Fearless Under Fire: Tangye. Isabel George

to the enemy’s main retreat in Pakistan where they were always bound to run.

      Lives were lost but the result was clear – the enemy was on the run. Between 2003 and 2005, British Forces in Afghanistan fell to just 300 and under the umbrella of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) the troops supported the Afghan National Alliance from their base in Kabul. Meanwhile, as the US and British Forces turned their attention to Iraq, the Taliban used this breathing space to their advantage. They regrouped and re-equipped themselves for war.

      Spring 2006, Operation Herrick IV: over 3,000 soldiers of the 16 Air Assault Brigade arrived in Helmand. They were to launch a reconstruction project in southern Afghanistan using the capital of Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, as the centre of its operations. Devised to bring prosperity to the local people and their environment, the plan would also win support away from the Taliban and weaken their hold on Helmand. The British Government hoped this could be achieved in peace and without an exchange of gunfire. But the politicians had underestimated the feeling on the ground and the arrival of the British troops was not going to be a confirmation of peace and rebirth after all. When the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, requested the British Commanders take their men out of the capital and position them close to the Taliban strongholds in the mountains of the north, it was the start of the domino effect that took the soldiers into direct combat with the enemy.

      Three British regiments had arrived with the mission to keep peace and increase prosperity and soon found themselves defending their positions and their lives. The troops from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles and 3 Para were posted to platoon houses in Musa Qaleh, Now Zad and Sangin. And within days they were involved in unexpected combat. In June 2006, the British lost their first soldier in combat with the Taliban. He was shot dead when the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) was ambushed on its way to save a patrol being pinned down by the enemy. In August, A Company, 3 Para lost twenty-nine-year-old Bryan Budd. Corporal Budd was leading a patrol protecting engineers working on the platoon house in Sangin. His patrol outmanoeuvred a group of Taliban fighters who were spotted coming through a cornfield towards the house. Budd disposed of two Taliban fighters before his life was taken in the crossfire. He was awarded a post-humous Victoria Cross. By 2 September, the British Forces had lost another fourteen lives as an RAF Nimrod surveillance aircraft crashed into the desert taking with it the hopes of turning Operation Herrick IV into a peaceful tour of duty.

      When Rick Groves landed in Helmand Province on 17 September 2006, he was confused as to how the troops could have been sent out to blend in and build relationships with local people when the Taliban were still as potent a force as they were in 2001. The Taliban had banned music and dancing and prohibited women from any kind of public life. They had introduced rules that had set the development of their own society back hundreds of years. Closing schools, shooting teachers and imposing gender rules created an atmosphere of fear and stagnancy for the ordinary people whose lives and fortunes had been changed so dramatically in the Taliban takeover. British and US Forces had given the insurgents a military thrashing but the organization was not the toothless tiger it was perceived to be by the West. Fanatics who aim to kill do not hand over their hard-won territory to Nato’s ISAF or anyone else. But if the people could see the British soldiers were there now to protect them and improve their status and environment following over a decade of hardline Taliban rule then the work could begin on making Kajaki a better place to live. The Nato ISAF forces remained determined to restore what had been damaged but it all had to be done under the watchful eye of the Taliban. For the Western soldiers brought in to start the transformation, this still looked like a war of justice versus terrorism.

      The morning Rik and Lee first set eyes on Tangye they were on a routine visit to the security post at the dam. Both men had arrived in Afghanistan just days before and this dog was the first thing they had encountered that reminded them of home in the UK. They called him Tangye, after a local village. It just seemed to suit him. Having been dog owners for most of their lives, it was no wonder this vulnerable Labrador fired an instinct to protect and care for this voiceless victim of the war.

      When Rik and Lee arrived in Kajaki in September 2006, it was a remote northern outpost with few home comforts and even fewer people. Nestled in this mountainous region sits the Kajaki Dam and its vitally important hydro-electric power station which provides electricity to Helmand and parts of Kandahar. To the British Forces, the Kajaki Dam is a huge asset to the area and capable of supplying electricity to many more homes. With electricity comes communication and a way to inform the local people of the relative stability that existed in some areas. This is not something the Taliban wants anyone to hear and so the dam is an excuse to intimidate the dam workers and the local Afghan community. And, after each attack, the insurgents can retreat north to their safe havens. The troops went out on daily patrols both on foot and using the Jackal armoured vehicles (which also have a platform for heavy machine guns) in order to keep the enemy pushed back. This stark and dangerous area is ripe for the work of the OMLT and each time they visited, there was Tangye wearing his eager, friendly face.

      It all began with a biscuit from the soldiers’ ration packs. Tangye sat up and sniffed the air. The little velvet wrinkles on his forehead raised and lowered as he tried to place the smell. But he couldn’t. It wasn’t a smell he recognized and so he blew his nose, as dogs do, and shook his head to clear the confusion of his senses. But as Rik moved closer and the biscuit smell grew stronger, Tangye smacked his mouth and licked his lips in eager anticipation. Then, staying low, he crept up to the soldier to conduct an immediate body search using his dry, black muzzle to seek out the hidden biscuit.

      ‘Ah, so that’s what you want from me,’ said Rik, staring down at the triumphant puppy who was now crunching loudly away on the biscuit he had tracked down to the soldier’s pocket. Tangye frothed at the mouth as he savoured the biscuit and then its final crumbs, all carefully licked off the sand, turned to brown goo in the corner of his mouth. Rik had never seen a ration biscuit enjoyed so much. Everyone thought they were hard and tasteless but Tangye was already sniffing for more. ‘So you want another one of those do you little guy? Well, we’ll have to see what we can do on our next visit,’ said Rik, reaching out his hand to the timid puppy. It seemed Tangye wanted to be stroked but he wasn’t sure how the process worked. Treats and affection were all new to him.