No, there's been a mistake."
0:29:02 > 0:29:06And then I heard it again, more urgently this time. "Man Down!"
0:29:06 > 0:29:08From the front, it got all the way up to me again and I thought,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12I've got to say it. I said, "Man down!" I was like, "Right, this is it."
0:29:12 > 0:29:14You know, what is going on here?
0:29:14 > 0:29:17And it continued down the line towards Sergeant Panter.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23- Man down!- Where?
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Where, where, where, where, where?
0:29:29 > 0:29:32- Where is he?!- Straight down.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Two of you, come with me!
0:29:35 > 0:29:42'What I'm supposed to do as Platoon Sergeant in a contact when we have a man down, is wait at the rear,'
0:29:42 > 0:29:48- 'get the guys in all round defence and wait for the section to bring the casualty to me.'- Man down!
0:29:48 > 0:29:52- Who is it?- I don't know yet!
0:29:52 > 0:29:54On this occasion,
0:29:54 > 0:30:00it sort of... I was blinkered and just thought, "Man down, blimey. Go."
0:30:00 > 0:30:01Get him to me now!
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Eventually I got level with Corporal Moore at the front of the platoon,
0:30:11 > 0:30:12and I said, "What's going on?"
0:30:12 > 0:30:14And he said, "I've got a man down."
0:30:14 > 0:30:17And I said, "Who is it?" And he said, "It's Gray."
0:30:17 > 0:30:20And before I had a chance to do anything else, he
0:30:20 > 0:30:24pulled the pin out of a grenade and he threw the grenade to the front.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26EXPLOSION
0:30:26 > 0:30:29In the confusion, Panter thought the fire could be 1 Platoon.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31Stop firing!
0:30:31 > 0:30:35- There's enemy down there! - It's not enemy, it's blue!
0:30:35 > 0:30:40- It's enemy.- Go!
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Oy, go! Scrivener, Simmo, get the casualty to me now.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48When I got there he was lying on his face and I was like...
0:30:48 > 0:30:51I saw loads of blood on his arm.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53I was like, "Who is it?"
0:30:53 > 0:30:57For some reason, because I didn't recognise him. I clocked who it was.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59So I started trying to pick him up and that.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02As I moved, a massive rate of fire came down.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Same thing we do, you see enemy moving, you give a massive rate of fire.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09So they could see us, but it was so frustrating, we could not see them.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12GUNFIRE
0:31:12 > 0:31:15In the process of that,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18it was complete chaos. I heard Corporal Moore say to me,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20"Boss, I've been hit."
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I'm hit! I'm hit! I'm hit! I'm hit!
0:31:26 > 0:31:28Go, back! Get back!
0:31:33 > 0:31:37Get down! Boss! Get me that casualty now!
0:31:37 > 0:31:40I bumped into Billy Moore, and he'd been hit in the arm.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43And I thought, "Oh..." I know it's bad to say, sort of...
0:31:43 > 0:31:46I thought, "Oh, thank God this is just the casualty.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50"It's just a gunshot wound to the arm." I was a team medic at the time.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53So I just thought I'd FFD in his arm, put the field dressings on.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57The wound was so big that the first FFD I put on had slipped inside.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01So I then had to get my fingers inside and pull this FFD out and it
0:32:01 > 0:32:03was like, "Oh, that's a bit disgusting."
0:32:03 > 0:32:07But Billy Moore was not the only casualty.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Go on, two of you, get this casualty back now!
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Get him up! Pick him up, you cunts!
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Get his kit off him.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Get it off of him.
0:32:25 > 0:32:26Get it off of him!
0:32:37 > 0:32:44No movement, his eyes were open at the time and they were just lifeless at the time.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48My initial concern that he was dead.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59- He's gone.- No, he's alive.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Right, get him back. Get him back.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04Get him back! Leave his kit, get him back!
0:33:06 > 0:33:09'I pushed back and I started sending a radio message to the Company
0:33:09 > 0:33:13'Commander, letting him know what had happened and that we had a casualty.'
0:33:13 > 0:33:20And when it came to the part of the report that you send where you say what state the casualty's in,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24I was... I hesitated. I wasn't sure what to say.
0:33:24 > 0:33:30And I kept shouting over to Sergeant Panter who was about ten metres away from me, I kept saying, "What is he?
0:33:30 > 0:33:32"Is he... Is he T4?"
0:33:32 > 0:33:36And T4 is a designation you give to someone who's been killed, to someone who's dead.
0:33:40 > 0:33:41No, wait!
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Do not send that yet!
