COMMENT: How A British Army Major Saved My Life

By Mike Evans

As we cowered below the embankment of the river, the tall good-looking lieutenant from the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment lay down on the dusty path and started to inch forward towards the suspected buried improvised explosive device.

We were in Garmsir in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It was May 2009.

We had been on patrol since 5am but this was the main mission, to examine what three Taliban fighters had dug into the ground close to a bridge.

We had two American bomb-disposal specialists with us, but it was the lieutenant’s job to scrape the soil around the suspected device and to make a judgment before their demolition skills were called upon.

Watching the lieutenant as he snaked his way closer and closer to the concealed IED, it struck me, not for the first time, that young British Army officers, not that long out of Sandhurst, were required almost on a daily basis - whether in Afghanistan or Iraq - to put their lives at extreme risk.

At such a young age, they were required to shoulder the gravest of responsibilities.

During the many occasions I spent embedded with British Army and Royal Marine units in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as a war reporter for The Times, I never ceased to be amazed at how calm the young officers and the men under their command were during moments of intense danger.

In the Bosnian War in the 1990s, my life was literally saved by a major of the Light Dragoons when, after stopping at a village near Brčko in the north, we were targeted by mortar fire from a Serb unit in a forest 100 yards away.

One mortar rocket exploded to the left of our vehicle and a second one to the right.

Anticipating the third would hit us right on target, the major grabbed me and hurled me into the back of a Spartan armoured vehicle, which reversed at speed.

These sort of experiences did not put me off covering wars for The Times. Indeed, I always wanted to return, not because of some personal sense of bravado, but because I had grown to trust the men and women of the British armed services, and knew that I could rely on their professionalism and training to help me if I ran into trouble.

Although I had reported on the Falklands War in 1982, and the Gulf War in 1991, I did so from the safety of Whitehall as a defence correspondent.

But when the Bosnian War erupted I went off to gain my first experience as a correspondent in the field and quickly learnt that following behind a Warrior en route to a dangerous spot was a lot healthier than driving off on my own in my Lada Niva, protected only by a "PRESS" sticker on the doors.

I discovered in every war zone that the average British soldier and Marine is blessed with a special sense of humour that helps to ease the tension of the day.

As a reporter armed only with a notebook and pen, I was always treated with immense respect and friendship.

There was never resentment that the officer in charge of a patrol had the added responsibility of looking after a civilian.

In Whitehall, writing about key defence issues, it is impossible to understand and appreciate what life is like on the ground for soldiers and Marines deployed to wars overseas.

It is the duty of defence correspondents to exchange their suits for flak jacket and helmet and to experience first-hand what that life is like.

For me, the experiences I had in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan changed my life.

I learnt how to take risks but never to be so foolhardy that by the end of the day I was unable to file my articles back to London. I always listened to the advice and judgment of the military units I worked with, knowing that their instincts, knowledge and grasp of local terrain were always going to be infinitely superior to mine.

In some of the most isolated outposts in Afghanistan, I witnessed extraordinary camaraderie.

In a tiny, remote base in northern Helmand province, I watched soldiers taking part in fitness challenge races which involved each soldier dragging a massive tyre along the ground, attached to a rope looped around their chests.

This was in the heat of an Afghan summer. It was both bizarre and enlightening.

It was because of these experiences that I felt the need to write a memoir*, to show my appreciation and admiration for the men and women who were prepared to risk their lives in the service of their country.

*First with the News, published by Rowanvale Books.

Mike Evans is a former Defence Editor at 'The Times' newspaper. He was a guest on last week's Sitrep, the only radio programme devoted to discussing matters of defence and security. To download the latest episode, click here!