Inside the Kandahar Air Base Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan | Airforce Afghanistan | Wonder

[Music] this is kandahar air base the gateway to the war in afghanistan we live in a war zone here the moment you step outside you are in the threat zone there's one billion pounds of nato hardware and 10 000 soldiers from around the world all inside the wire but it's also a bustling community in the middle of the desert i'd even recommend it to my mother complete with fast food joints sports pitches and even a couple of massage parlors this is a war zone like you've never seen and it's the story of everyday life of the british men and women living here it's a nice man in there can't help but look the ones in the sky and those on the ground it's nice here but obviously when we go on the ground it's totally different [Music] afghanistan one of the most dangerous countries in the world almost a thousand soldiers have died here since 2001 but inside kandahar airfield it's a different world [Music] and the man making sure everything runs like clockwork here is raf air commodore bob judson i am the mayor of the of the town if you like i'm running the base as the base commander and i'm the landlord for the real estate here the camp is 10 square miles and it's got everything you'd expect of a town this size the two-mile air strip runs along the top right in the middle is the boardwalk where you'll find home comforts like pizza hut subway and burger king there's a church a laundry that gets through 12 tons of washing a day two supermarkets three gyms and three huge canteens feeding 14 000 people the difficulty here is that the food the water the sewage you can't take for granted all of the electricity is off generators that are fuel powered and we use over half a million liters of fuel here a day servicing the airfield as a whole the base is in southern afghanistan 100 miles from the capital kabul and 12 miles south of kandahar city it's close to the combat zone in helmand province and to the pakistan border so it's a perfect location for nato's air power we've got every type of aircraft under the sun from fast jets to doing the bombing roll out here to unmanned air vehicles doing reconnaissance and also actually attack missions we're running about 10 000 movements a month out of here that to put it in perspective that's about half of gatwick airport the camps built next door to kandahar international airport domestic afghani planes share the runway with chinooks and hercules but at the heart of the operation are the gr9 harriers they provide air support to the troops on the front line jet pilot rich hillard also known as bolly was training earlier this year on aircraft carrier hms illustrious he's now on his fifth tour of duty in afghanistan this place has changed in the four years i've been coming here and it did start off as quite a bare base we were living in tents showering in tents but you know now other than being a long way away from home it's pretty good yeah this is where all the engineering takes place where we can get our jets from this bit here is the the smoking area the dirty taverns disgusting out here the guys have got a bit of a wreck area they've put a lot of effort in their their downtime to make a bit of decking and it's the ideal lads pad [Music] inside the fighter pilots are off duty playing war games i'm still just looking up in the sky i've gone indoors accidentally yes over at the girls accommodation 21 year old kate as is from wales is getting ready for work right this is the showers and toilets they've got uranus in you don't know why because there's no blocks actions on a rocket attack nice lie down when you're soaking wet and in a towel toilets really really nice and the showers so i'm gonna have a shower so i'll see you later [Music] kate's one of 900 women on the base she shares her room with three others this is my den my bed and i bought this to cover it up so you got a bit of privacy but um this is hannah's face and obviously christian and matthew are my two favorite men after ross kemp kate looks after raf admin she's in hr we're just going to get the mail now can we pick up for nine or four please and part of her job is doing the post run that's an e bluey that you do on the internet and that's a handwritten bluey so it gives people an excuse to write to but nobody ever nobody ever does not me kate's got about seven sacks of letters and parcels a day to deliver but her rounds take time because the speed limit is a cautious 10 miles per hour you can see how slow it is you could actually cycle faster i was in a mood the other day so i come out i just thought right i'm going to do mail and i got up to i got up to like 60 down this road because i just put my foot down well i haven't been caught yet but i'm sure i will at some point and she's not joking there are about 80 military police on the base and they spend a lot of time doing speed checks they're also on the lookout for relationships because here the no touching rule applies but kate's got another confession this is ben my friend [Laughter] it's afghan independence day and the commander of kandahar airfield has had a tip-off that the taliban are planning an attack if you're here in a support role but with rockets coming in over the wire on a relatively frequent basis it's a very very harsh reality as night falls a familiar sound rings [Applause] out the taliban rocket the base once or twice a week but after being here for six months these soldiers act pretty cool you hear the bangs sometimes it just depends on where the rockets land on how loud the bang is obviously i nearly jumped on my pants the first time this time it's just a little bit more relaxed another night in paradise so far no one in kandahar has been killed by a rocket and tonight it's landed on the far side of the camp that is the all clear siren which means we can now take our helmets off and chill out again the base is a sitting target and it's down to the british raf regiment to guard it [Music] the moment they're outside the fence there is a threat from mines both modern mines in place by the insurgents and also legacy mines that have been there for years in this conflict-ravaged country earlier this year two of the regiment were killed just outside the air base when their snatch land rover went over a mine the vehicle wasn't designed to withstand explosives but a delivery has just arrived on the runway a russian antonov cargo plane the biggest plane in the world has a shipment of 30 brand new vixen land rovers that have a bit more protection bob johnson's come to inspect them the top half is the snatch yeah the main difference being is the bottom half is the r wimmick it's hit my ride really it's an alloy as opposed to the wheels on the snap so that makes it he's a lot lighter but hopefully it will be an improvement that's for sure i mean i think the the blast protection bit is obviously key they take real punishment no question it's a massive task on the vehicles anything's better than what we've got at the minute so that's great uh you know but don't assume that it's uh it's the perfect solution to everything that we need every six months a new squadron comes out to kandahar to guard the base the next batch are getting ready to leave raf huntington in suffolk all right what's going up in a minute right you're going to get your final inspection from the corporals all right you need to bring out your passport you know your travel order and show your id card as well celery before they go sergeant bennett jones is making sure his lads have got everything they need let's get your dog tags out now so i can see him because they're heading into a war zone they've been given their dog tags to wear for the very first time i never had any problems over the weekend only sort out now before we [ __ ] off what the wha right don't worry about that here now [ __ ] idiot take over i'm pretty much there dad and i think any dad would groom me uh having a child is very stressful all right now imagine having 30 kids to look after at once so you can imagine what i'm going to be like sometimes out of 30 men he's got 18 brand new recruits and one of them is 21 year old nathan chills never felt like this before something it's a really weird feeling good feeling though so i mean hearts going really looking forward to it it's time to say goodbye and for jonesy it means leaving his pregnant fiancee lucy it's just a bit nerve-wracking now because i'm not going to see him until he gets back after the baby's born so scary [Music] there have been more than 100 british deaths in afghanistan so no one can be sure if they'll see their loved ones again before you know it all right i have a lovely little daughter let me cry in a minute yeah thank you i didn't expect i don't know to be so emotional it's just when he said i love you and i just thought oh god here we go you know it's one of the most difficult things i've experienced i thought i could bear it but to be honest i [ __ ] i broke in all honesty i think any person that's in love with somebody like at least expecting a child would do it's his job and i've just really got to cope with it because otherwise i'll get nowhere i think for the next couple of days i'll just be crying in a hole [Music] four thousand miles away in kandahar the air base is getting ready for a top-secret nato operation a convoy of 200 trucks are leaving the base and traveling 100 miles north through hostile territory to deliver a 200 ton turbine to the kajaki dam it's known as a hearts and mines operation and it will bring electricity to a hundred thousand afghan homes to help the convoy out harrier pilot bolly's going to take some reconnaissance photos of the route so the trucks don't run into any surprises i bought the water from a little bag here just in case i get thirsty and i've got another bag there occasionally the loo hopefully it's taking you four days and that'll be it we don't really know what's going to happen um we do a lot of planning beforehand but often not that's not actually what we end up doing [Music] the harrier gr9 juncture is loaded with weaponry for every mission and bonnie's jet is carrying rockets and bombs weighing over 2 000 [Music] pounds he's got two laser-guided paveway bombs that can wipe out whole compounds he's also carrying 38 of the more versatile cr v7 rockets which travel four times faster than the speed of sound the warheads can be released individually all at once for a bigger impact and if that wasn't enough he's got two airburst bombs with the lethal radius the size of a football pitch but the purpose of this mission is to take some photos so under the fuselage is a stills camera after taking a few photos he gets a call from the troops on the ground radar information they're being attacked near kajaki and want bolly to find out where the rockets are coming from he'll be screaming down the radio there'll be bullets going on in the background and he'll be in a lot of trouble and he's just trying to get across to me as quickly as possible where that threat's coming from bolly switches on a bit of kit that's revolutionized the way the war is fought in afghanistan it's called a sniper targeting pod which is next to the steel's camera under the fuselage its telescopic lens gives the pilots a detailed view of the ground which is then beamed to the troops on the front line giving the soldiers live bird's-eye footage of the enemy the difference in what you can see on that screen is massive so before you used to only be able to see the general outline of a building and maybe you might see a blob that would be a car now with the sniper pod you can tell what sort of car it is and at twenty thousand feet the sniper pod can tell the difference between the troops and the taliban [Music] the army asks polly for a show of false my aim is to provide the maximum noise in the ground to scare the guys away i'm flying the jet down to 100 feet above the ground going along about 600 miles an hour so i've got to look out for people