0:33:43 > 0:33:44I was like, "Don't send that.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46"He isn't dead yet."
0:33:46 > 0:33:49"Send it as a T1, a priority one casualty."
0:33:49 > 0:33:53So yeah, I did get a little bit cross then, cos I was thinking, "We don't want to have
0:33:53 > 0:33:56"a dead soldier, he's not dead, we're going to try and save his life."
0:33:56 > 0:33:59In the immediate moments hearing there was a casualty, we actually
0:33:59 > 0:34:01continued prosecuting the contact.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06So for me and for over two-thirds of the company,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11nothing changed in that first instance when Private Gray was shot.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15But an element of his platoon immediately focused on the casualty evacuation, began to relay the
0:34:15 > 0:34:19information about what had happened back to the headquarters, who then started triggering the
0:34:19 > 0:34:23casualty evacuation response from the main UK base in Camp Bastion.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29We've got a T1 in Now Zad, we're still waiting for the nine-liner to come in.
0:34:29 > 0:34:35Currently don't have an LS grid. Details to follow on the nine-liner.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39- You firing up, Pete?- Jules, we're going to go low-level the whole way.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47By coincidence, a BBC documentary crew were
0:34:47 > 0:34:51filming the Chinook pilot when the call from Now Zad was received.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01They kept filming as he headed into the desert.
0:35:02 > 0:35:07The intelligence reports made it very clear that it was a very hostile area.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11But there's going to be a damn good reason why you're strapping into an
0:35:11 > 0:35:14aircraft and about to fly into a particularly dangerous area.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18And that's because somebody on the ground needs you there and needs you there now.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Put him on the stretcher!
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Get him back.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Right, let's do it here. Stop! Stop!
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Get the fucking shit on him now.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Get the stuff on him. Get the team medic pack, let's go.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Eight minutes had passed since Chris Gray was shot.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Duffy, the team medic, arrived to help.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48Where's he been hit?
0:35:48 > 0:35:50The back, exit wound to the front.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54'Duffy was instrumental in treating the casualty.'
0:35:54 > 0:35:56He was very calm.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00Bear in mind that the casualty was his best friend in the platoon.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05He kept talking to Chris and he identified the wound.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Come on, Gray, keep fucking with it.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11Get him on his side. Right, get me the fucking FFD!
0:36:11 > 0:36:14- Give me another FFD. Get this FFD on him now.- 'It was a tiny wound.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17'There's a little curve in the Osprey body armour, that's where he got shot.'
0:36:17 > 0:36:19I remember thinking, Friday the 13th,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22and I thought at the time, "What a day to go out."
0:36:22 > 0:36:25How unlucky is this? Literally in the curve of the body armour.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29Is he breathing? Get some breath into him. Gray!
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Gray! Gray!
0:36:35 > 0:36:39The Platoon Sergeant was giving mouth-to-mouth to Private Chris Gray.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I remember him turning round going, "No, no, he's alive! He's alive!"
0:36:42 > 0:36:45He's still alive! He's still alive! He's still alive.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49We need a casevac now!
0:36:49 > 0:36:53It was the first time I've ever done that.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56How does it feel? I don't know.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59At the time, I was just doing my job trying to save his life,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01I didn't think about it.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03Didn't think about it at all.
0:37:03 > 0:37:04I just got on with it.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09He's not losing a lot of blood, he's got a shallow, weak pulse but
0:37:09 > 0:37:13- he has got one.- Get that stretcher sorted now. Get him up.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17We hadn't really practised getting people on a stretcher yet.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20So while we were doing it, we were trying to pick him up,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23moving him around and that but we couldn't get him to stay on.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26It was a nightmare, to be honest.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Get him on that stretcher properly, get him on that stretcher now!
0:37:29 > 0:37:32- Let's get him on the stretcher properly!- Four of you.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Oy! I want one of your men, now!
0:37:35 > 0:37:39Get him on that... If he dies because of you three, I'm going to fucking hate you forever.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42- Now, get him on there. - Let's fucking go!
0:37:42 > 0:37:44I don't know whether it's because of the situation
0:37:44 > 0:37:48and having a guy that's unconscious or possibly dead in front of you.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50What was obviously going round.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52Because it's unnatural to do that.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56They weren't really responding so I was getting a little bit pissed off.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00It just wasn't happening. Then we started to panic a bit, yeah.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Get him on that stretcher. Four, there's the handles! Use four handles.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Get up there, get up there!
0:38:06 > 0:38:07Let's go!
