1. 18 FIRST FOR NEWS Newsdesk (0118) 918 3020 getreading.co.uk l READING POST l WEDNESDAY JULY 31 2013
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AMP Shorabak is a few
minutes drive from the
massive 10,000 personnel-
strong Camp Bastion which it
adjoins.
This is the base for the Afghan
National Army (ANA) where
reservists from Reading’s 7 Rifles,
attached to 4 Rifles, are involved
with liaising with the ANA. As I
explored in last week’s feature
(getreading, Friday, July 26), the
role of British forces has changed
from a purely combat task to a
more advise, train and mentor role
with security forces including the
Afghan Uniformed Police, Afghan
National Army and Afghan Local
Police.
As one soldier said: “The Afghan
solution is the best solution. We’re
not here to tell them exactly how to
do things. Now we’re just liaison.”
While seven 7 Rifles are working
at Patrol Base 2 in the Green Zone
of Helmand (see last week’s
getreading), some 25 colleagues are
working at Shorabak.
And all the rumblings are good;
Afghan counterparts are
interacting and working really well
with their British mentors and
they are reacting well to
procedures.
Captain Lyndon Pinches, 31, of 4
Rifles, said the Afghan forces had
“come on leaps and bounds” from
being a “ragtag” bunch to looking
professional and being trained to a
high standard.
2nd Lieutenant Paul Franklin, of
Brock Barracks’ 7 Rifles, has been
in the TA for five years and is a
chartered surveyor for Mercedes
Benz, looking after
the company’s
properties in the UK.
He’s using his skills
on Civvy Street to
good effect in
Afghanistan with
relocation projects as
the draw-down of
British bases
continues.
2 Lieut Franklin,
based at Camp
Tombstone, who is
on his first tour of
Afghanistan, said:
“We’re making sure
these guys are
trained, making
sure they have got
the right
equipment.”
And what’s it like
working with
Afghan
counterparts?
“It’s really good fun, a really
positive experience. They’ll
sit and chat to you
and be your best
friend. We work
through all sorts of
different problems
and challenges
together,” he said.
This could include
ordering equipment,
training and
maintaining kit.
“By the time we
leave they will have
enough people who
are trained, they
won’t need the
Americans or us to
train them, they will
train themselves,”
said the 32-year-old
from Milton Keynes.
As a civilian Simon
Mitchell runs a
climbing wall in
Amersham. As a
Rifleman with 7
Rifles the 30-year-old
is involved in the
advisory team with
the ANA for finding
IEDs.
Of his experience
with patrolling, he
said: “With all our
training we were
looking for threats,
always watching, the
more you do it the
more relaxed you
become. Everybody
is properly wired,
tuned into it.
“The ANA are
just blokes at the
end of the day, just
like us.”
Rfn Mitchell, 30,
has been in the TA
for two-and-a-half
years.
“It’s a bit like reading about
football, you read about it all the
time and at some stage you want to
play it,” he explained for his reason
for wanting to come on Op Herrick
18.
“It’s an experience, playing the
game for real – it’s not playtime
anymore.”
Rfn Mitchell, who is from
Birmingham, but lives in High
Wycombe, said he joined the TA for
something more exciting to do
rather than “having a skinful”.
The former Leys School student
continued: “4 Rifles are really good.
The TA is sometimes regarded as
an old man’s drinking club but
once you get the job going we all fit
in quite well.”
Shooting pictures rather than
guns is the greater role for
28-year-old Rifleman Henry Carter.
His tasks include escorting the
commanding officer around the
area of operations but he is also
on patrol: British soldiers chat to Afgh
‘a really positive
experience’: 2nd
Lieutenant Paul Franklin
combat patrol:
In Helmand Province
search: Rifling through
poppy stacks for IEDs
News editor SARAH
HAMILTON visited
Reading soldiers in
Helmand,
Afghanistan, earlier
this month, where
they are playing a
key role in the huge
draw-down operation
as British forces
prepare to leave the
country. Last week we
featured life in Patrol Base
2 in the Green Zone where
local soldiers are helping
mentor Afghan forces.
This week we meet new
dad and REME soldier
Sergeant Andy Evans from
Tilehurst and look at the
role of 7 Rifles in Camp
Shorabak