PARWICH.ORG

We have received the following email from Major Benjamin Ingham from the Royal Artillery. He is currently serving in Afghanistan:

Firstly I trust this is the correct process for sending in a ‘post’. The site is excellent, and now I am deployed, use it regularly to keep abreast of village life. For example, it is great to see my niece dressed as a witch on the front page!

I have attached a short article which I hope could be posted, if you think it suitable, and a few pictures which I hope set the scene visually. I hope to post a few articles whilst I am deployed, time permitting, and if it is the sort of piece that the readers would find interesting.  I would also like to pass on my congratulations to my sister-in-law and brother on the birth of their twins, Alice and Charlotte and look forward to seeing the burgeoning family in the near future.

A Day in the Life – Afghanistan 2011

Although not a regular contributor to the Parwich.org website I have used it regularly to keep abreast of village life whilst deployed in Afghanistan, and felt compelled to contribute.  I would love to write and tell you that being deployed is all action but the reality is far less glamorous. The further up the rank structure one progresses the further removed one becomes from the actual ‘action’.

A majority of the UK forces are located in the southern region of Afghanistan, an area that roughly resembles the area of Derbyshire, and with less than 9000 troops that equates to a sparse distribution of force elements to conduct the counter insurgency operation.  I once again find myself located in the northeastern region within the country in the capital city, Kabul.  My previous deployment was in early 2002 when, as a young operations officer, we left the UK in a hurry post 9/11 to bring about security to Afghanistan.  As is well documented, the search for Osama Bin Laden was on, however, in the intervening 10 years the military was distracted by Iraq and in the last 5 years we have returned to Afghanistan to conclude what we started ten years ago.  This time our mandate is broader and we are responsible for bringing about the stability to the country.  This is achieved through a gradual development in the capacity of the Afghanistan military, police, governance and general infrastructure.  This mandate is achieved through the combined contribution of over 38 nation states providing roughly 140,000 thousand soldiers.

I now find myself working in a NATO headquarters, which is ultimately responsible for all operations across Afghanistan.  It is a fascinating insight into the intricacies of planning and conducting activity, which should ultimately lead to Afghanistan being able to function without the assistance of the international community.  The headquarters within which I work is vast, imagine most of the inhabitants of Parwich trying to work for 24 hours a day within a building that equates to a site roughly 4 times the size of the new Village Hall.  It is cramped, stuffy, hot and exceptionally dusty.  Then add sleep deprived, stressed individuals, many who have been away from their families for up to a year without a single weekend rest and you might then gauge the general atmosphere.  Despite a diet of low quality food and long days the esprit-de-corps is good and as long as you are kept busy the calendar weeks are quickly ticked off.

Life in Afghanistan is a world away from life back home and it is the simple pleasures that you miss such as breathing clear air or taking a walk with my Mum and the dogs to Tissington, I would even enjoy a pint of Old Tom right now if it were offered.