potentially shooting at me but probably the biggest thing i would look out for is the ground because when you're getting that fast that low it comes up to meet you pretty quickly there's also lots of aerials in afghanistan and if you hit one of those that would really spoil your day so i've got to stay cool really at the site of the jet the taliban make a run for it [Applause] and bolly heads home to kandahar with his bombs all intact [Music] the idea of the game isn't to make holes in afghanistan because we're here to try and you know support our guys on the ground people know that you know if they do start messing with them um there's an effect something like this on its way down to them if it's so wished and the kajaki dam mission is a triumph [Music] over at the accommodation blocks kate is enjoying some downtime it's not like your usually sunbathing stash when you're abroad but yeah you gotta make do it where you go so i'm not gonna come out here for four months for back pain and in case you're wondering that's her body armor i should really be wearing it but it'll ruin my timeline when are you due to leave right i check we've got your paperwork part of kate's job is booking flights probably put in the burn bag feels like you're doing something worthwhile you don't realize sometimes how much booking someone's flight all means to them and it's a nice feeling i should get a priority really what do you think do you think you should get posed by don't let him know that you think that you should have priority above everyone else and yeah it's a good job i do enjoy it you have a good laugh good to the people hey well this is easies kate's six weeks into her four-month tour of duty but the lads still like to give her a hard time sac do you know what he was was that that was you guys they asked for a cobra walls and then the sergeant was and if there was any walls there and then when i said no they said get out the roof's gonna cave in oh we're a bunch of bullies [Laughter] yeah to me it does yeah because i'm really gullible so yeah all the time one squadron has arrived at bryce norton in oxfordshire it's my first holiday going to afghanistan it's been brilliant chills in his squadron are flying out on a tri-star an old pan am passenger plane which the raf ball in the 1970s today it's got some technical hitches so there's a five-hour delay now sitting around in the departure line waiting for the aircraft a lot of the younger guys are really offensive a lot of you know the lads that have been there before just like just want to get out there and get started and wearing their dog tags for the first time makes this situation hit home especially for 21 year old shores and just to feel the coldness of it around your neck and just knowing what they mean because if i get them out feel that [Music] they got like your blood group your name and like your religion if you get captured as well then just rip that off give that to them i get shot hopefully not this is the it may not look much but they mean so much i feel like a proper soldier now i just never want to take them off again now well this is me now for six seven months just deal with it get over it this is the real deal now there's not no training you need to start switching on [Music] already next stop kandahar airfield afghanistan [Music] at kandahar air base in afghanistan harrier pilot bolly is bringing in his jet for some tlc [Applause] jumper collins and his team are the unsung heroes of the war because without them the planes won't fly their machines at the end of the day every every machine breaks down with the aircraft vibrating and stuff like cracks appear you know things happen i worked on a car garage for five years before i did this job and it's uh it's quite quite a bit different customers get a bit angrier if it isn't ready in time give it a bit of a bit of a bounce and landing so the engineers have eight harriers to look after if you lose an aircraft go down to seven there's a lot of pressure on you to get the aircraft up and running again get back to eight the other day i think we dipped down to six and it was a quite hectic so this is kind of like the the service center in a garage i suppose you've got different desks depending on what job's going on so you've got an armorer's desk they're dealing with the bombs and the ejection seats you've got the the fairies desk which is electricians so they're dealing with all the wiggly amps inside the airplane and you've got the mechanicals desk or the city's desk as we call it because they're basically dealing with the engine and the airframe jumpers found a serious fault with bully's jet just here on the aircraft is where the fuel forward fuel tank is and we've noticed fuel coming out down through that hole there to get to the fuel leak the engineers have got their work cut out the harrier's built around one central turbo fan rolls royce pegasus engine a nine and a half meter wing weighing two tons bolts on top the leak is at the front of the fuel tank underneath the engine and that means there's only one way to get to it it's a wing off engine out to find what's gone wrong it's tuesday today we want to get it flying really by friday [Music] tonight kate's got a date with her boyfriend obviously you're not allowed actually to be together really it can be a bit difficult sometimes [Applause] and you're supposed to go easy on the makeup at first i was really aware of putting on maybe makeup or mascara or something to go to work i thought oh people think i'm being a bit too girly i'm not going to change what i like doing just because just because i'm out here really i like preening just a big bunch of tarts really aren't we yeah it's just nice to be a bit just keep a bit of normality about you not completely go all military [Applause] [Music] kate's meeting her boyfriend at the bulldog it's where you'll find a few familiar sights from home in the middle of the war zone [Music] it's got fast food joints a couple of supermarkets and even a bar only there's