0:38:10 > 0:38:13- You know where you're going. - 'Very, very difficult.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16'The lightweight stretcher we had at that time was an improvised one.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20'We were using a hammock, which dual role is to act as a stretcher.
0:38:20 > 0:38:26'But the straps on the hammock meant that they trailed behind the casualty.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29'And every now and again somebody would step on them,
0:38:29 > 0:38:36'and it would yank a side off the sheet that the casualty was on and he would slide off.'
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Get him in it! Two at the front, two at the back!
0:38:39 > 0:38:43Get him in it! Get him in it!
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- Someone get him up! So we can go again.- OK, let's go!- Just go!
0:38:47 > 0:38:49'Everybody was conscious of the fact
0:38:49 > 0:38:54'the speed at which they moved would dictate whether he lived or died.'
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Come on, men. It's life and death.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Let's get him going, do not walk!
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Let's go.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08'After we'd gone through all the little alleyways and the difficulty...
0:39:08 > 0:39:11'it was like when the guys saw the Company Sergeant Major,
0:39:11 > 0:39:16'Kev Maine, there with the medic and his driver, it was like the guys relaxed - "We've got him there."
0:39:16 > 0:39:21And just put him down five metres away from the Pinzgauer and started walking off.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Get him on! Get him on the fucking Pinz!
0:39:25 > 0:39:30NOW! YOU, YOU FUCKING LEAVE HIM!
0:39:30 > 0:39:32- Sarge, sorry Sarge.- I want him!
0:39:32 > 0:39:35He's still there, I want him!
0:39:36 > 0:39:39- You all right, Billy?- Yeah, I'm fine.- Do you need morphine?
0:39:39 > 0:39:42No, I'm fine. It's just going on now, it's all right.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47My attitude was, I wasn't that bad, I'd got a hole in my arm, so what?
0:39:47 > 0:39:50I can still command my guys back.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55I've got one guy who's been seriously wounded, I don't want any more going back the same way.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58So I just wanted to command those guys back into safety.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Get me that fucking body armour out now.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07How the fuck did it go through?
0:40:09 > 0:40:13- Where did it go through? - There.- Fucking hell.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Through there and out there.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20- Went through the side, went behind the plate.- Went through the side?
0:40:22 > 0:40:24I can't believe that.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28They're shaking out. One Section down here, Two Section down here. OK?
0:40:28 > 0:40:33Just balance ourselves to extract, ensure we've got all the blokes and we're good. All right?
0:40:33 > 0:40:34There was nothing to say that we
0:40:34 > 0:40:37weren't going to continue the clearance.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39There was nothing to say that we weren't going to be
0:40:39 > 0:40:40committed to battle again.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43As commander, I needed to make sure the platoon was ready to do that.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46They all had the 1,000 yard stare on and they
0:40:46 > 0:40:48were all thinking about what had just happened.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50So I was walking along saying, "Are you all right?
0:40:50 > 0:40:52"Are you all right?"
0:40:52 > 0:40:55- You all right? - 'And Sergeant Panter did the same.
0:40:55 > 0:41:01'So it was very sort of cold and hard-nosed, but that's what needed to be done.'
0:41:01 > 0:41:07You all right? Oy. Get that fucking gun deployed so if they fucking come you can fire straight away.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Can you fire straight away? Right, let's hurry up then.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15There was a bit of a sense of relief cos we'd got Chris back
0:41:15 > 0:41:17and he was back with the doctors
0:41:17 > 0:41:21and on his way to Bastion, so in that, a sense of relief just
0:41:21 > 0:41:27because we knew he was getting back and at the time he was still alive, or we thought he was still alive.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29So yeah, there was hope.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31Hope and relief.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40From the moment the call came in,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42and certainly doing the speeds that we were,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45flying the aircraft literally as fast as it would go,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48it couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes to get there.
0:42:08 > 0:42:1140, 50, 60...
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Yeah, I've got grid references.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY HELICOPTER
0:42:27 > 0:42:30- How's the guy doing down the back? Is he still holding in? - They're doing CPR.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32OK.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39A quick question for the medics, don't answer me if you're busy.
0:42:39 > 0:42:46- If we have a problem with the cab would you rather go smooth and slow or fast and...- Fast.- OK.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05When you do your first casualty evacuation,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08you know that it's an emotional thing,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11but you are also aware that there's a war going on
0:43:11 > 0:43:13and that's what happens in war.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17By the time you've seen your first ten,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19you're sort of getting used to it.
0:43:21 > 0:43:27By the time you've seen however many I've got to see...
