The Afghanistan in the first place

Armed with an S02A assault rifle, Cheryl then practiced room clearance drills with 42 Commando before assisting the Marines with the evacuation of a casualty on a stretcher to a Medical Emergency Response Team’s RAF CH-47 Chinook helicopter – which totally covered her in dust from head to foot when it flew in. After lunch – at every meal she had in Camp Bastion Cheryl shared the table with at least 20 different Service personnel each time – she blew up Simon Cowell with 10kg of military P4 high explosives which she seemed to find an entirely enjoyable afternoon activity. Then it was on to join a Combat Logistic Patrol and recover a vehicle hit by an Improvised Explosive Device. Later on that evening she met the Task Force Engineers, the ‘ISAF slaves’ who have worked so tirelessly for both us and the Afghans for the last six months.

As we had Cheryl on the base for two days we thought that we would show her the full range of military capabilities used here in Helmand and, more importantly, introduce her to as many of the troops as she could meet in her 48 hours with us. So, with only a few hours kip (when our troops get a day off on arrival), in 35 deg C of heat, at 3,000 ft (as high as Ben Nevis) and on her first introduction to the military, Cheryl Cole embarked on an ambitious and demanding programme of meeting, greeting, posing for photos, signing her autograph and taking part in a huge range of military activity.

In Lashkar Gah we held a candle-lit memorial service on the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States during which 68 Britons lost their lives, the largest single loss of British life in a terrorist incident. It was a poignant reminder of the reason why we came to Afghanistan in the first place and the reason why we remain here now to ensure that Afghanistan can never again be abused by international terrorists to launch attacks against us or anyone else.

In my toughest task to date here in Helmand I reassigned myself to minding the media covering Cheryl Cole’s visit to Camp Bastion. Cheryl Cole, for those who don’t know, is a popular music performance artist and latterly a judge on the television talent show, the X Factor. Cheryl was out in Helmand to present the Daily Mirror’s Pride of Britain Award to Brig Ed Davis, Commander of Task Force Helmand, on behalf of all the troops who have served in Afghanistan over the last ten years.

Cheryl started by meeting the Brigade Reconnaissance Force where she fired a 30mm Rarden cannon on a 9th/12th Royal Lancers’ Scimitar 2 Light Tank, fired a Grenade Machine Gun on a SCOTS DG Warthog, and held a Brigade Patrols Troop Royal Marines sniper’s rifle before driving a Jackal patrol vehicle. She went on a foot patrol with 1 RIFLES, which included some ‘grand nationalling’ when compound walls, like fences on the Grand National, are climbed over using ladders, unlike the Grand National - and attended a ‘shura’ or meeting with Afghan elders.

The next morning we went to the Afghan National Army camp where Cheryl met General Shirin Shah, the Commander of the local Afghan Brigade, and 3 MERCIAN soldiers from the Brigade Advisory Group. Then she flew from Camp Shorobak to Camp Bastion in a Royal Navy Seaking helicopter, visited the UK helicopter flight line and sat in an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64 attack helicopter for a ground based flying lesson. Over at the RAF Regiment’s Force Protection Wing, the Tongan Marines put on a Sipi Tau – the Tongan equivalent of a New Zealand haka – which was quite awesome.