one thing missing the alcohol because in kandahar it's strictly off limits but the bar is one place where ben and kate can meet up it can just get frustrating that's all because you can't really spend any proper time together well basically we're not allowed in the girls block at all i did try and go around his room but we got kicked out and there's another problem having a girlfriend here i'm jealous all the blocks looking at her there's a lot of blokes out here over on the runway one squadron has just landed at 2 am in the 30 degree heat they get their first look at kandahar they've been up for 24 hours i don't actually feel like i'm here yet it doesn't feel real at all i can't wait to get asleep i'm tired absolutely knackered welcome to canada the local time here is zero to twenty but it's not time for bed yet there's the induction to get through first most important what to do in a rocket attack immediately further direction will be given by the movement some welcome speech unpack all your personal stuff get it in there get your nuts down all right but this is where it starts josie gives his boys a pep talk all right you need to [ __ ] seriously switch on now it gets [ __ ] hectic from now on if i tell you do something make it up and lies as quickly as possible help each other the regiment's used to roughing it intense so they're in for a nice surprise this is the typical accommodation that allows us to be staying in as you can see it is massively plush decent beds decent lockers you've got air conditioning you couldn't ask for more than this basically bed at last but not for jonesy and it's now 3 a.m his keys are locked in his room [Music] with just three hours before they're on duty this calls for lateral thinking [Music] i'll smash the window in a minute all it needs is a little gentle persuasion [Music] it is about seven minutes past four in the morning that's the sort of thing that happened sorry first of all here it's bound to happen everyone's laughing now she wants us to get the right hand which i'm about to do now so we'll see you later [Music] it's 5 a.m the coolest time of the day there's not much traffic so there's no dust too hot otherwise too sweaty there's an eight mile jogging track around the camp and kate keeps in shape by running three miles every morning it's the only time you're getting yourself really how to in work you're always with people obviously we share rooms you just get a chance to think about things and think about home and i just find it i find it really relaxing over on the airstrip harrier engineer jumper and his team are finishing off fixing the fuel leak on bolly's chair yep this is at macarthur everyone just gives a wave he's up there reconnecting the fuel supply on the top there we've got uh number one ding avail dinger say hello there he's just connecting the back of the engines the hot nozzles at the back rabbit this is rabbit he's setting up the rigging of the nozzle so dinger can connect the drive shaft there's no room for error well everything these guys put their name to they're responsible for so if anything did go wrong they've signed it and it could be a matter of life or death for jet pilot bolly who's eager to get back up in the air this jet's been out of the program for three or four days it's a jet that we can't fly if push comes to shove and we need to to launch you know lots and lots of waves so these guys are working around the clock to get this jetty back ready to go in the air so that we can then fly and go and support the guys in the ground you know we're saying why the jet not ready why is the jet not ready well it's because it takes a lot of time like this job is now which digger has actually managed to do so he's going to be pretty happy yeah and he was that high coming out he's pissing everywhere you just couldn't sit with naked eye i'll let you concentrate you know there's so many bits and pieces of the airplane that i really don't know what what you know what what it does i can learn a bit by coming down here with the guys so there's literally nothing i can do to help is there right or is there is there any no no the worst thing a pilot can do is come down and offer to help but then completely [ __ ] it up so there's there's lots of potentials for dropping screws down the engine all sorts of things so um you know whenever i do come down i've really got to try and make sure that i on my best behavior and i don't make any mistakes dinger and rabbit tethered the jet to the ground with chains so they can test the engine without it flying off it's just really hot out here i mean it's about 37 degrees today this base plate which we secure it onto is boiling been cooking the sun all day and now we're actually having to walk on it and work around it and it's just really really hot hopefully well it will pass its ground run first time before they start the engine dinger makes an important right centuries call you in position over it we have closed centuries on the other side of this wall right next to the minefield um it's in case there's a lot of traffic run across this road over here and the stones get fired across at that higher velocity you can take windows out even at people the runway is also near an ammo dump so it's not just vehicles that can be hit by stray stones there you go that's it stand by for ground runner as the engine reaches full throttle the chains have to withstand 22 000 pounds of thrust so it's looking good no leaks all the figures seem to be matching up what they should be so it's all going well but the real test is how it performs in the sky hoping it's going to work and only it's going to go away should be fine done enough work on it if it is still leaking fuel they'll have to strip the whole plane down and start again paul is planning to take the jet to 40 000 feet we've done all our checks past the flying colors on the ground run so uh there's no reason why it should have a problem out there [Music] but it's not taking off [Music] four days of work for nothing blind