0:43:27 > 0:43:29You... I think the danger is
0:43:29 > 0:43:32you either become complacent and it becomes normal-place,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36or it starts to weigh in the back of your mind.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Once we'd picked Private Gray up,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43there was just something where it reached a level
0:43:43 > 0:43:46whereby I couldn't really cope with it any more.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05OK, popped the breaks on. Clear ramp, clear casualty out.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY HELICOPTER
0:44:24 > 0:44:26SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY HELICOPTER
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Oh, shit.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52After four hours of battle,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55in which an estimated 22 Taliban fighters were killed,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Three Platoon returned to their base.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02Once we got back into camp,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06it was very much... then the headache started.
0:45:06 > 0:45:07You'd been going constantly
0:45:07 > 0:45:11and you'd taken on very little water and you hadn't eaten anything.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15And you'd been working your body to the absolute maximum
0:45:15 > 0:45:17and it's been running on adrenaline.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20And then the adrenaline stops and then you get a pounding headache.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24When I came back into the base,
0:45:24 > 0:45:27I was told that the Commanding Officer was on the phone -
0:45:27 > 0:45:29on the secure phone.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31So I went straight in and took that call,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34then he told me that Gray had died.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37We were called together as a Company.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42We formed a hollow square...
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and the company commander came out, Major Dom Biddick,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49and he said, "Gentleman, I'm sorry, Chris Gray is dead."
0:45:49 > 0:45:52And that was it.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58I've never felt nothing like it.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01It's just the worst feeling you can ever imagine.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08Yeah, I felt pretty shit, to be honest.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10You know, lost one of my men.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13And yeah, I didn't like it.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Didn't like it at all.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23That, there and then, is when it all hit me.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27I was like, "That actually did just happen."
0:46:27 > 0:46:29One of my mates just got shot, killed.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32My section commander just got shot and injured.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34That, well....
0:46:34 > 0:46:36And as soon as he said he'd died,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40I kind of zoned out and that thought went through my head.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42I was also quite frank with them.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45I reminded them that Chris had died as the point man
0:46:45 > 0:46:50of a section that was acting to go and support their comrades
0:46:50 > 0:46:52in contact, in lethal danger.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55And that if we were all hard and honest with ourselves,
0:46:55 > 0:46:57then we knew that the possibility of death
0:46:57 > 0:47:02was a brutal fact in Afghanistan,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04in Helmand, in Now Zad.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Almost as tough as hearing Chris was dead,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13one of the toughest things I had to do was pack his kit up and whatnot.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15That was pretty tough, you know.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Get that boxed up and sent back to Bastion.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19That was a tough old job.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22And tough for the lads as well, the lads that helped me.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26Duffy, Tuva and young Cowley as well, they helped me.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31I didn't realise until about, what...
0:47:31 > 0:47:33towards the evening,
0:47:33 > 0:47:38that I had Chris Gray's blood on my shirt
0:47:38 > 0:47:40where I carried his body armour.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44And that's when it really hit me
0:47:44 > 0:47:47and I just broke down.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49I started crying.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05In Leicester, Chris' family were unaware of his death.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Friday the 13th had started well,
0:48:08 > 0:48:10with a letter from Afghanistan.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13I can remember going out to see my horses in the morning
0:48:13 > 0:48:15and this letter had come.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17And Katie was really, really excited,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20going on about, a letter from Chris, "Mum, look, look."
0:48:20 > 0:48:23So we opened it and we read it.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27"Yo, yo, from Afghanistan, Shitsville, Middle East.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29"Hey, everyone, how's it going?
0:48:29 > 0:48:33"All is good here. There's no need to worry, Mum.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36"It's dead here.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38"Fuck-all happening at the minute."
0:48:38 > 0:48:40His language is terrible.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43"How is everyone at home? Can't wait to get home
0:48:43 > 0:48:46"and eat some banoffee pie."
0:48:46 > 0:48:48He loved banoffee pie, it was his favourite.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Just before he went to Afghan,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55we went shopping and him and Katie went off shopping
0:48:55 > 0:48:58and they bought Tesco's Finest banoffee pie,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02and it was nearly five pound - I always remember it!
0:49:02 > 0:49:03And he ate the lot.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08"There's a big TV and shitloads of DVDs to watch.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12"If you're not doing shitty little jobs, the food isn't bad either.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15"Everyone's dying to get some trigger time
0:49:15 > 0:49:17"and razz some dirty enemy up.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20"I'm off to get some more food.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23"Talk to you soon. Bye."
