412 Amph on Op TELIC
Kuwait & Iraq 2003
Early January 2003 the members of 412 Amph Engr Troop (V) received a big brown envelope in the post containing their compulsory call up papers. Some wanted to go, some didn't but most took it as something that could have turned up at any time and they had signed on the dotted line. We reported as instructed on the 27th of January and after a very hectic day of paperwork some departed as unfit, having too many commitments at home or too expensive for the army to afford. Most stayed and it was almost a month of training, briefings and admin before the troop, now renamed 3 troop, 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron, started to be deployed to Kuwait.
We were soon moved with the rest of 23 Sqn to another harbour area out in the middle of the desert. There we settled into our 'desert routine' and carried on with the training. We were there for quite a while and as soon as the war started we began spending a lot of time in full NBC kit jumping in and out of trenches. Not much fun in Europe, never mind the heat of the desert.
On the 23rd of March we moved as a regiment up over the border into Iraq. An ominous journey with a mixture of clear blue skies and plumes of black smoke to the north. We moved into another harbour area and waited to see if we would get any amphibious work. After all, that's why we were there.
On an afternoon a few days later, the troop OC, his driver, myself and one other mounted the OC's Spartan and headed out for what was supposed to be a short recce. Nearly 18 hours later and after some of the most torrential weather imaginable and no sleep, we had recced a crossing point on the Shatt Al Basrah Canal and at dawn were joined by the rest of the troop for the first ever operational use of the M3 Ferrying and Bridging equipment. A strange morning of cold and fog, it never seemed like we were in the middle of a middle eastern country.
The troop was on the water for a total of 12 days, with an afternoon back in the 3 Cdo Bde HQ to maintain and service the vehicles. The two 4 rig close coupled ferries worked 24/7 to transport all armour, soft skinned vehicles and troops on foot across the obstacle in both directions. No mean feat considering only one of the rigs on our ferry had a complete crew. We even had the opportunity to carry a Challenger Recovery Vehicle towing a Challenger II, probably the heaviest load you'd ever have to take with a ferry. Even with all the activity, Colin still managed to annoy the locals practicing his bagpipes.
After the Op at Anna we came off the water with the satisfaction that everyone was pleased with the way the Op had gone. We then spent a few days with 59 and 131 Cdo Engr Sqn's on maintenance and servicing of the vehicles. There was plenty to do as all the vehicles were well overdue a service so engines and gearbox's needed oil changes and most required a 'wheel change' to inspect the brakes. With all the maintenance done, we moved back to the squadron, who'd been kept boredom free with a few small Ops supporting 7 Armd Bde. The squadron then moved to a new location at Basrah International Airport. We were given a few jobs around the airport, one of which was to clear away stretches of the perimeter fence that had been knocked down, ready for a replacement to be built.
A few days later we were back on another amphibious Op, supporting 39 Engineer Squadron in their task to build a bridge across the Shatt Al Arab in Basrah. We spent 3 days ferrying vehicles and plant, not only across, but up and down the canal. Some of us also had chance to look around the harbour which included a visit to "Al Mansur", Sadam's once magnificent presidential yacht. There was quite a bit of sitting around waiting for the traffic, some of which was spent using the hoses to cool down the local kids and their donkeys.
Our next job was to support 29 Engineer Squadron by providing a bridge across the Hammar Canal, just north of Ar Rumaylah, to allow traffic to cross while they removed an ABLE bridge and replaced it with a more permanent LSB. The whole job took seven days and most of the traffic crossing our M3's were local vehicles. We never ceased to be amazed at the state of most of the local vehicles. Some broke down, some shed loads but all were accompanied by a crowd of smiling faces. Being local traffic there were of course a number of Shepard's with their herds of sheep needing to cross. Could this be yet another 'first' for the troop?
With the Hammar Canal job successfully completed we moved back to Basrah International and settled down to life preparing for the rest of the Sqn to move their vehicles back to the port and then for them to fly back to Germany. After escorting 1 & 2 Troops to the port we stayed overnight in one of the sheds. The opportunity was taken to actually eat some 'real' food for once and a rover was sent out to the local KFC for an order. Somewhere there was a bit of a mix-up and the rover returned with a Family Bucket each! Has anyone in the troop had a KFC since?
Nobody was too sure why we had to stay a month longer than the rest of the Sqn, but as soon as we moved to Shaibah Airfield to join 64 HQ Sqn, the troop provided daily work parties to build the tented camps on the airfield ready for Telic 2. We did however manage to get to see the CSE show that was put on for the troops. Quite weird being in a crowd at a concert that were all sober, dressed the same and some of them armed! Unlike the rest of 23 Sqn, who had 2 weeks to wind down before the move back, we worked right up until the day before we were to drive our vehicles down to the port in Kuwait and spent the time in between washing the rigs repeatedly, maybe just for something to do. On the way down to the port I managed to get a snap of the by now famous 'Slow Dwon' sign.
We were then bussed up to Camp Centurion for a day or so before travelling up over the Iraqi border for the last time and back to Basrah International Airport. We finally boarded an RAF VC10 and returned to Hannover via Akrotiri in Cyprus.
What nobody wanted to find! A Camel Spider.