TA soldier in Afghan ‘school of hard knocks’

Sgt Dan Allinson, 40, a member of 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, was separated from everyone he deployed with when he was posted to the Mazar-i-Sharif area in northern Afghanistan, about 25 miles south of the Uzbekistan border.

His deployment was part of the Nato Training Mission Afghanistan which has seen troops from various countries delivering training and mentoring work to support the growth and capability of the Afghan Security Forces so they will be able to take responsibility for their security operations, enabling British and other forces to return home by 2014.

He said: “I was one of only four Brits in a camp of 400 ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) troops, which itself was inside a huge Afghan National Army Camp. It was almost isolated because of its distance from Helmand and the British Army there, so you had to use your initiative to get resources, which forged greater friendships with the other nationalities there, especially the Germans.”

The stakes are high, however, and British and Nato troops have paid a high price for the vital work with so-called “green on blue” attacks in which members of the Afghan forces have opened fire on international allies.

According to Nato, there have been 20 green on blue attacks on foreign troops since January in which 27 people, including British soldiers, have died. Last year, there were 21 such attacks.

Commanders say most have been carried out by disgruntled Afghan individuals on other Afghans and insist progress is being made. “The isolation and numbers did make you worried – yes, at times I was very worried,” Sgt Allinson added.

“We four Brits were teaching and mentoring courses of 100 and 200 Afghans, and during my six months there two American trainers like myself were shot and killed. But you had to get on with it.”

Sgt Allinson, from Beverley, said he had been selected for the role because of his experience as a primary school teacher. He currently teaches at Anlaby Primary School in Hull.

He said: “My role in Afghanistan has been a little bit different to the other reserve soldiers from 4 Yorks as I’ve been working in a teaching and support capacity with the Afghan National Army.

“I think the Army identified my civilian career and thought it could be used for a better future in Afghanistan.

“On Operation Herrick 15, which I came back from in April, I was deployed to the Infantry Training School for Afghan soldiers and was put in charge of the heavy weapons wing where I, and 11 Mongolians, went about training the Afghans how to fire their heavy weapon systems.

“There were three or four of us there from the wider Yorkshire Regiment so there were some friendly faces in a camp of 42 different nationalities. The job was rewarding but also frustrating, not because the Afghans didn’t want to learn – they seriously want to learn, but literacy levels are still low and there are few resources.”

Sgt Allinson is now taking part in a major training exercise in Italy, learning how to adapt to the changing nature of conflict.

His is the first TA battalion to be deployed on Exercise Roman Star, which is being run with the Italian Army and is one of several being used to train reservists for the increasingly significant role they will play as a result of widespread cuts across Britain’s Armed Forces.

They are being trained how to prepare for and execute an attack on a property occupied by enemy forces.

The attack will include a helicopter assault with the Italian Army providing the air assets.