0:49:26 > 0:49:28I'd gone to work
0:49:28 > 0:49:32and your mum come and fetch me from work.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35She came in and she said,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37"There's a man at the door from the army."
0:49:37 > 0:49:40And I knew.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45'Chris, look at Mummy!'
0:49:48 > 0:49:51I wouldn't believe him at home.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55I said he was one of them fraudsters that upset people,
0:49:55 > 0:50:02going to people's houses and giving them bad news and it being a lie.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05And I would not accept it at first.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09I remember crying, screaming.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13It's...
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Your world falls apart.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Back in Now Zad,
0:50:23 > 0:50:25the boys of Three Platoon
0:50:25 > 0:50:28were coming to terms with their first death.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30Are you all right, Duffy?
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Bit fucked, are you?
0:50:32 > 0:50:34Or not too bad?
0:50:35 > 0:50:38The doc said that was like a 1,000 to one,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42or a 100 million to one, that that happened.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46That it fucking missed the plate by an inch.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Right, let's go, let's get out of this open area, guys.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Let's go. Let's move.
0:50:54 > 0:50:55Right, let's get spread out men,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58let's not fucking switch off, just because we're going back.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Let's get spread out, more chance of fucking getting hit.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03The following day, I wrote a letter
0:51:03 > 0:51:07because I felt it was my responsibility
0:51:07 > 0:51:09to let the mother know what had happened.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14Classically, a platoon commander has a responsibility, particularly when somebody dies,
0:51:14 > 0:51:16of writing to the parents to let them know what happened.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18I felt that that was something they deserved.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21I didn't want to have a situation where years down the line,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23at an inquest in England,
0:51:23 > 0:51:25they found out piecemeal what had happened
0:51:25 > 0:51:30and they felt that in some way the Ministry Of Defence had lied to them - that classic story from Iraq.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36Stringer, just go over there, cover. Three three coming in.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Stay there, wait until we've got one more coming in.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46At the back of my mind, I was thinking,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49"I might be dead by the end of this tour."
0:51:49 > 0:51:53And I thought, "If I don't do it now, it might never be said."
0:51:53 > 0:51:56So I wrote a letter, and it was a very long letter,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01and I sent it back through the battalion postal chain.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08Chris was carried with difficulty to a fold in the ground, 20 metres back,
0:52:08 > 0:52:11this is where Sergeant Simon Panter began to treat Chris
0:52:11 > 0:52:15with the team medics Private Duffy, Tuva and Scrivener.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18They did everything that they had been trained to do
0:52:18 > 0:52:21and found signs of life in Chris which gave us all hope.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24At one stage, Sergeant Panter gave mouth-to-mouth to Chris
0:52:24 > 0:52:26to keep him breathing.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29It would take several weeks for the letter to reach Helen
0:52:29 > 0:52:32at her home in Leicester.
0:52:41 > 0:52:46Chris Gray was the 53rd British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan
0:52:46 > 0:52:49in six years of fighting.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50In the three years that followed,
0:52:50 > 0:52:55that figure would rise to 281.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10Helen Gray received Chris' body a few days after his death.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Although she'd been assured by the army that Chris died instantly,
0:53:14 > 0:53:19there were still many questions that only the men who fought alongside Chris could answer.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22I just needed to know everything.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25It was Christopher's first tour,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28we got told he was point man - why was he point man?
0:53:28 > 0:53:32Just so many things going round and round,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35but because the boys were still in Afghanistan,
0:53:35 > 0:53:37they were the people I needed to ask,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40they were on the ground with Christopher,
0:53:40 > 0:53:42they knew exactly what had happened,
0:53:42 > 0:53:46and they were people I wanted to talk to.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48But I had to wait till they came back.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50GUNFIRE
0:53:52 > 0:53:57The men of Three Platoon were fighting gruelling battles all over Helmand,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01but the events of Friday the 13th were never far from their minds.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03Enemy, enemy left.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06We were all very...
0:54:06 > 0:54:09aware of the fact that we performed badly
0:54:09 > 0:54:10in that contact.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15We've got friendlies along the front of this fucking wood line here. - tree line.
0:54:15 > 0:54:16You're very self-critical.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Very self-critical when something like that happens.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21You do reflect on it a lot.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Did I do this right? Did we do that right?
0:54:23 > 0:54:24What could we have done better?
0:54:24 > 0:54:26EXPLOSION
0:54:28 > 0:54:32We didn't want nobody else to go
0:54:32 > 0:54:34from our platoon,
0:54:34 > 0:54:36from our company,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40from our section, you know.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43So after that day, we was like,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46"Stop mucking around."
