‘A TERRORIST WAS NOW IN SPITTING DISTANCE AND AIMING HIS RIFLE AT US’
Former marine’s autobiography recalls moment he faced Al-Qaeda gunmen
LOOKING down the barrel of an AK47 assault rifle in Baghdad, a Welsh Royal Marine was in grave danger of being kidnapped and losing his life.
While serving in Iraq, Lee West and his colleague Marc Lewis would take time outside of their combat duties to help at the Combat Support Hospital in an area called the Green Zone, which was fenced off from the greater city and intended to be a secure area for military and civilian contractors.
Anything outside was known as the Red Zone and represented a no-go area for the military unless in an armed convoy. Having performed their duties at the hospital for the day the pair, wearing plain clothing, got back into their unmarked car to head to their base. But during their journey they noticed a “commotion” up ahead. Upon closer inspection it became clear four men were on the roundabout carrying weapons.
Intelligence fed through to the forces warned of a plan by Al-Qaeda to snatch a westerner from the Green Zone between September 16 and 18, 2006. This was September 17. What happened next was something which left the men stunned. A fifth man walked out from trees and straight in front of their vehicle.
Lee, from Swansea, has relived the dramatic incident as part of his new autobiography – Never Above, Never Below – which is full of tales of his unblemished 17-year career as an elite Royal Marines commando.
It reads: “Through the dirty, dustclogged windscreen of our battered car we paused at the sight before us. The man, dressed in black baggy clothing, then turned to face us and placed a palm out in front signalling us to halt. He then proceeded to put both hands on his AK47 assault rifle and raise it swiftly, pointing directly at our windscreen.
“Fight, flight, or freeze is the commonly recognised natural response to this situation. Adrenaline was definitely now rapidly injecting itself into our bodies. It needed to be as a terrorist was now in spitting distance and aiming his rifle at us.”
With mere moments to decide their course of action the pair were in disagreement on how to handle the situation with Marc believing they should fight and Lee believing they should look as if they were complying with the demands before making a quick getaway. But luck was on the side of the duo with a coalition forces American convoy arriving at the scene causing the terrorists to flee.
The Al-Qaeda incident is just one of many stories in Lee’s autobiography which chronicles how he rose from a “skinny naive and excitable lad” swapping a job at the DVLA to sign up at the age of 23 in 2003. He began his training days before the Iraq invasion.
In the years that followed he went on to lead men on combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan on four separate six-month tours. It chronicles how he became a member of a secretive British unit before it was officially announced in Parliament and how he was in constant proximity to volatile situations including a murder investigation, walking through a minefield and multiple close-quarter firefights.
Lee, speaking of the Al-Qaeda incident, said: “Afterwards I dwelled on it a lot. What would have happened if the American convoy didn’t turn up? What would have happened if we tried to shoot through the windscreen? At the time, it must be the way I am, my natural reaction was not to panic and I didn’t appreciate it was that serious but of course as it dawned on us it was serious it ramped up a bit more inside me...
“I started writing the book years ago just as they were interesting stories, I knew they were, and I have always liked writing anyway. Something
would happen and I thought: ‘This would be a good one to write down.’ Over the years, slowly but surely, I’d built up this collection of short stories and I knew that at one point it would be a book.”
Lee was colour sergeant when he was medically discharged in 2020, after suffering hearing loss in his left ear, going out on a high. He returned home to Swansea where he took over the running of Copr Bar. He still helps out the military by running coffee mornings for veterans and also establishing the charity Sa1ute, which has raised more than £100,000 since its inception. In conjunction with Lee and Copr Bar it also provided more than £20,000 worth of food for NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “It’s an extension of still being part of the family. Rather than cutting loose and cutting ties entirely we have coffee mornings for veterans and building that camaraderie and family that we had within the marines for veterans outside of it as well. It’s a good compromise between leaving and being in. You’ve still got your hand in and still in those circles and having those conversations outside of service. It’s always something I wanted to keep doing...
“It’s only now I’m getting into things at Copr because I was discharged and then we went into lockdown. Transition back into civilian life is difficult and different. I have gone from this life of discipline, structure, routine to if I don’t leave the house nobody is ringing me asking: ‘Why haven’t you come to work?’ I’ve got no accountability to anyone, which led me to a few months struggling mentally. People wanted to say it was PTSD but it was just a rough patch of leaving the marines, my business being closed, living on my own. That was an even bigger struggle that transition – it was exacerbated by Covid. Having gone through that I can help other people who may be suffering in the same way.
“I don’t sit there longing and missing it – there’s large parts of it which I do but I am also enjoying being back home and having a business and talking to people in the cafe every day.
“I hope people will be entertained by the book and have an insight into what it is like to have a career in the military. The final few chapters of the transition and the struggles I think will help a lot of people – not only military but a lot of people who have had a rough patch.”
Never Above, Never Below: An Adventurous Pursuit of War, Escape and Darkness by Lee West can be purchased from Copr Bar at 38-39 Castle Stree, Swansea, or on Amazon.