message yeah aircraft 43 is just uh throttled up and throttled down on the runway i think he's coming back in but jumpers just got the jitters there's nothing wrong with the he's just doing the slums over again isn't he taxiing down to the end of the runway and then gonna come back up the other way is he okay bolly goes for it come on [Music] job done bolly's plane rejoins the [Music] squadron kandahar airfield is guarded by the raf regiment and a new squadron has just arrived from the uk this pre-fabricated town in the middle of the desert is going to be their home for the next seven months gentlemen good afternoon for those that don't know me my name's er commodore bob johnson i am the base commander here i wanted to get you all together really just to formally welcome you to kandahar airfield you deliver a vital role towards keeping everybody that's inside it safe we live in a war zone here and outside the wire the moment you step outside it you are in the threat zone you know that as well as i do so be safe be careful but obviously deliver the mission to the best you can i think for the young guys it's a really steep learning curve and it changes them irrevocably in some ways and they go back wiser and different men for sure first a guided tour to help them get their bearings you look straight in front of you now you're coming up to ecp three that is your entry and exit to come so right outside you've got the boardwalk pizza up subway bird king burnt down a couple of moves ago and who pond the pooh pond is the camp's biggest landmark a sewage works the size of nine olympic swimming pools designed for 3 000 people now it's struggling to cope with five times that number you'll get used to that small you gotta turn the aircon off at night because it just sucks it all in anyone got any questions on at all it's overwhelming for new recruits like nathan chills huge absolutely massive really busy as well there's so many people around this camp loads of different nationalities this feels like i'm on like um training exercises i mean this is really hot i've gone through like seven bottles of water already this morning just can't stop sweating it's ridiculous and it's about to get a whole lot hotter with their heavy duty or spray body armor who else is happy with the size of their osprey it's quite simple it's either you're happy or you're not happy right there you go you're lucky all right yeah that's yours which is the new type of body armor that lasts where when we've got our knots with the offspring it must be the correct size because if you're involved in a blast it's not correct and it causes more damage than good the lads know what particular size they need to hug their body they're going through telling the storm and exactly what size they require and then that will be issued the correct size beats you to that person the body armor alone weighs 55 pounds and once they've got all their kit on it's like carrying an extra person on their back feel your ammo punches camel back good bit of kick but it is heavy and there's a last very important item syringes full of morphine the morphe is obviously if something does happen on the ground to stop the pain that allowed to train to use that hopefully they won't need to use it obviously in the afternoon sun jones's boys get acclimatised to the heat all right stop there lads if you put your knees down you owe me a dollar i don't expect anyone put their [ __ ] knees down in 10 days they'll be going outside the wire in full kit get your back straight high five times train you've all got twice as much time as me no excuse everyone understand that after burning off all those calories chills and his mates decide to treat themselves to a kandahar luxury and it's all there on the bulldog you come back and you get to have a pizza up it's brilliant it's so it's open till like two in the morning two in the morning american football over there [Music] ice hockey going on over there on the ice i suspect it to be like just bog standard but it's brilliant it's like a summer camp kate's at the ball walk too she's just split up with her boyfriend ben it's just such a different environment to be in that sometimes it works for people and sometimes you don't and it isn't for us to cheer her up the girls are taking her down the disco should be a good night something different lots of meat we've gotta wait our party alma at the minnow it's not your average attire you'd wear it out it's all right so it's a bit strange but everyone wears it so it's not that bad really pain in the arms the disco run by the dutch army is one place where guns and knives aren't allowed and you wouldn't want to mess with this bouncer like bees to honey two u.s marines make their move what is it but there are a few language barriers yeah kate nice to meet you some nice man in there can't help for luck yeah everyone's loaded in wheels we are we're speaking from the us marines they're nice guys friendly enough bit boring as americans after a few non-alcoholic beers the night kicks off [Music] it's a bit strange not like having a drink or not and people are like dancing they're probably going nuts in it and they sober [Music] next time on warzone chales gets a reality check nasty bit of kit really if you have to use them you really [ __ ] basically and kate visits the fireman at cambastian where she's in for a surprise [Music] you

Channel: Wonder

Views: 703,934

Rating: 4.8035212 out of 5

Keywords: Wonder, wonder channel, survivial videos, survival stories, i shouldn't be alive, wonder i shouldn't be alive, outdoor channel, extreme documentary, air force afghanistan deployment, air force afghanistan, air force afghanistan channel 5, afghan air force, afghanistan air force, afghan air force 2021, royal air force afghanistan, afghan air force 2020, afghan air force fighter jets, air force bombing afghanistan, kandahar airfield, kandahar air base, kandahar airport

Id: Xjl0OVlMpH4

Length: 42min 21sec (2541 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 04 2021