0:54:46 > 0:54:48We cut the straps off our hammocks.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50You know, all the things that we'd learnt about.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53We came up with a new way of carrying a casualty.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56From that moment, we learnt the lessons of that contact.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59You look at how they performed afterwards, the way they handled contact.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I did not see rabbits in headlights again.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Right, we're going to earn our pay.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Safeties off.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11It did make me want to go out there and inflict damage to them.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15- GUNSHOT It's the Taliban!- Where?
0:55:15 > 0:55:16It's the Taliban!
0:55:16 > 0:55:18RAPID GUNFIRE Whoa!
0:55:24 > 0:55:25To lose a life, to take a life.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28We'd lose a life, we'd take 30, 40 of their lives.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33GUNFIRE DROWNS SPEECH
0:55:35 > 0:55:38I actually wanted to kill someone, because I'd been there
0:55:38 > 0:55:40and they'd killed my men,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43and I wanted to give them payback for what they'd done.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46And it's difficult to say that to people
0:55:46 > 0:55:49because you think, well, how can you want to kill another human being?
0:55:49 > 0:55:51But it was very much an eye for an eye.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57'If we identified somebody who was the enemy,'
0:55:57 > 0:55:58they were going to get it.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01It was almost a rush... I want to kill this person first.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05- Here you are, here's another one. - Where?- There. Shoot him.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11Afterwards you think, yeah, that's one for Chris, that is.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Yeah. Really good. I did enjoy it. I do think back on it.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Helen's many questions were still unanswered.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30And then Bjorn Rose's letter arrived
0:56:30 > 0:56:32that promised to tell her everything.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37It was about an eight-page letter that went into great lengths
0:56:37 > 0:56:40to describe from the start of the day,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43what they were doing out there, and everything.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46- Mm-hm.- It was like reading a book.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50And then I got to the part where it told you what happened to Chris.
0:56:50 > 0:56:56And then it got that he was still alive in this letter,
0:56:56 > 0:57:01that when they pulled him back there was still signs of him breathing.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04And I freaked. Absolutely.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06I was absolutely hysterical.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10This was a couple of weeks after, obviously, we'd lost Chris.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13- But I just lost it, didn't I? - Mm-hm, yeah.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15"They've lied." That's all I kept thinking,
0:57:15 > 0:57:17"They've lied. They've covered up."
0:57:19 > 0:57:21I like it!
0:57:21 > 0:57:24And what everybody likes? The river.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Si Panter continued to film the six-month tour
0:57:28 > 0:57:31which ended here in Sangin.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35Our platoon sergeants are having an R&R session,
0:57:35 > 0:57:37living the dream.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39The dream is Sangin.
0:57:42 > 0:57:43Salaam.
0:57:46 > 0:57:47How much?
0:57:51 > 0:57:57Having went to Sangin when it was under siege pretty much,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and walking through the town when you didn't see a soul
0:58:01 > 0:58:05in the main bazaar, didn't see a shop or anything,
0:58:05 > 0:58:10to when we, as a Company group, left...
0:58:10 > 0:58:13and seeing a before and an after shot,
0:58:13 > 0:58:18seeing a thriving, bustling little market town, full of people,
0:58:18 > 0:58:23full of shops, you know you've made a difference, that is the difference.
0:58:23 > 0:58:24Some kind of normalisation.
0:58:24 > 0:58:29Yeah, it is a bit of a sense of pride, we are doing good.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Despite what the rest of the world thinks.
0:58:32 > 0:58:36We actually are the boots on the ground, and we see it first-hand.
0:58:36 > 0:58:37Salaam.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45I remember thinking, I don't want to leave this place.
0:58:45 > 0:58:46I've enjoyed being here.
0:58:46 > 0:58:48Despite all the things that happened,
0:58:48 > 0:58:51I really enjoyed... I felt like I was making a difference.
0:58:51 > 0:58:53I felt like what we were doing was good.
0:58:53 > 0:58:59In Iraq I felt that we were the problem, in Afghanistan I really felt that when you spoke to the kids
0:58:59 > 0:59:00and when you spoke to local people,
0:59:00 > 0:59:02you felt like you were making a difference.
0:59:02 > 0:59:06It felt like the lives that we lost had actually been for a purpose,
0:59:06 > 0:59:07that we'd done something worthwhile.
0:59:13 > 0:59:20The summer of 2007 in Afghanistan was the bloodiest in the Regiment's recent history.
