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The Afghanistan Experience…..Part 3
As someone famously once sung….“War (huh), what is it good for? Absolutely nothing”….In my opinion, that’s not actually true! After my week in Afghanistan with the rest of JACK’s Morning Glory, spending hours talking to and seeing how British troops work under the direction of NATO in a war zone, it is good for one [...]
Coming Home
On any given day in Oxfordshire, while you and I are going about our normal lives, something very special happens at Brize Norton. It’s something most of us will never get to see but on Monday I was privileged enough to witness this event. It’s not something that involves a fanfare or much fuss, but [...]
Half week highlights!
Last night we were asked to create a list of the highlights of the trip so far… Sure, we said, not a problem, that will be easy. Then we started to compile the list and realised that when you’re dropped into the biggest military camp in Afghanistan, with a week long programme of visiting and [...]
Hello from Camp Khandahar in Afghanistan!
Before you start thinking ‘that’s an unusual holiday destination’, the reason we’re here is to broadcast our breakfast show on JACKfm back to Oxfordshire each morning this week. And what a trip it’s already been! A year in the organisation but just like everyone else out here we’ve discovered sometimes things don’t go the way [...]
My Afghanistan experience..Part two…The most amazing two days of my life….
Ringing around my head was Status Quo….‘you’re in the army now, woo woo You’re in the army now’ as we were briefed at 0400 hours in Camp Roberts, Kandahar. We had to gather round the officer in charge of welfare in our section of the camp to listen to our brief instructions and I had [...]
Deserted… but far from it.
So what does it feel like fall asleep in the middle of a desert? I’m not long off finding out. It’s a totally bizarre concept, and just one of the many thoughts that coloured my mind ahead of our trip. Tonight I’ll be falling asleep under an Afghan sky at Camp Bastion, very, very, very [...]
WHAT a day!
and I mean that in the best possible way. Just a quick note from the tent here in Camp Bastion. All four of us are beavering away at about 1130pm cutting up audio, video and pics from the past two days. We finally got to Khandahar at something like 4am on Monday, were taken to [...]
The longest day…
So here we are, day number one of our big adventure to Afghanistan. We arrived into Brize at 2:30am for our 5:30am flight, and due to a couple of minor problems with the plane, there we sat for a few bonus hours.. I’d love to tell you what the problems are, but if I did, [...]
From Biba Glam to Afghanistan
What a surreal week it’s been. On Monday I was are RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire with Trev, Sue and Greg getting fitted for kit ahead of our impending trip to Afghanistan. And yesterday I was getting thoroughly glammed-up at Spring Studios in Kentish Town for an upcoming feature in Grazia magzine about women who own and still [...]
The patches have arrived!
It all started about 4 weeks ago when we sat down with Gary Lane from 606 Squadron to go through a couple of planning questions that we had and then we came onto what we should bring out to the troops at Camp Bastion. Obviously we are quite restricted with the physical size of things [...]
Two sleeps to go
According to the MOD, Bastion is home to over 20 thousand Navy, Army and RAF military personal and contractors from both this country and the U.S. According to Jeremy Clarkson, it’s so safe there, he didn’t even bother with getting insurance last time he visited. Fortunately our boss doesn’t see things the same way. And [...]
The Afghanistan Experience from Trev…
I have decided to call my blog for the trip to a war zone under the title of the ‘Afghanistan Experience’…Because that’s how I am selling it myself, family and friends around me. The first thing I say to them is that we are going to a very safe place within a war zone, it [...]
The Royal British Legion
Trev, Greg, Sue and Rosie are heading out to Afghanistan on the 21st of November. We wouldn’t be able to do it without help from The Royal British Legion. If you see people wearing poppies every year, but aren’t really sure what The Royal British Legion do, Have a look here, they’re pretty bloody amazing!
Getting Ready for Afghanistan
So what does it take to take an entire breakfast show to Afghanistan? The quick answer is about a year of organising, the long answer involves a lot of paperwork.. But in October this year we were finally in the position to apply for visas to Afghanistan. It was surprisingly easy. Well, we thought it [...]
What to pack?
Passport…. check, travel pillow… check, body armour…check. Packing for Afghanistan is a little more daunting than the usual fortnight in the Algarve. Having visited Afghanistan back in 2008 I have some idea of what to take, and what to ditch. It’s good to pack as light as you possibly can, you’ll be thankful when you’re having to [...]
Camp Bastion
What? Where ? The description according to the MOD is Camp Bastion is the UK’s largest military base and centre of operations in Afghanistan needs that desert. The camp has doubled in size during the past year. Following the surge of 12,000 US troops who share it, Bastion now accommodates 21,000 people. According to the [...]
