Surviving Helmand

Taal: NL
Categorie: reportage

This inspiring documentary on Helmand survivors combines dramatic archive with the emotional testimonies of three Welsh soldiers and a bereaved mother. It explores the traumatic experiences and the tragedy of serious injury and death. At the height of the war in 2009 and 2010, the biggest threat to the soldiers were Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), home-made bombs that the Taliban secretly planted along the tracks they patrolled. Any pressure from above detonated them. This was the single biggest cause of lost lives. Corporal Geraint (Gez) Jones from Bangor joined the Royal Welsh Regiment looking for adventure. But this wasn't what he'd signed up for. "The IEDs were hard to detect. You're not a bomb disposal expert, you're an infantry soldier. We knew it could be any of us. You could be looking down and both your legs are stumps and you're bleeding to death. The reason I find that upsetting is because I've seen it and what that does to families. When the war was over I felt like a failure, I started drinking. Then I started using drugs every day because I didn't want to face reality." Gez recovered after he left the army and wrote a best-selling book based on his experiences. Steve Owen from Carmarthen was another who signed up looking for adventure. But on 19th February 2010, Steve's Jackal vehicle hit an IED." It threw us into the air. I ended up on my back with my legs sticking up out of the hole the IED had just caused. I was losing a lot of blood. It suddenly dawned on me that I could potentially die. I could just feel my body shutting down. In the back of my body armour I had a photo of my wife and my son and I remember looking at my mate and I said "get me that photo." I think that really gave me the energy to keep fighting through and not close my eyes. Because I guarantee if I had closed my eyes, I don't know if I'd have woken up." Steve was still in terrible pain and decided to have his leg amputated. This would be the beginning of a new and better life for Steve and his family. "I haven't looked back since. It was a massive relief that the pain had gone and I could walk well with my prosthetic leg." Just four months after his amputation Steve succeeded in completing a 26 hour sponsored walk. Now with four children and a happy marriage he is embarking on an even more ambitious marathon to raise funds for Woody's Lodge, a charity that supports veterans of the armed forced and emergency services, where he works as project manager. Most challenging of all for families back home was the loss of a loved one. Sarah Adams from Cwmbran was proud when her young son James Prosser said he was going to join the army. James drove a Warrior Tank at the height of the IED attacks and in September 2009 the news that Sarah feared arrived one morning. There was a knock at the door and she was told of James's death. She later found out the details of what happened. "An IED blew the Warrior James was driving up into the air. They got him into a helicopter and took him to Camp Bastion but they were unable to save him. He died from head injuries and an aortic tear." With the war still raging James' mother felt she needed to go to Camp Bastion where James had died to get some resolution of her grief. Sarah flew to Camp Bastion in June 2012 three years after her son's death there. Hugh Kier from Carmarthenshire was a sniper in the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment. "Helmand was my first experience of fire fights, it lasted about ten minutes and it was absolutely crazy." He was trapped in the siege of Musa Qala, and at the mercy of daily Taliban bombardments. "It shook me, it was the first time I ever felt fear." Like many veterans it took years for Hugh to get help for his PTSD. As part of his recovery Huw started a podcast- and a rugby team the FUBARS to help others suffering from PTSD.