0:59:22 > 0:59:24'When I got on the plane, I was like that,
0:59:24 > 0:59:27' "Brilliant, I'm on the plane." '
0:59:27 > 0:59:31Half an hour into the journey,
0:59:31 > 0:59:34I remembered what someone said to me.
0:59:34 > 0:59:40And that was, look at how many numbers of people that have arrived
0:59:40 > 0:59:44on the plane and look how many empty seats there are going to be.
0:59:44 > 0:59:46And I looked at the empty seats and there was nine.
0:59:49 > 0:59:55I didn't share that with anybody else, I just kept that to myself.
0:59:59 > 1:00:02When 3 Platoon arrived back in England the first thing they did
1:00:02 > 1:00:05was travel to Leicester to meet Chris's family.
1:00:07 > 1:00:10It was only then that Bjorn learned that the letter he'd sent
1:00:10 > 1:00:12in an effort to answer Helen's questions
1:00:12 > 1:00:15had had the opposite effect.
1:00:15 > 1:00:17I think it had been very upsetting to her,
1:00:17 > 1:00:21because I found out subsequently that the letter had been sent back.
1:00:21 > 1:00:27Not been rejected, but it was too much at that point.
1:00:27 > 1:00:30I'd said things in the letter that had contradicted
1:00:30 > 1:00:34what she'd been told, and that caused a lot of upset.
1:00:34 > 1:00:36And that's perfectly understandable.
1:00:36 > 1:00:39I as a Platoon Commander felt like I'd done a terrible thing.
1:00:39 > 1:00:41I thought, you know...
1:00:41 > 1:00:45um, I only had the best intentions and yet
1:00:45 > 1:00:47it had obviously gone horribly wrong.
1:00:50 > 1:00:58Today, four years later, Helen and Paul are finally able to look again at Bjorn's letter.
1:01:00 > 1:01:03I still think it's a really good letter.
1:01:03 > 1:01:05It's just the timing of it.
1:01:05 > 1:01:08But I do, I think, yeah...
1:01:08 > 1:01:11It's just as it happened.
1:01:13 > 1:01:15"They did everything they had been taught
1:01:15 > 1:01:18"and found signs of life in Chris, which gave us all hope.
1:01:18 > 1:01:23"And at one stage Sergeant Panter gave mouth-to-mouth to Chris to keep him breathing."
1:01:24 > 1:01:29That's the part that Helen assumed he was alive.
1:01:29 > 1:01:31That's it. And, but...
1:01:31 > 1:01:37obviously after being told that it was instant, and he'd gone instantly, to...
1:01:37 > 1:01:39and then reading that.
1:01:39 > 1:01:41It was like, something's going on.
1:01:41 > 1:01:46He was alive. You're lying to me, they've lied to me.
1:01:46 > 1:01:49He wasn't dead straight away, he was alive.
1:01:49 > 1:01:52And that's it, I freaked.
1:01:52 > 1:01:55- It's like...- But he was gone.
1:01:56 > 1:01:58At that point.
1:02:00 > 1:02:05The signs of life were purely like a biological action,
1:02:05 > 1:02:07weren't they, in his body.
1:02:08 > 1:02:11You know that, Helen, from the inquest.
1:02:11 > 1:02:13You know it.
1:02:17 > 1:02:19Put it away.
1:02:45 > 1:02:52For Chris's friends, the Royal Anglians' 2007 Afghanistan tour will never be forgotten.
1:02:54 > 1:02:57'I know it sounds strange, but getting shot at,
1:02:57 > 1:03:01'it gives you a buzz that I've never, ever got anywhere else.'
1:03:01 > 1:03:052007 I come back, I went into like a slight bit of depression,
1:03:05 > 1:03:07just because I was used to it.
1:03:07 > 1:03:10But then you realise like, I am going to go back.
1:03:10 > 1:03:12We know we're going to be there for a while.
1:03:12 > 1:03:15Afghanistan was my last tour that I was on.
1:03:16 > 1:03:21After Afghan...I, um, developed, um...
1:03:21 > 1:03:25epilepsy, having fits.
1:03:25 > 1:03:27So therefore I can never...
1:03:27 > 1:03:30can't hold a rifle again.
1:03:30 > 1:03:36And I've just been recently medically discharged from it.
1:03:37 > 1:03:42I talked to Lucy about it, once.
1:03:42 > 1:03:44And I got really upset.
1:03:44 > 1:03:48And then I never talked about it up until now.
1:03:51 > 1:03:54I mean, there's things that I want to remember
1:03:54 > 1:04:00but there's things that I just...want to...forget about.
