Authors: Christian Hill
Tags: #Afghanistan, #Personal Memoirs, #Humour, #Funny, #Journalists, #Non-Fiction, #War & Military
Combat Camera (31 page)
1 | Data starts 7th October 2001. |
2 | The last three months of data are provisional and subject to change. |
3 | Some deaths may not have clearly defined cause information and could be subject to change depending on the outcome of Boards of Inquiry and/or Coroners’ Inquest. |
4 | These data include all deaths occurring as a result of accidental or violent causes while deployed and deaths due to disease-related causes during the deployment. |
NUMBER OF AFGHANISTAN UK MILITARY AND CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
7th October 2001 to 31st December 2013
1 | Data starts 7th October 2001. |
2 | The last three months of data are provisional and subject to change. |
3 | The VSI and SI data includes personnel with an initial NOTICAS listing of VSI or SI who were alive at the time of discharge from their first hospital episode in the UK. |
4 | The VSI and SI injury data includes records classified as “Other Causes”. This classification is used when there is insufficient information to attribute a casualty to injury or natural cause. |
5 | Civilians are not included in the figures previous to 1st January 2006. |
6 | The personnel listed as VSI or SI may also appear in the UK field-hospital admissions and aeromed evacuations data. |
7 | The admissions data contain UK personnel admitted to any field hospital, whether operated by UK or Coalition Medical Facilities. |
8 | The disease or non-battle injury figures are non-battle injuries only until 27th October 2006; disease is included from 28th October 2006 to be consistent with Op TELIC reporting. |
9 | Field Hospital Admissions data starts 1st March 2006. |
MoD Definitions of “Very Seriously Injured” and “Seriously Injured”
The Notification of Casualty reports raised for casualties contain information on how serious medical staff in theatre judge their condition to be. This information is used to inform what the next of kin are told. “VSI” and “SI” are the two most serious categories into which personnel can be classified:
“Very Seriously Ill/Injured/Wounded” or VSI is the definition we use where the illness or injury is of such severity that life or reason is imminently endangered.
“Seriously Ill/Injured/Wounded” or SI is the definition we use where the patient’s condition is of such severity that there is cause for immediate concern, but there is no imminent danger to life or reason.
The VSI and SI categories are defined by Joint Casualty and Compassionate Policy and Procedures. They are not strictly “medical categories” but are designed to give an indication of the severity of the illness to inform what the individual’s next of kin are told. In the figures for Operation HERRICK (Afghanistan) and Operation TELIC (Iraq) we have excluded those individuals categorized as VSI or SI whose condition was identified to be caused by illness, to produce figures for the number of UK personnel categorized as VSI and SI whatever the cause of the injury, but excluding illnesses.
Glossary
ABP: Afghan Border Police
AH-64: Apache attack helicopter
ANA: Afghan National Army
ANP: Afghan National Police
ANSF: Afghan National Security Forces
Bergen: British Army rucksack
BFBS: British Forces Broadcasting Service
Brimstone: A counter-IED team made up of bomb-disposal experts and searchers. Also air-to-ground missiles used by RAF Tornados
DfID: Department for International Development
EOD: Explosive Ordnance Disposal
FOB: Forward Operating Base
Green Zone: The fertile land either side of the Helmand River
Hesco: Wire-mesh containers, lined with heavy-duty fabric and filled with rubble and hard core
Humvee: HMMWV – High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle
IDF: Indirect Fire, e.g. mortars, rockets, artillery
IED: Improvised Explosive Device
ISAF: International Security Assistance Force – the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan
ISO Container: A steel freight container, usually forty feet long
JMOC: Joint Media Operations Centre
Mastiff: Armoured six-wheel patrol vehicle
MERT: Medical Emergency Response Team
MOG: Media Operations Group
MQ-1 Predator: Unmanned “aerial vehicle” – or “drone” – which can carry two Hellfire missiles
MQ-9 Reaper: The upgraded MQ-1 Predator
MTP: Multi Terrain Pattern – the army’s new uniform, replacing the traditional green camouflage of DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material)
NAAFI: Navy, Army Air Force Institutes cafeteria and shop
NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer
OP: Observation Post
Osprey: Body armour worn by British soldiers
PB: Patrol Base
PRT: Provincial Reconstruction Team
REME: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
RPG: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
RSOI: Reception Staging and Onward Integration – induction training for all arrivals at Bastion
SA80: British Army’s standard issue rifle
Shura: Afghan meeting, usually involving elders
TFH: Task Force Helmand
Vallon: Metal detector used in searching for IEDs
Acknowledgements
There are many friends and colleagues from the military and the BBC to whom I am indebted. First and foremost I want to thank Russ and Ali for allowing me to write about them. The same goes for Paul and Lee Swain. I would also like to thank Lt Col Crispin Lockhart, Lt Col Tim Purbrick, Lt Col Rosie Stone and Lt Col Vickie Sheriff.
I want to pay tribute to Mike McErlain, whose incredible work in the hospital at Camp Bastion saved the lives of so many injured servicemen and women. I also want to pay tribute to the fearless Ian Fisher.
From the BBC, I would like to thank all the ladies at Leicester, mostly for putting up with me for so long. Kate Squire, Kay Wright, Jane Hill, Lucy Collins, Lisa Hilliam, Kristina Hrywnak and Namrata Varia are all top of the list, along with all the other stalwarts in the newsroom.
At Alma Books I would like to thank Alex and Elisabetta for having so much faith in me, and Christian Müller for putting up with all my titivations.
Of my old friends to whom I must tip my hat: Colly and Ghillie, both for their willingness to drink with me, Eddie for all the legal shenanigans and Jamie, Dave and Bushy for joining me up the mountain. Special thanks must also go to my old mate Tucker, for absorbing and deflecting so many years of really bad poetry.
I’d like to mention – and thank – all the dogs that have kept me fit and brought me so much happiness throughout my life. In no particular order: Jasper, Monty, Trudie, Hector, Nelson, Nelly, Tess, Katja and Tanya.
Above all else, I am grateful to my mother and father for all their help and encouragement throughout my years. I must also mention my brother Will and my sister Nicky for their ongoing support, along with my beautiful girlfriend Belinda.