"What the hell is going on"
On many occassions we were airlifted to different locations.
On this purticular flight, we had orders to go out and patrol a disused farm, that was reported as an ammo-dump for Irish Rupublican Army.
The helicopter came in to land, nearly blowing us of our feet, as it settled we grabbed our equipment and was hussled aboard. Sitting down on seats that remind me of deckchairs, the side doors closed, the engine started to spead up, it rised vertical, up and up until it started to bank left, my stumoch was in my throat, we made it up.
flying across the country side, looking through the window, it reminded me of the time I went toSpain with some of the lads, everything looking small, the higher we climbed.
after an hour we started to descend, landing in a field 2 miles away from our destination. We disembarked, huddled together while the helicopter took off. The silence was peaceful. Our section commander told us to check our kit, to get ready before we head off to the old farm. While we all got ready, I noticed an officer had joined our patrol, didnt think much about it. we had walked for three quaters of an hour, when our section commander told us to stop, and take cover, covering all positions. They both were talking, and i noticed the officer who joined us, arguing with our section leader, next thing we started to move.
Finally we reached the gates to the farm, we were breifed, and started slowly up the sides of the road towards the house, I was at the rear, making sure nothing was following us from behind, again we stopped, took a knee, and started scanning the area, everything was still, psssst, we're on the move, closer and closer we got to the house, everything was quiet.
Our section commander gave us locations to cover while the officer and him started checking the farm house, after 10 minutes, we moved towards the barn, checking everything, is anything out of place, new dirt on top of old etc, we took a knee, checking out over the field, along the hedge row, behind me I could hear talking, my head dropped, thinking "what the hell is going on" stern words were being thrown, then for a split second it went quiet BOOOOOOOOM, the earth trembled, dust everywhere, bits of wood, brick falling from the sky, landing near me, on me, what the F*^k just happened, the dust settled, then I saw my section commander on the ground, the officer next to him, without any thought I ran towards them, other members in the section screaming at me to get down, stay in cover.
To be continued...