Afghanistan

Hope everything's OK with you Rob.
 
I'll be 'out and about' after Tuesday until mid-December... Should be very LRDG - for those familiar with old Richard Burton, Rock Hudson and George Peppard Movies...

Small joblet on over this weekend - back in on Monday, all going well...
 
Hope it goes well - like the idea of a "joblet" - although as a cat owner, it tends to mean something rather different in my world....! :eek:
 
Ingrid - the tea arrived this morning, thanks very much...I've already had one cuppa and the whole room smells lovely...lol
 
Wow that was quick (y), glad you are enjoying it, let me know if you need any more :D or any other variety
 
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Just got back from a charity lunch for a local lad who has lost both legs and part of a arm in Afghanistan we managed to raise £1500 for him to help with any alterations to his house that needs doing. Here's hoping to have you back soon Rob.
 
Rob when you manage to get back online could you let us know the best time to send this starbucks coffee we had delivered today mate, quite a selection but not the lorry load we were expecting(y)
 
Rob when you manage to get back online could you let us know the best time to send this starbucks coffee we had delivered today mate, quite a selection but not the lorry load we were expecting(y)

oo if you send it now, it'll be in Lash by the time I get back there hopefully...getting a bit short now - I'm on the map and have a fair old stream of visitors around the 10.30 - 11.00am mark...lol
Many thanks...
 
will get it away in the morning theres 8 bags but that will take the weight over 2kg so we will leave the christmas blend out and post that with some other goodies
 
Have only just joined, but wanted to say "Good Luck" and "Stay Safe"

My sis in law is not long back from a stint in Bastion (she's an ITU nurse in the navy) and is now volunteering at Selly Oak, oh yeah, I'm married to the big green machine too, so always keep an eye out for those "out & about"
 
Just got back to Lash-Vegas to find a huge pile of stuff:
Lots of Magazines from Dougie...
Loads of stuff from RobC - including Nutrogena hand cream - just in the nick of time - two weeks in the freezing wastes of Nowzad with the US Marines (re-creating Apocalypse 'Now-zad') have trashed my hands utterly...
Tea and Stuff from Yvonne and a bizarre Comp Slip...

I'm back up to fully-stocked with tea and coffee for another 6 weeks or so, I reckon...the Lapsang kept me alive this last fortnight, I can tell you

...and a very strange card from Shona, Rob, Amber and Zane - some odd-looking green tree-thing...what time of year is it...?
What? Already?

Thanks to you all...it's lovely to come back 'in' to open 'presents' no matter what time of year...
 
Cheers Rob,
Hang in there.

Dougie
 
I'll get some more of that strange tea to you in the New Year (now I know where to get it), if what you have will last that long, just say if you want some sooner (y)
 
May be an idea to post or pm to anyone interested the names of anyone with little or no family/friends to send them a card/present. That way they could be addressed to a person and should get through.
 
May be an idea to post or pm to anyone interested the names of anyone with little or no family/friends to send them a card/present. That way they could be addressed to a person and should get through.

but surely its important that the personal stuff gets to the people who need it first?
 
but surely its important that the personal stuff gets to the people who need it first?

The people who need it first are amply catered for - honestly, you have no idea how many 'anonymous' parcels tip up here - some quite well thought-out, some just containing the three years' worth of hotel toiletries that people had cluttering-up the bathroom cabinet.
If we need specific stuff though, we have to ask friends and family, otherwise it's a case of: what you see is what you get...

A three-week hiatus on those anonymous parcels in favour of a specific individual's Xmas goods won't hurt. There's a system in place to get stuff like that out to the FOBs and PBs
 
The people who need it first are amply catered for - honestly, you have no idea how many 'anonymous' parcels tip up here - some quite well thought-out, some just containing the three years' worth of hotel toiletries that people had cluttering-up the bathroom cabinet.
If we need specific stuff though, we have to ask friends and family, otherwise it's a case of: what you see is what you get...

A three-week hiatus on those anonymous parcels in favour of a specific individual's Xmas goods won't hurt. There's a system in place to get stuff like that out to the FOBs and PBs

I kinda meant christmass cards from the mrs beats random toiletries for a few week but I get what you mean ;)
 
More magazines from Jeff - Kennysarmy...

Many thanks!
 
just had the devestating news that a good mate, brother of my brother's best man, and close family friend was in the blast that caused the death of 2 soldiers on tuesday ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8417964.stm )

Lt Will Dixon, now in sellyoke with a missing leg and internal injuries that are life threatening, here's hoping he can pull through!

Stay safe Rob, your doing a hell of a job out there!!

A devastated Charlie
 
just had the devestating news that a good mate, brother of my brother's best man, and close family friend was in the blast that caused the death of 2 soldiers on tuesday ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8417964.stm )

Lt Will Dixon, now in sellyoke with a missing leg and internal injuries that are life threatening, here's hoping he can pull through!

Stay safe Rob, your doing a hell of a job out there!!

A devastated Charlie

I hope he pulls through.
I hope that for all our casualties.
 
i hope and pray he pulls through.
my thoughts are with all our troops out there

Rob and the rest keep your heads down and stay safe.
 
Yes - we do not release the 'wounded' figures to the Press, but for every one of us killed there are inevitable a half-dozen wounded - some grievously so...
The blast also killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded four others....
The Local Army chief marched into the town centre yesterday and berated the market-goers with a bullhorn saying the only reason they were alive was due to the sacrifice of all those men on tuesday - it was a double suicide bomb attack destined for the marketplace - the second bomber was to hold back and attack the emergency services when they turned up to deal with the mass casualties.
 
Rob, that's the story filtering down from Dicko's father (himself a past colonel).. one hell of a sacrifice for the people of Sangin!

Thanks folks, it's something we all knew could happen, Will was working with Olaf Schmid w2hen he too was killed! It's just shocking when it happens, even though your are almost expecting it, every time i hear of another death within the forces in Afghanistan i fear it's one of the 7 soldiers i know who are currently there!!

Charlie
 
Rob,

Now can you answer me a question? years gone by when "something" happened there was a lock down untill the families has bee told is this still the case? i only ask as it seems (not on here) that alot of info is getting out rather fast.

takce care stay safe and look after yourself

Terri
 
Rob,

Now can you answer me a question? years gone by when "something" happened there was a lock down untill the families has bee told is this still the case? i only ask as it seems (not on here) that alot of info is getting out rather fast.

takce care stay safe and look after yourself

Terri


This instance was a mistake - the Afghan Army Press Office released the information before the Families in the UK had been informed and they have been spoken to quite harshly about it...

In any case the process for informing NOK has been sped-up and streamlined considerable in the past few years - mainly because we've had so much practice, unfortunately.

Op MINIMISE (closure of Welfare internet facilities and unrestricted phones) still comes in to force on all Coalition bases until such time as the deatils of the incident are verified and NOK are told...
 
I know the news has to report it but hearing the way it happened would bring me more distress, I don't think that they think of the families who have just lost someone when reporting on the matter, they need to show more tact and that goes for BFBS to.

When hubby was over there LKG got attacked and my then 8yr old heard it on the BFBS news (we were in Cyprus) and cried her self to sleep worrying about her daddy!!!!
 
thanks Rob for clearing that up for me.

i know that mistakes happen and i wasn't pointing the finger or anything. i know someone who has a brother out there and she was the one that passed on the info..

again thanks
 
I know the news has to report it but hearing the way it happened would bring me more distress, I don't think that they think of the families who have just lost someone when reporting on the matter, they need to show more tact and that goes for BFBS to.

When hubby was over there LKG got attacked and my then 8yr old heard it on the BFBS news (we were in Cyprus) and cried her self to sleep worrying about her daddy!!!!

Noe BFBS is another source of to much too soon or they go the other way.. thank god i don't have to listern/watch them anymore
 
I see the crab phot got his camera and his daft gloves all over the news this evening (one eyes' visit to the troops)
where were you rob?
 
you ever get my second supply parcel mate?

had all the ebooks and more dvds.....

Nothing yet...looking at a 20-25 day wait at the moment - I just got my Xmnas pressie from the GF posted on the 30th...lol

The mail system is REALLY struggling under the burden...
Troops are typically now waiting 48 hours at Kandahar to fly home on R&R or EOT (and that additional wait comes off their R&R, so as you can imagine, people are 'chimpfing' a bit).

Daily mail-runs aren't possible, so mail has to be squeezed in as and when it can according to how much space is available on the Merlins and Chinooks.

Bizarrely we now have more helicopters than we need: what we don't have is crews to fly them out here - the helicopters arrived a month ahead of schedule, but the theatre-specific training for the crews can't be speeded-up or shortened, so we now have five Merlins sat at Bastion doing nothing...lol

Be all sorted by mid-January.
 
I see the crab phot got his camera and his daft gloves all over the news this evening (one eyes' visit to the troops)
where were you rob?

I was at Lash - HRH Duke of York came here, so I covered that instead.
 
From Paulie-W - box of...boxes, DVDs, Earl-Grey tea and chewing-gum...many thanks - those air-tight containers will be used to transport loose tea around...I was woindering how I was going to do that...

From Dougie, another 40 million magazines - some of these haven't been read yet, you naughty fellow - don't go buying stuff for me, just pass it on when you've read it...lol

Ahhh...The Scottish Sporting Gazette - that's actually going to be very useful indeed...as we have to put together something for the Scottish Sun amongst other publications over Xmas... they'll love this...

Now all I need is some Balvenie 15yr malt and I'm all set for Festive-Time...

But no...we're having a Non-Denominational Mid-Winter Festivity Period instead...
which means it starts tonight! Winter Solstice!
 
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