"Armed Action” by James Newton. 2007.
I picked this one up on the cheap from Sainsburys. It looked like a trashy war memoir, some helicopter pilot cashing in on his Distinguished Flying Cross by writing about his experiences (as anyone would). Only it was not half as trashy as I had expected and proved to be a good introduction to the whole Iraq war, which was a topic I had been avoiding up until then.Cont...
posted by Benjamin Nakizo at 1:06 PM
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Lt Commander Newton flew in the Royal Navy’s 847 Navy Air Squadron during Operation Telic (Britain’s contribution to the Iraq war and its aftermath). The purpose of 847 NAS is to provide close air support to the Royal Marines and it is the only such unit owned by the Royal Navy. The Squadron is very small and operates rather outdated aircraft – and as such it is a microcosm of the whole Navy.
With only a handful of helicopters the unit operates in twos – one a Lynx armed with eight TOW guided missiles and the other a Gazelle – which has no armaments and acts merely as a spotter. The squadron quickly established itself in a forward operating base inside Iraq as the first coalition troops pushed over the border. The machines, mechanics and pilots then had to endure back breaking, stifling and round the clock hardships for several weeks as the war drew on. Without the firepower or equipment of the Americans, or even sufficient equipment to safely support British troops, the squadron pushed itself to the limit, trying to keep as many of its handful of aircraft in the air as possible. They had some notable success, particularly around Basra, during the set of operations that earned the Lt Cdr his DFC. Taking out enemy tanks and control posts seemed to be the main priority of the squadron and they significantly disrupted the Iraqi armies defences in and around the city.
From their aerial vantage point the pilots could see some of the less than gentlemanly tactics of Saddam’s Republican Guard. Who first used taxis, and then civilian ambulances to cover their travels between regular army posts as they encouraged (or threatened) them to stay and fight.
Problems with the Americans occasionally marred operations but by and large it seemed to be just the usual rivalry between two very proud peoples on the same side of a conflict. For example their requests for air support would largely go unheard until 847 NAS started taking out targets themselves – whereupon the resulting columns of black smoke would attract American fast jets from far and wide – all eager for a piece of the action. Newton describes how the scariest part of any operation was taking off and clearing themselves with American radio controllers. They had to fly their aircraft high enough to establish radio contact with the American controllers in order to sort of ‘log in’ to the battlefield. However in the time it took to reach that height and for them to be verified by the Americans as a friendly they would appear on American screens as an unknown aircraft. With a large number of jumped up American pilots circling the skies it was not wise to remain unknown for too long.
All in all it was a very enjoyable book – and made me proud of our fighting men and women who once again, faced with zero public support, terrible equipment and only a halfhearted commitment from the politicians who had sent them there – did a truly heroic job.
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