A British boy soldier and the muddy hell of Helmand
STANDING amid the relative safety of a mud-covered compound, taking a break from fighting the Taliban and returning fire at insurgents, these images show the gritty reality of life in Afghanistan for the gallant men and women in our Armed Forces.
They are the work of Sergeant Rupert Frere, who completed three gruelling sixmonth tours of the country. His photos have been honoured as the most striking images taken during the long conflict, in which more than 400 British troops were killed.
Some show the heat of battle: soldiers firing mortar rounds at insurgent positions during a night-time exchange of fire in Kandahar, or crouching as a Chinook helicopter deposits them on a dusty battlefield recently occupied by the Taliban.
Others show its shattering aftermath: exhausted troops slumped against walls, shoehorned into cargo planes, or lying in ditches to watch the sun rise, after fighting through the night.
Judges in the annual Army Photographic Awards gave Sgt Frere’s portfolio first prize in a special category to mark the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.
He says: ‘Sadly, I lost friends out there. These images remind me what we went through, so it means a lot to me that they honoured my photos.’
Frere, 34, is a former bomb disposal expert who served in Kosovo and Iraq before retraining as one of the 35 full- time photographers that the Army employs to work alongside regular troops.
The role includes everything from providing official photographs for the MoD to working undercover with Special Forces to help carry out reconnaissance.
In addition to two bulky cameras, Army photographers carry a carbine rifle — a shortened version of the SA80 issued to normal troops — which they are expected to use if things, in Frere’s words, ‘get particularly hairy’.
Originally, there was the Army’s Film and Photographic Unit, formed during World War II to help the Allies compete with the Nazi propaganda machine. These days, the unit is no more, although veterans hold an annual Remembrance Day service at Pinewood (where they trained). Today’s Army photographers are attached to the Royal Logistics Corps.
Looking back to Afghanistan, Sgt Frere says the image that best sums up his tours is of Fusilier John Bryant, an 18-year old Royal Highland Fusilier, standing in ankledeep mud in a compound in Helmand Province.
He says it was part of a series of photos of young men — ‘some of whom are now missing limbs, or didn’t come back. The Fusilier’s life was changed profoundly by that tour. The photo of him shows that even though he’s standing in a horrible muddy compound, at that particular moment, a horrible muddy compound is the safest place he could be.’