Danger Close: Commanding 3 PARA in Afghanistan

318 Pages·2010·1.14 MB·English

by  Stuart Tootal

Danger Close

Commanding 3 PARA in Afghanistan

COLONEL STUART TOOTAL, DSO OBE
© Stuart Tootal, 2013

Stuart Tootal has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

First published in Great Britain in 2009 by John Murray (Publishers), An
Hachette UK Company First published in paperback in 2010

This edition published in 2014 by Endeavour Press LTD.
For Jacko
Private Damian Jackson
3 PARA. Killed in action
5 July 2006 (aged 19).
Table of Contents

Author Note
Danger Close – Leading 3 PARA in Afghanistan
Colonel Stuart Tootal
Preface
Introduction
The Dawn of Battle
1 3 PARA Angels with Dirty Faces
2 Afghanistan
3 Mission Creep
4 Hearts and Minds
5 The Hornets' Nest
6 Reaction and Proaction
7 Sangin
8 Incoming
9 The Manner of Men
10 Reckon and Risk
11 The Home Front
12 Crucible of Courage
13 Hell in a Tight Space
14 The Will to Combat
15Day of Days
16 Last Acts
17 Coming Home
18 Fighting the Peace
Epilogue
Honours and Gallantry Awards
Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Author Note
Danger Close – Leading 3 PARA in Afghanistan
Colonel Stuart Tootal

In April 2006, I was privileged to lead 1,200 airborne soldiers of the 3 PARA
battle group into the lawless province of Helmand. We were the first UK unit to
be sent to Southern Afghanistan to support our American allies already operating
in the south east of the country. Our mission was heralded and resourced as a
peace support operation, but in reality there was little peace to be kept and the
fighting we became engaged in has been described as ‘the most intense level of
combat the British Army has experienced since the Korean War’.
Everything was in short supply; helicopters, men, equipment and ammunition
and our resources were stretched to breaking point, as we fought to defend
several isolated Afghan district centres against relentless attacks by the Taliban,
who were intent on driving British forces out of Helmand. But with the help of
our American allies and their gunships and additional helicopters, my soldiers
prevailed against the odds by holding onto an area that was later to soak up over
20,000 NATO troops. The award of over thirty gallantry decorations, including
a posthumous Victoria Cross, is a testament to the ferocity of the fighting and the
raw courage of my troops.
Danger Close is a unique insight from a commanding officer's view of leading
a battle group in action and the life the death decisions that I had to make. It is
also about the nature of the manner of men who did the fighting; the austere
conditions that we lived in and the challenges we faced. The book takes the
reader into the sharp end of war and captures the sights and sounds of battle to
provide a modern anthology of a unit in combat from the perspectives of its
leader and those that made up the ranks of 3 PARA. It captures the ethos and
esprit de corps of a close-knit elite Para troop unit, examines what motivates
men to fight and highlights the sacrifices they made.
Danger Close also provides a fascinating insight into the physical and invisible
scars of war and its impact on the home front, as it covers how we coped on our
return from Afghanistan, where we dealt with the issues of looking after our
wounded, treating those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and
supporting the loved ones of those who were killed in action.
Seven years on from 3 PARA’s tour there, Helmand is a very different place.
The Afghan security forces now take the lead in operations as the UK and US
start to withdraw their troops. I always believed in the intent of what we were
trying to do in Afghanistan and history will determine the results of our
endeavours. But regardless of the rights and wrongs, our participation in that
troubled country has been a testimony to the courage and fortitude of British and
American soldiers and Danger Close is a worthy tribute to the professionalism of
those soldiers that I led and fought with.
Preface

In April 2006 the 1,200 soldiers of the 3 PARA Battle Group started their
journey to southern Afghanistan. They were the first British unit to be sent into
the lawless province of Helmand. Forecast as the start of a three-year
commitment to bring much needed stability to a country ravaged by thirty years
of war, their deployment was heralded as a peace support mission. Some who
made the decision to send us hoped it would be completed without a shot being
fired, but the Taliban thought differently. During its six-month tour of duty, 3
PARA fired over 479,000 rounds of ammunition in a level of sustained combat
that had not been seen by the British Army since the end of the Korean War. The
action took place across wild desert plains and among the foothills of the Hindu
Kush. In the oppressive heat of the Afghan summer, the Battle Group fought
desperately to defend a disparate number of isolated district centres against
relentless attacks. Undermanned and suffering from critical equipment shortages,
the intensity of the conflict stretched resources to breaking point as 3 PARA
became involved in a deadly battle of attrition against a resurgent Taliban
determined to drive British troops from Helmand. But it was the raw courage
and fighting spirit of British soldiers that forced the Taliban to blink first. After
months of vicious close-quarter fighting they won the breakin phase of the battle
for Helmand in an unforgiving campaign that larger British forces continue to
fight today.
The award of over thirty decorations for gallantry, including a posthumous
Victoria Cross and George Cross, bears testimony to the intensity of the combat
and the selfless bravery of an extraordinary band of brothers. However, as in all
wars, there was a price to pay. Fifteen members of the Battle Group were killed
in action and another forty-six were wounded in battle. This is their story, told
both from my own perspective and that of many of those whom I was fortunate
enough to know and command. It says something of the impact on their families
and on those whose loved ones did not return. I have attempted to capture the
essence of the fighting at the sharp end: the sights, sounds and smell of combat
through a variety of different landscapes. I have also tried to provide an insight
into the bigger picture issues and the difficult life-and-death decisions that were
made. The following pages chart the highs and lows the Battle Group
experienced and also deal with the consequences of doing the nation's bidding,
both on and off the battlefield. They say something of a peacetime society where
the implications of war are often poorly understood and where there have been
far too many incidents of poor treatment of those who suffer the mental and
physical scars of battle. But ultimately this book is about the ordinary
paratrooper and soldier in battle, their remarkable fortitude, their will to combat,
the privations they faced and how they accepted risk and loss as part of the
business that they are in. Having once been a soldier, writing Danger Close has
been both an emotional and cathartic experience; my one hope is that I have
done justice to those with whom I was privileged enough to serve.