Nad-e Ali Blog 1: Return to the Edge
Welcome to the first blog from our Stabilisation Adviser, Tim Gurney, in Nad-e Ali, Afghanistan. Click here to find out more about Tim.
So there I was, newly retired from the British Diplomatic Service after 35 years, 12-months running a scuba diving centre in Indonesia. Terrific resort, warm water, amazing critters, great photography, nice guests, well paid. Where was the challenge?
My mind kept wandering to the 18 months I spent in Kabul with the British Embassy. The lure of Great Game 3.0 was calling me back.
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Going to work in Patrol Base Shazad |
Curiously Afghanistan is not somewhere you can just fly to, get a job and get cracking. Odd eh? It took me some months until I landed the job of a “Stabilisation Adviser” or STABAD as the military like to call us. Employed by the Stabilisation Unit, a mix of Britain’s Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development, my job is to help build-up the services the Afghan government can provide in Helmand to its’ communities. Essentially to make Afghans feel there is more value in supporting their government rather than the Taliban. So services in the shape of schools, clinics, wells, irrigation – basic by Western standards but not for a country that has gone through 30 years of warfare and which has never had the type of infrastructure we take for granted. |
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So ….. here I am. In Helmand in Afghanistan. Helmand: home of the British army’s Afghan effort. I’m based in a Patrol Base – a PB in the jargon – manned by the Parachute Regiment Battlegroup (“3 Para”) called Shazad. In case you feel the urge to Google Earth, it’s in a village called Chah-e Anjir. Sitting here behind blast walls and surrounded by military, it sometimes feels as distant as the Moon. If you find live video images, I’m the civilian guy with grey hair and older than 45. |
| Gotta say the first weeks have been pretty good. I’ve been made very welcome on the base and working with 3 Para is great fun. Living arrangements are a tad different to diplomatic life. We have no running water, usually no hot water, “poo-in-a bag” loos, communal washing and complete lack of ”fine dining”. This actually makes my time in the Embassy in Kabul look luxurious. Added to which I live, as the last outgoing CO told me with a certain relish, in a disused toilet. Well it makes a change, right?
The village of Chah-e Anjir is right outside the base walls. But then so are the bad guys. Gunfire is heard throughout the day: machine guns, howitzers (ours – phew) – and Apache attack helicopters overhead. I’m not sure whether it feels like being on the set of Apocalypse Now or MASH. It’s never dull for sure. Getting out and about is a challenge: a visit to the school – which is about 50m away – involves, what I'm only allowed to describe as "an extensive security entourage". But think burly, heavily-armed guys, muscular vehicles and lots of ducking and diving and bobbing and weaving. But, let’s be honest, nights in Manchester can be like that |
Only the best bedroom for a Stabilisation Adviser |
I must be mad, right? You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that. But, hey, I had to have a psychological evaluation before coming out here. At least I have a certificate which says I’m sane. Do you? Perhaps more tellingly when I attended a Hostile Environment Training Course before coming out here the presenter told us that only three kinds of people do these jobs: Adventurers, Misfits – and Loonies. Well, you decide…..
But if you’d like to follow along with Goings-On in PB Shazad and life in my corner of Helmand, click the RSS Feeds box on the left-hand side of the page and subscribe to this blog. I promise you News from The Front, the story of hunting mice in my room, the quest for joined-up food and real coffee, how the military talk in TLAs (that’s Three Letter Abbreviations) and other Tales of Daring Do.
I remember saying in Kabul that I was as close to the edge of adventurous living as I ever wanted to get. Well guess what…… the edge is much closer here in Helmand. Come and share the experience