We had been flying for 15 minuets and I could see in the distance the firing range that we would be going to, when all of a sudden the helicopter swerved to the left and we were flying on a another course. At once we all came alert the pilot was talking franticly on the radio, and we all looked at one another, I glanced out of the window and saw that the other helicopter was flying alongside of us, something was wrong that we all new but what.

The noise in a helicopter is deafening so we could not really talk to one another yet, I glanced out of the window again just in time to see two of the sultans’ fighter jets scream past us, now we knew something was wrong.

Our officer came to us and over the noise of the helicopter told us that we were going on a rescue mission 50 miles away a group of our comrades were holding out at a small compound, some had been killed and wounded but the rest were holding out, we were going to try and extract them, they had called an air strike and that is what we saw when the jest flew past. I looked out of the window again to see the jets scream past again going back to base. It was now up to us to do our part.

Its never easy to do what we were going to do, flying in blind not having a plan, we were used to doing things with a plan, but this time we would just have to wing it so to speak.

Firefights do not normally last long; this one had turned into a mini battle and had been going on most of the morning.

 We all looked at one another us all new that it could have been anyone of us down in that small compound, I looked down at my feet and saw the Jesus sandals that I was wearing and smiled wonderful footwear for going into battle, and I made a mental note that if I survived I would never wear them again.

One of my mates looked at me and shouted it is just like the 7th cavalry coming to the rescue, I shouted back wanker they were all killed at there glorious moment. That broke the spell and we all fell about grinning like Cheshire cats.

We saw in the distance the flash of gunfire and smoke, and then we were going in we dropped out of the sky not far from the action, the helicopters flew away to a safer distance, and now we were going to do the job that we had come to do, we ran at a steady pace, we had resolved our selves to kill any person outside the compound, and that is what we did, the greatest asset that any soldier has is aggression, it will see you though most fights and battles, going back was not an option only going forward.   Anyway that is what the men trapped would have done for anyone of us.

We came over the small hill mopping up the last resistance, and capturing the last of the insurgents, and then it went all quiet. It was over, I remember getting a prickly feeling on the back of my neck, and I looked up at the small compound a little to my front and saw small figures standing looking back at us, I waved my hand, and they waved back. It was all over. What had started out as a nice day out for most off us turned out to be a day of excitement? You do not get many days like that in most jobs.