MAJOR ADAM JOWETT
with Geraint Jones
NO WAY OUT
The Searing True Story of Men Under Siege
Contents
This book is dedicated to
the men of Easy Company,
the Artillery, and the aircrew
who answered the call.
THE PEGASUS ETHOS
As British Airborne soldiers we place the mission, and our comrades, before ourselves. Our bravery is founded upon determination, endurance, and selflessness. We are supremely disciplined and that discipline is primarily self-imposed. We take pride in being part of an elite, and we understand our responsibility to strive for the highest standards of achievement, turnout, and attitude. We wear Pegasus with humility, recognizing our obligation never to demean or diminish the value of others. We are a compassionate friend, but a ferocious enemy. In battle, in barracks, and at home, we always do the right thing.
THE REGIMENTAL CHARTER
The Parachute Regiment provides the capability to deploy an infantry force at short notice, in the vanguard of operations and in the most demanding circumstances. As such, it is trained and ready to form the spearhead for the armys rapid intervention capability.
Its watchwords are professionalism, resilience, discipline, versatility, courage, and self-reliance.
It is light by design, because this confers speed of reaction, and is expert at airland deployments, by helicopter, aeroplane or parachute. It is trained to conduct a range of missions, from prevention and pre-emption tasks, to complex, high intensity war fighting. It is also trained to provide direct support to United Kingdom Special Forces, with whom it maintains close links and to whom it contributes a very significant proportion of manpower.
In sum, the Parachute Regiments approach to the training and selection of its soldiers continues to foster those qualities of resilience and versatility recognized by its founding fathers as the rock on which its particular value is built. It remains a force for good and for all seasons in the army.
UTRINQUE PARATUS Ready for Anything
Glossary
2IC Second In Command
2IC Second In Command
ACM Anti-Coalition Militia
ally (al-ee) irregular, unissued kit or appearance celebrated amongst the Paras
ANA Afghan National Army
ANP Afghan National Police
ANSP Afghan National Standby Police
belt-buckle expression for being as low as possible to the ground
casevac casualty evacuation
CIMIC Civil Military Cooperation
CSM Company Sergeant Major
danger close the closest point at which friendly fires can be brought without striking your own position
DC District Centre
double tap to fire two rifle rounds in quick succession at a target
EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal
FOB Forward Operating Base
FOO Forward Observation Officer
FSG Fire Support Group
FST Fire Support Team
gen to brief
gimpy general purpose machine gun
gimpy link the belt of ammunition for the general purpose machine gun
GPMG General Purpose Machine Gun
green zone irrigated and vegetated area bounding rivers and tributaries
HCR Household Cavalry Regiment
headshed headquarters element informal
hesco bastion mesh fortification
HLS Helicopter Landing Site
HMG Heavy Machine Gun .50 Calibre
ICOM radio intercept
IDF Indirect Fire
IED Improvised Explosive Device
IO Intelligence Officer
IRT Immediate Response Team (CH-47 borne)
ISAF International Security Assistance Force
I-STAR Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition
JDAM Joint Direct Attack Munition
JOC Joint Operations Centre
JTAC Joint Terminal Attack Controller
KIA Killed In Action
LAV Light Armoured Vehicle
LEWT Light Electronic Warfare Troop
LMG Light Machine Gun
LZ Landing Zone
MOG Manoeuvre Outreach Group
MSQ Musa Qala
NCO Non-Commissioned Officer
nine liner the format for reporting casualties
NVGs Night-Vision Goggles
OC Officer Commanding
OP Observation Post
ops room operations room
pax personnel
PF Pathfinders, 16 Air Assault Brigades reconnaissance platoon
PKM Pulemyot Kalashnikova (machine gun), Soviet equivalent to our general purpose machine gun
PRR Personal Role Radio
replen replenish or resupply
RHA Royal Horse Artillery
RIP Relief In Place. Process of rotating troops in a FOB or AO
RPG Rocket-Propelled Grenade
sangar fighting position with varying degrees of protection
shemagh Arab headdress
Soldatenglck soldiers luck
SOP Standard Operating Procedures
tab tactical advance to battle. Moving fast with kit
Terry Taliban
Toms young paratroopers
WIA Wounded In Action
Prologue
To move was to die.
The air above our heads was being torn apart by the supersonic zipping and cracking of bullets, splinters from the wooden structure of the sangar thrown up into the air. Hot sand from the leaking bags poured onto my neck and into the back of my body armour. My senses felt assaulted, the smell of cordite and dust thick in my nostrils, my ears ringing from the boom and blast of RPGs; the rattle of machine guns, friendly and enemy; the frantic shouts of command; the crump of mortars. Even after weeks of furious fighting, it was the heaviest weight of fire I had ever experienced. The most intense battle.
And, from the sounds and sights around me, I knew that we were losing.
It had all started so casually. The front gate sangar had requested a battery replen, and I had told my signallers that I would run them out in their place. Using the cover of buildings, and sprinting between open spaces, not a single round had come at me from the enemy-occupied buildings just fifty yards away. Compared to what we had faced so far, such an easy crossing of the compound felt like bliss. A true walk in the park.
Morning, boss, the smiling Ranger Russell had greeted me, his eyes red from days of gun smoke and nights of little sleep.
Morning, Russ, I replied, taking in our defences at the compounds front gate, a collection of metal sheets and wire that was more Mad Max than British Army. All quiet? I asked.
The words were hardly out of my mouth when the trio of RPGs fired, the sound of their launch and detonation overlapping as they slammed the short distance into our defences. The heavy weapons were the signal for the enemy to start their attack, and within moments the ghost town had been turned into an inferno of gunfire.
Down! I shouted at Russell, pulling him into the corner of the sandbagged position. Stay down! I told him as he bravely tried to fire back at the enemy.
Fuck! I screamed to myself. Fuck!
This was the enemys heaviest weight of fire to date, and as the company commander I should be in a position to coordinate my men, and to smash the Talibans attack with air and artillery power. Instead, I was pinned down completely in an exposed fighting position, and there was no doubt in my mind that to raise my head would mean immediate death. To run to the closest building would be impossible. The air was choked with bullets, rounds churning up dirt and smacking into mud walls like acid rain.
