Rearm: Reload the Apache with ammunition
REME: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
RIP: Relief in Place – Apache Flights handing over the battle between each other maintaining support to the ground troops
RM: Royal Marine/s
RMP: Royal Military Police – British Military Police
ROE: Rules of Engagement – law set by a country’s Government laying down the rules as to which arms may be brought to bear
Rocco: Rocco Siffredi – Italian actor, director and producer of pornographic movies
RPG: Soviet-designed Rocket Propelled Grenade – shoulder-launched rocket with a powerful grenade warhead on the front
RSM: Regimental Sergeant Major – WO1 and the senior soldier in a Regiment
RTB: Return To Base
RTA: Road Traffic Accident
RTS: Release to Service – the document that details what can and can’t be done with the Apache regarding flight, firing, etc.
RV: Rendezvous – designated meeting place
SA7/14: Soviet-designed Surface to Air Missiles – ManPADS
SA80: British Forces Rifle – 5.56mm automatic
SAM: Surface to Air Missile
Sappers: Military engineers – slang for the Royal Engineers
SAS: Special Air Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army
Sausage Side: A term for enemy territory dating back to the World Wars. The sausage loving Germans’ side of the battlefield
SBS: Special Boat Service – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the Royal Navy’s Royal Marines
Scimitar: British Army Armoured Recce Vehicle
SERE: Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract
SF: Special Forces – e.g. SAS and SBS
SIB: Special Investigation Branch – detectives of the RMP
SigInt: Signal Intelligence – intelligence gained from radio, telephone, texts and email intercepts
Small Arms: Infantry light weapons – pistols, rifles and machine guns – weapons capable of being fired by a foot soldier on the move
Snatch: Lightly armoured military Land Rover
Spoof: Game played with coins to decide who has to do a task
Spooks: Nickname for spies
SRR: Special Reconnaissance Regiment – an independent British Special Forces Unit of the British Army, specialising in close target reconnaissance
Stack: Fast Air that is queued up and held before being passed on to whoever is in need of its offensive capability
Standby Standby: Warning call to watch out for something
Starboard: Right-hand side of an aircraft or vessel
Steering Cursor: The rocket symbol used to line up the Apache so the rockets land on the target, also known as the ‘I’ Bar
Stingers: US-designed Surface to Air ManPADs (Man Portable Air Defence system) missile. Taliban slang for any shoulder-launched surface to air missile
Sunray: Callsign for a commander
SUSAT: Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux – the 4-times magnification day/night sight that sits on top of an SA80 rifle or SA80 carbine
Symbology: Flying and targeting information beamed onto the monocle
T1: Triage Casualty Code 1 – needs to be in an operating theatre within an hour to save life
T2: Triage Casualty Code 2 – needs to be in an operating theatre quickly before they become T1
T3: Triage Casualty Code 3 – injured and needs medical help
T4: Triage Casualty Code 4 – dead
TADS: Target Acquisition and Designation Sight system – the ‘bucket’ on the nose of the Apache that houses the Apache’s cameras
Taliban: Collective term used in this book for Taliban, Al Qaeda and Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)
Theatre: Country or area in which troops are conducting operations
Thermobaric: Enhanced blast Hellfire – thermobaric means heat and pressure
Topman: Callsign for the British Harrier
Tornado: Royal Air Force multi-role strike warplane
TOC: Tactical Operations Cell
TOT: Time On Target – the time until an aircraft is due over or weapon is due at the target
TOW: Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided anti-tank missile – fired from the British Army Lynx helicopter
TPF: Tactical Planning Facility – mobile planning room
TPM: Terrain Profile Mode – the Longbow’s terrain mapping mode
Tracer: Bullets that burn with a red, orange or green glow from 110m to 1100m so they can be seen
Tusk: Callsign for the A10 Thunderbolt aircraft
UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UFD: Up Front Display – an LED instrument that displays critical information to the Apache crews
Ugly: The callsign chosen by 656 Sqn for the British Apaches – ‘Ugly Five Zero to Ugly Five Seven’
USAF: United States Air Force
Viking: Armoured amphibious tracked vehicle
VIP: Very Important Person
VU Radio: A VHF and UHF capable secure radio in the Apache
Widow: Callsign for normal JTACs in Afghanistan
Wingman: The other aircraft in any pair of aircraft
Wizard: Callsign for the Nimrod MR2
WMIK: Weapons Mounted Installation Kit – an odd-looking Land Rover with bars all over it to which weapons can be attached
WO1: A soldier who holds a Royal Warrant is known as Warrant Officer – a WO1; Class one is the highest non-commissioned rank in the British Army
Wombat: Weapon Of Magnesium Battalion Anti-Tank – a huge wheeled or mounted rifle barrel
Zulu Company: A company of marines detached from 45 Commando to the Information Exploitation (IX) Battlegroup for this tour of Afghanistan
ZPU: Soviet Anti-Aircraft Gun – 14.5mm – ZPU 1 is single-barrelled, ZPU 2 has twin barrels and the ZPU 4 has quadruple barrels
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you, Emily, my soul mate, for the love and the freedom to catch my dream and for supporting me in my choice. Thank you also for finding and for pushing me in the direction of my friend and agent Mark Lucas.
Thank you, Mark, for believing that my stories were good enough to tell, and for priceless guidance and advice. Thanks also to Mindy for putting up with my calls at every conceivable hour, and to Alice for keeping me in check.
My sincere gratitude to Tom Newton Dunn for tireless dedication in helping me to tell my story, and to Dominie and Rebekah Wade for putting up with Tom’s absences. And huge thanks to wee Arthur for keeping Tom sane.
The groundcrew and technicians are the unsung heroes of the Apache squadrons and the JHF (A). Thank you for your unswerving professionalism.
Chris, Billy, Geordie, Carl and my fellow Apache aviators in 656 Squadron – my door is always open and for once words fail me.
Thanks to Colonel Rob Magowan MBE RM for taking the time to explain the bigger picture and, more importantly, for having the confidence to allow us to return Mathew to his family.