by Geoff Wolak
The padre had arrived early with a team, and it looked like the weather would hold. Max arrived shortly afterwards, followed by Doc Morten and his team. The tank crews’ senior officers arrived, 2 Squadron senior staff with a flight of men in No.1 dress uniform, soon General Dennet and his team, Colonel Marsh – soon to be replaced, and his RSM plus the Regimental Padre from St. Martins Church, Hereford.
Inside the downstairs briefing room we had tables set-up with tea, coffee and nibbles, batmen from Brize Norton on hand, the Officers Mess cleaned up and manned.
With Regular SAS on the wire with some of the American Wolves, all of my MPs would be in attendance – old and new, plus the CT police, Donohue down with his boss.
David Finch turned up, a rare visitor here, soon followed by the Director of GCHQ and some of his team, finally the Oxford and Gloucester senior police and their teams.
Rocko was dressed smartly for a change and organising things, lines drawn in chalk, names of teams written down. Outside the hangar stood the podium and microphone, and as Rocko got them formed up in blocks we soon had a great many men facing the hangar, Echo in a block to one side.
Today, for some odd reason, my leg was hurting like hell and I was limping, so I finally limped out to the podium with the various padres, Max stood off to one side.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for attending here today, and … we hope the weather holds.’ I took a moment after a glance up at the clouds. ‘When my men are killed in action, or they leave us because they're wounded, we don't dwell on it, and we rarely go visit wounded former members.
‘If we did, then we may stop to reflect upon our own mortality, and that's not something I want for my men, so we move on quickly, we try and laugh and joke and smile and enjoy the job. If we stopped to think about those we lost we'd slow down and become reflective, and that would not be a good thing when planning the next small war some place.
‘So when our people are wounded and killed we move on, with a beer down the pub, and we put the past put behind us, or we could not function and move forwards.
‘But what we've experienced in recent weeks have been the deaths of support workers. MPs, tank crews, police, not Echo men, not men who volunteered for the tough missions or passed selection, not men toughened-up in battle.
‘We lost one MP on the streets of London, protecting me. That was his job, and he did it well, and those attacking us paid a heavy price. I can report that the men responsible for that attack have been found, have been dealt with, and they won't be bothering anyone else again.
‘Here, at this base, we recently lost a tank crew member, plus an MP, and a police officer lost an eye, and end to his career.’
I took in their faces. ‘Many commentators have complained about security here, and the Prime Minister shouts about it often, the MOD shouts at the lower ranks, and they all wonder just how we can tighten up around here.
‘We can't, because we're up against some of the best trained spies and special forces soldiers in the world, men who have been in the job for decades, spies that had been in place for decades, and as with Lord Michaels – they often have inside help.
‘But I'm not worried about the numerous attacks here, because those attacks mean that we're winning, winning against the terrorists and the criminal gangs, so incensed by my team that the only option they have is to send men here. If they met us on the battlefield they would lose, and they did lose on the battlefield.
‘What some of you don't understand … is why we're attacked here. So let me explain. My team started out as hostage rescue, and we did well. But because we were formed by Intel and not the Army we took part in operations off the books, dealing with some of the world's worst terrorists and criminal gangs.
‘We grew, we did well, and I asked for my own Intel team here so that we could get intel on hostage takers. That's how the Intel team got started. But that team had some talent, and was supported by London, by GCHQ, by the CIA and French Intel, and so it grew in size and competence till it was the envy of many foreign governments.
‘What you don't see, is the support that the team gets. When we have a job on there are hundreds of staff at GCHQ supporting us, hundreds of staff in London Intel, in the CIA, French Intel, and often in the regular and counter-terrorism police forces here in the UK.
‘When we go into action, we're just thirty men with a small Intel team in this hangar, but behind them are thousands of talented people working hard. What the UK public fails to understand … is how such a small team can do so much, and do it so well, and why we're attacked here so often.
‘First of all, we're not a small team. When we go on a job we have the RAF behind us, the Navy sat ready, the US Navy at our call, and a thousand people in various intelligence agencies supporting us. The public gets to see thirty men, the cutting edge, and that's what Echo is … the sharp end of the knife.
‘To understand why we're attacked here ... is to realise that we're the political tool of Britain, France and America, sent in to deal with hostage takers, terrorists and criminal gangs. We're the first people that get called when there's a threat to those nations, but the public are amazed that it seems to be just thirty of us, not the thousands of people that we actually are. Those support people go unseen.
‘To understand why we're attacked here, is to realise that when we defeat the terrorists on the battlefield, when we dismantle the criminal gang, they see this place as a soft target, a small base in the countryside with a few men on it, and they foolishly think that attacking us here will make a difference.
‘They don't see the thousands of people who support us, and they don't realise that they will achieve nothing by attacking this small base.
‘But those attacks are a scorecard, an important measure of how well we're doing in tackling the threats to our nation, and I wear that scorecard with pride – and every time they attack here we get the chance to track back and catch more of them. So let them come.
‘The local villagers are not happy, the local member of parliament is not happy, but I have no regrets ... and we're not about to change the way we do things. Terrorists and spies and gunmen working for the bad guys come here and get themselves killed, and we learn a little more about them each time, and we track back, and we catch the men who sent them, and the world becomes a safer place as a result of it.
‘You MPs, who patrol this base at night, you should be proud of what you're doing and hold your heads up high. My men go fight in the jungle, you patrol the wire here, and the dangers are the same, and it takes the same courage.
‘In order to have that courage you need to understand just what it is we're asking you to do. We're asking you to go nose-to-nose with someone who works for a criminal gang or terrorist organisation, the kind of man that plants bombs on buses full of women and children.
‘We're asking you to stand in the way, between that man and an unarmed copper on Britain's streets. We're asking you to stand between that man … and the women and children of this nation, and of other nations. We're asking you to face-off against an assassin sent by the men who aimed cruise missiles at carnival boats and American carriers, intent on killing thousands.
‘We're asking you to face-off against a man sent by the idiots who wanted to sell tainted drugs and make millions of people sick. You were not with us in Panama, but it is the exact same people, the exact same fight, right here of a cold evening. My men get the praise in the papers, you get my thanks but remain unmentioned in the Press.
‘Being here is an active combat posting for you, and if you volunteer to be here then you're volunteering for the same risks that Echo men take in the jungles, and the fight is the exact same one.
‘MP Pete did not die in vain, and neither did the MP killed here recently, nor the tank crewman. They died on the front line, and they should be remembered as heroes for doing so. And next week, in the cold and the dark, the fight goes on, and we may get more trouble here, and that's not something for the local pol
ice or the MOD to complain about.
‘If we don't go out and fight these people, then they take hostages, set off bombs, start coups and wars, fire cruise missiles and sell tainted drugs. If we didn't go out and fight … then the world will be a very different place, and a very bad place, and maybe the beaches of Spain and France would now be radioactive, the economy of Europe destroyed, the economy of Britain destroyed, rioting on the streets here and food shortages.
‘And maybe they would have brought that radioactive material here to the UK, dropped it in the water supply and made millions sick. To the local police – and the local member of parliament, I urge you to understand just what we do, and what the consequences are if we don't keep doing it.
‘If this base was not here, then where would it be, and which local police force would shoulder the burden? If we were not here, then the poison would have reached Paris, and a tall London building would have been brought down with three thousand people in it, and cruise missiles would still be in the hands of the FARC.
‘The local villagers complain, and they have a right to do so, this is their home. But they are part of this nation, and we have to have a base somewhere, and we're here to protect all of the nation – them included.
‘So I have a limited sympathy for the local villagers, no sympathy for the wanker of a local politician, and a limited sympathy for the overworked local police, because my mind is on protecting this nation from the next bunch of idiots to threaten us.
‘My team is the cutting edge, and we need to be out there stopping the bad boys, not worrying about where we sleep and train, that's for others to worry about, and to stop bitching about, and to realise that the more we're attacked here – the more we're winning out there.’ I took a moment as I took in their faces. ‘Padre.’
He stepped forwards and did his bit, prayers said, heads bowed, finally a nod at the bugler up from Bulford Camp.
With most everyone led inside, I thanked the tank crew officers, and they were keen for their men to remain, and I was soon chatting to Donohue and his boss about the risks here.
I finally found the Oxford Chief Constable with General Dennet.
The Chief Constable noted, ‘You kicked us up the arse, but I understood the message, and we have no right to complain and to pass the problem over to another force - you have to be based somewhere, and we have jobs to do to protect you as best we can. And as you said, if you screw it up out there the entire nation gets hit, as with that uranium.’
General Dennet put in, ‘I realise we can't stop the super-spies, so I guess we do the best we can and not complain about, and I think you lifted the MPs greatly, they seemed proud afterwards, and you got it in focus – the importance of what they do. And most every MP in the country volunteers to come here.’
I told them, ‘The attacks are a scorecard, not a list of failings on anyone's part.’
‘I see that now,’ Dennet noted. ‘And there's no point in putting a thousand men on the wire.’
‘It's adequate as it is, sir, we just need some luck. And rain, they never attack in the rain.’
Later, the Brigadier unhappily noted, ‘I have to work with the local politician.’
‘Let the Press tear him up, sir, then he'll be less of a pain.’
I spoke to all of the groups and thanked them, a quick chat with David finch before he headed off, a chat to the director of GCHQ before he left us, a long chat with the officers of 2 Squadron. They now had five flights of men, plus the medics, and a reserve flight of new men – known as the Kindergarten.
With Rocko at my side, and saluting, we observed as Dennet and his team mounted their rides and drove around the track to the main gate. I was relieved that they all made it away without shot fired nor loud explosion heard.
In the Intel room, I suggested to Sanderson, ‘I think we need Wolves in Kosovo now, this week, to have a look around and see if the Serbs are preparing a warm welcome, laying mines.’
‘Yes, to avoid a trap.’
‘I'll add in … Murphy and Terry, Tiller and Brace, they're not hurt badly, and they can sneak about without being seen.’
‘I'll have Wolves assigned, a forwards base organised, get organised before they just land us with it. NATO is gearing up according to the news, but not according to the paperwork I get, so best not to get caught out.’
‘We can use that new computer system,’ I noted.
I broke the news to the men involved, and they would get their gear sorted, GPS trackers to be checked. They would also have the expensive night-sights, as well as the small hand-portable radio scanners. And with Murphy in the team they would not go hungry. I warned him off killing and eating the endangered black bear population.
‘How big do these here European black bears grow?’ he asked.
‘Like a dog, not like a Grisly.’
‘That's OK then, reckon I'll sleep well. And it gotta be quieter than around here.’
‘Should be very quiet, but that's what you're going to tell us – what the Serbs are planning.’
They flew out that evening, a Hercules flight for Tirana, Albania, civilian clothes worn and kit hidden in trunks, and the next morning I noted on the computer screen that they were at the border, the northwest corner of Albania. The main table now displayed a huge map of Kosovo and the region, joint NATO military bases listed, NATO air bases and assets listed.
Montenegro was the issue, in that their territory stood in the way, and that they sided with Serbia.
My main worry here was that the KLA would know our movements, and I was not sure if someone would sell that information in a keen desire for a new car. SIS had men on the ground with the KLA, and in Tirana, and NATO had an unofficial and denied base of operation, but I was still concerned. I told Murphy to detail a false planned route.
At 9pm Murphy called me. I was in the old recreation shed observing them fitting the new recreation shed. ‘It's Murphy, Boss.’
‘How's the deep dark woods?’
‘Well, we like it, plenty of places for us to hide, gentle hills here so some good views to be had.’
‘What you got?’
‘Well, these here Serbs is at the border posts, say a dozen men at each crossing place, and there's a shit load of civilians moving about. In between the border posts we spotted us a lame patrol, but they don't look too worried, they was chatting and smoking as they went.
‘We had us a good look around, five miles inside, and we's the only ones here in these woods save a few villages and farmers. Ain't no tracks, and there ain't no large armies around this place.’
‘Go deeper, but did they tell you where the main Serb barracks are?’
‘There's a barracks ten miles north of us.’
‘Go have a look, a quiet look, no risks. Take your time. You have enough to eat?’
‘We have us a cave here, all snug, and a hog roasting.’
I smiled. ‘Sounds delicious. Should have taken some sauce.’
‘Tiller brought the HP and the ketchup, and I have me some powered chilli flakes that last.’
‘Enjoy.’
In the Intel room I updated them, a glance at the board and then the computer screen.
The next day I used the masseuse and the physio, who were both very busy, so I pulled rank and slotted myself in. Later in the day my stitches came out to some loud curses from me, aimed at Doc Willy as my nurse told me not be a pussy.
With the stitches out I walked around the track, less pain now, but every now and then a pain would shoot up my spine, enough to knock me off my feet. I was keeping that to myself.
In the morning I took pain killers, and after an hour I walked three times around the track, a brisk pace maintained, and afterwards I felt better for it. And despite me asking, Mutch would not join me for the walk – he had paperwork to finish apparently.
That evening I met our worried pub landlord and gave him some cash, explaining the franchise. He would run the base pub but keep the other one, and find local s
taff for the base pub.
The following day, after lunch, Murphy called. ‘Boss, we's at this here barracks, and we have a good view, but there ain't much happening. If these here fellas is worried about us coming to visit soon they ain't showing it.’
‘It is well defended?’
‘Hell no.’
‘That's odd. OK, circle around it, look for hidden bases and tracks, don't be seen.’
I called David Finch. ‘I have men on the ground inside Kosovo, and … the Serb soldiers are sat around with their thumbs up their arses and not expecting trouble.’
‘Well they can't help but see the news, so … that's a puzzler. I'd be worried if I was a Serb, and expecting trouble.’
‘Can you ask NATO about aerial photos, infrared, and satellite images, and see if the Serbs are massing anywhere or … doing anything other than cooking their evening meal.’
‘I'll have a word now.’
David was back on the next day, as I observed new huts being placed near the original farmhouse. ‘The satellite photos show that the main barracks inside Serbia have emptied out and that the men have taken to tents in dispersed positions in the hills, so they are expecting aerial attack and being prudent at least.’
‘And inside Kosovo?’
‘The numbers have not been bolstered, and they're not expecting trouble.’
‘And the geo-politics pushing the timing?’
‘The KLA are sending out reports of massacres, despite the fact that the Americans list the KLA as a terrorist group, and the massacres are growing. When I say massacre, I mean a village wiped out, not on the scale seen in Bosnia, so the world is not getting excited by the news yet.’
‘So … we wait.’
‘For now, yes, for a political consensus.’
‘And the mood for my men to go in and thin out the Serbs?’
‘We could never word it that way, or be seen to be doing that, we're supposed to be the peace makers and the peace keepers.’
