Archie Harris 10l
Afghanistan – English Homework

My experience in Afghanistan February – March 2014-

My name is Archie Harris, I am writing about my trip to Afghanistan, where reported on how life is like out there, and what has changed over the past couple of years. I hope that my experiences can educate you on what is really happening out there in the world.

As we landed thoughts were racing through my mind, Will I see conflict? Would I experience conflict? Or maybe will I even see conflict, maybe it might be peaceful, maybe things have died down a little. When I left the chinook, I admittedly trembled as I took my first steps. I was amazed by the size of camp bastion.

I was informed by my crew that we would be taking a helicopter to small outpost, just to the west if camp bastion, but first we would spend a night resting and acclimatising. Bastion was a fascinating place, just like a village or town. Self-sustained. Friendly Neighbourhood, but with evil awaiting beyond the village borders. The heat makes a simple job seem like an impossible challenge. You have to keep drinking, otherwise you just can't even stand. The scorching sun is like a little boy burning ants with a magnifying glass. Next morning we had our briefing and were told that we were going to travel to an outpost just the the north of camp bastion.

After a long time of waiting in the exhausting sun we were called over to the helipad, we got into the helicopter and flew to our destination. Before we landed we were instructed to run straight to the oped metals doors, around 50 yards away. So thats what I did, as soon as I took my first step, I ran as fast as I could carrying all my equipment. A man at the gates pointed me where I was to go, so I headed in the direction I was told. Hoping that my crew was following me. When I had reached, my destination I was told to halt. I was introduced to the camp, and given a little tour. We were given times of what we should be doing and when, also told do not bother, interrupt or disturb and officer unless told or spoken to.

Later on that day, I was speaking to a tank crew about what they do and do they like it. As I was talking to the driver of a challenger 2, he mentioned that even though the armour of the tank does give you a lot of protection.It also makes you feel cramped, less freedom and that you can’t see all around you.” A restricting view, you cannot drive without having a decent view and this makes my job a lot harder. It’s not just that taking orders from the captain can be a bit daunting, he’s telling me to take the next left, if i can't see left then what should I do”. He goes on to say that this makes driving around a battlefield very dangerous and it pushes him to have great trust in his leader.

Later we went out to the local village, with an armoured patrol. The army was meant to keep peace in the village and keep the children safe whilst they were at school. I met a couple of children at the local school, Aashna and Abiba they are brother and sister. they are both 10 years old, they had been going to school for 6 months. They had only started going to school ever since