1:04:00 > 1:04:02All the bad things,
1:04:02 > 1:04:05that you wish that you can bring back but you can't.
1:04:09 > 1:04:11I still speak to the Gray family
1:04:11 > 1:04:16because I'm actually engaged to Chris's sister.
1:04:16 > 1:04:21When we first got together, everyone thought I was a typical squaddie,
1:04:21 > 1:04:23only after one thing or whatever.
1:04:23 > 1:04:25I was against it at the time.
1:04:25 > 1:04:28Massively against it. I thought it was...
1:04:28 > 1:04:31yeah, shouldn't be done, because obviously he's my best mate.
1:04:31 > 1:04:33But then I remember Helen coming up to me
1:04:33 > 1:04:35and she was like, "She really likes you", and all that.
1:04:35 > 1:04:38And she was like, "Chris would have loved it."
1:04:38 > 1:04:41And all that. Obviously, looking after his sister or whatever.
1:04:41 > 1:04:45But Helen was the one that made me feel better about the whole thing.
1:04:46 > 1:04:49- GUNSHOT ON VIDEO - Stop firing!
1:04:51 > 1:04:55I would love to go back to Afghanistan cos, you know,
1:04:55 > 1:04:57that's what soldiering and being a soldier is all about.
1:04:59 > 1:05:01Where?
1:05:01 > 1:05:03Where, where, where, where, where, where?
1:05:03 > 1:05:09I don't really share and show the footage back here.
1:05:11 > 1:05:15It does bring back memories and I do find it a little bit hard, yeah.
1:05:15 > 1:05:18Yeah. If I'm honest. We've all got feelings.
1:05:18 > 1:05:22Just because I'm a soldier doesn't mean I ain't got no feelings. But yeah.
1:05:37 > 1:05:39"On arrival back at the COP,
1:05:39 > 1:05:44"Major Biddick gathered the Company to tell us that Chris was dead.
1:05:44 > 1:05:49"We were all mortified and a deathly silence descended over us all.
1:05:49 > 1:05:51"All the boyish banter died out,
1:05:51 > 1:05:54"all the bravado of that morning was gone.
1:05:54 > 1:05:57"The stark reality of what combat really was all about
1:05:57 > 1:06:03"had slapped us all in the face and a lot of 19-year-old boys turned into men.
1:06:21 > 1:06:26"The stark reality of what combat really was all about had slapped us all in the face..."
1:06:36 > 1:06:39This is Private Chris Gray.
1:06:39 > 1:06:43Within 30 minutes of that photograph being taken, he was dead.
1:06:45 > 1:06:47I'll just let that sink in.
1:06:47 > 1:06:50'For me, I came back and I decided to leave
1:06:50 > 1:06:54'and teaching was something I'd always been interested in.
1:06:54 > 1:06:59'I teach History but also I'm involved in the Combined Cadet Force.
1:06:59 > 1:07:03'I pass on my military experience to them but I try to do it in a realistic context.
1:07:03 > 1:07:06'I don't try and make it rose-tinted.'
1:07:06 > 1:07:11At no point do I ever encourage anybody to join the military.
1:07:11 > 1:07:13In fact, in many ways I dissuade them.
1:07:18 > 1:07:25"The tradition of naming a location after a fallen comrade has continued here.
1:07:25 > 1:07:32"The COP is now known as COP Gray in honour of Chris and the sacrifice he made.
1:07:32 > 1:07:36"If I have failed in any way to answer any questions you may have regarding Chris
1:07:36 > 1:07:41"and the circumstances of that day then feel free to write and ask.
1:07:41 > 1:07:46"I do not want to feel you have been denied any information.
1:07:47 > 1:07:53"Once again, allow me to say how truly sorry I am for your loss.
1:07:53 > 1:07:58"Yours sincerely, Bjorn Rose, Lieutenant,
1:07:58 > 1:08:00"Officer Commanding 3 Platoon".
1:08:09 > 1:08:12After 2007, the fighting in Afghanistan
1:08:12 > 1:08:17became even more ferocious and a new threat appeared.
1:08:19 > 1:08:22Next time, we follow a young captain
1:08:22 > 1:08:25who filmed his platoon as they confronted the invisible enemy...
1:08:30 > 1:08:32..landmines.
1:08:32 > 1:08:33Everybody's vulnerable.
1:08:33 > 1:08:35If you fuck up you die.
1:08:35 > 1:08:37If you fuck up, worse off, your mate dies.
1:09:00 > 1:09:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.
1:09:03 > 1:09:06E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk