Great Britain. Army - No way out: Easy Company and the Siege of Musa Qala

with Geraint Jones

The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege

Contents

First published 2018 by Sidgwick & Jackson

This electronic edition first published 2019 by Pan Books

an imprint of Pan Macmillan

20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-5098-6471-3

Copyright Adam Jowett 2018

Front jacket image MOD, helicopter

The right of Adam Jowett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The picture credits on constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Helmand briefing map Crown Copyright

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This book is dedicated to

the men of Easy Company,

the Artillery, and the aircrew

who answered the call.

Major Adam Jowett is a hugely experienced career soldier who joined the army in 1991, receiving a commission into the Grenadier Guards. He transferred to the elite Parachute Regiment in 1998 and has served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and two tours of Afghanistan. Adam has found himself in appointments ranging from company commander at war to defence attach with the Foreign Office in eastern Europe. Today he is the Regimental Secretary of the Parachute Regiment. No Way Out is his first book.

Geraint Jones deployed as an infantry soldier on three tours of duty to Iraq and Afghanistan. For his actions in Basra, he was awarded the General Officer Commandings Commendation. Upon leaving the military, Geraint worked to protect commercial shipping against Somali- and Nigerian-based piracy. He is the author of historical fiction novels Blood Forest and Siege, and writes with James Patterson under the name Rees Jones. He now writes full-time and can be found across social media at @grjbooks.

Aerial reconnaissance photos of Musa Qala. The district centre perimeter is in red.

Some of the thirty Danish Tiger Squadron armoured vehicles that left Musa Qala on our arrival. The Outpost is in the background.

The view to the west of the district centre. The enemy held these buildings. Awnings mark the bakery in the foreground.

Looking in towards the western wall, the front gate that was rushed but never breached. A small sangar position is to the left, with a jeep and the ops room in the background.

Looking west, the Needle and enemy-held buildings dominate our compound. A destroyed Gaz-66 jeep is in the foreground.

Popular and courageous, LCpl Jon Hetherington, twenty-two years old, from 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare). Killed in action 27 August 2006.

North of the Outpost, every angle was fought over with rifles, GPMGs, and grenades. Mount Doom is in the background.

The Outpost, looking north-west, with one of our two HMGs destroyed in place by enemy fire, its mount lying empty. GPMG and HMG barrel to the left.

Lt Paul Martin briefs Barossa Platoon inside the clinic. Left to right: Rgr Ozzy Osborne, Rgr Livo Livingstone, Lt Martin, Sgt Gilchrist, Rgr Steven Rice, Rgr Kris Bradshaw, and Rgr John Purdy.

The mosque the scene of bitter grenade and small arms fighting viewed from the south-west sangar. The Needle in the background is opposite the main gate.

Rgr Livo Livingstone mans the GPMG, hard at it on the Outpost.

The western wall looking south into the mosque. There was intense fighting from the stairwell where fighters repeatedly attempted to break through.

Snipers Hugh Keir and Jared Cleary on the Alamos eastern wall.

Indispensible: one of our two mortars firing near vertical for a danger close mission. Left to right: Rgr Robert Crockard, Rgr Thomas Smith, and LCpl David McFarlane.

Cpl Danny Groves briefs the mortars. Anti-clockwise from Danny: Rangers Adam Dunlop, Jason Mooney, Robert Crockard, Thomas Smith, LCpl Rab McLurg, LCpl David McFarlane and Rgr Douglas McLaughlin.