Posting to Hell Land
Helmand Province, situated in the south of Afghanistan, is a province where security is described by MoD as “less benign” than in the north
UK Parliament Select Committee on Defence, Fifth Report, March 2006
Royal Irish Regiment mortar team
In April 2006, half the British Army’s rapid reaction force, 16 Air Assault Brigade, was sent south to Afghanistan’s former Taleban heartland, Helmand Province. British forces in southern Afghanistan were tasked with establishing security to allow reconstruction, the extension of central political control and the containment of the opium trade.
16 Air Assault Brigade’s deployment as part of Operation HERRICK IV coincided with a resurgence of Taleban insurgency that demanded every soldier give their all.
Patrols Platoon, 3 PARA, during Operation MUTAY, June 2006
Courtesy of L/Cpl Hewitson, 3 PARA
Troops in the south found themselves involved in more and more operations designed to resist, deter or eliminate such hostile action. During their six month tour the Brigade and the other units that made up the UK Task Force were tested to their limits in Helmand or, as some soldiers renamed it, Hell Land.
