Alex Duncan - Sweating the Metal

I think we’re all quite proud of what we’ve achieved as a unit at RAF Odiham and although none of us does it for the credit, it’s nice that the work that we do has not gone unrecognised. Since 2001, the Chinook Force’s pilots and crews have been awarded two OBEs, two MBEs, nine DFCs, four Air Force Crosses, two QCBAs and ten Mentions in Despatches. One pilot – Wing Commander Jeremy Robinson – has been awarded the DFC three times, a feat unequalled since World War II. I felt my DFC represented well-deserved recognition for 27 Squadron and our involvement in Op Herrick. I know 18 Squadron had been awarded four or five DFCs since the start of ops in Afghanistan, but as far as I’m aware, mine was the first for 27 Squadron since World War II.

The boss said, ‘Don’t tell anyone, not a soul – at least for twenty-four hours,’ and of course, I was all, ‘Yes, of course sir. Wouldn’t dream of it.’ But as soon as I walked out the building, I was on the phone to Alison.

‘I don’t believe it, I got a DFC!’ She was shouting down the phone in the office and I’m saying to her, ‘Shhh, you can’t say anything, it’s supposed to be a secret! What about all the people around you?!’

Eventually she calmed down, but I was so chuffed. I’m not saying we’re competitive or anything, but she had an MBE, so at least now we were on a more equal footing, even if, technically, my award trumped hers!

I remember Alison had bought a bottle of Dom Pérignon when we were last in Paris; we were going to open it on my thirtieth birthday but we forgot. Then we said we’d open it for another special occasion. We were going to do it when we were selling our house but that fell through. Then we paid out £10,000 on brain surgery for our dog; we said we’d drink it when she pulled through, but she died. After that there was nothing else, so we kind of forgot about it. When I got home that evening, Alison had already chilled it so we decided to celebrate in style with the Dom Pérignon and a takeaway from our favourite Chinese. Best laid plans of mice and men again – the fucking bottle was corked!

I said to Alison, ‘Keep the food hot, I’ll be back in five minutes.’ I jumped in the TVR and raced to Costco, where I bought another bottle for £67. Got home, put it in the freezer for half an hour and it was perfect. We got there in the end, and what an exquisite way to toast the award – a perfect Champagne.

The official announcement of the latest gallantry awards before the media was at Colchester Barracks, home to 16 Air Assault Brigade, just three days later. I managed to blag the Squadron Range Rover for the trip; it’s pretty cool, a black 4.2 Sport with all the toys that we use when we undertake displays around the country. We were sponsored by Range Rover and the car fits nicely in the back of a Chinook; we’d fly in, the ramp would come down and out it would drive, ready to move the crews and the engineers around at our destination. It’s a nice way to travel – fly in and drive off to your accommodation or other engagement. I couldn’t believe how it worked out – my parents had flown over on the Wednesday for a short visit, a trip that had been in the diary for weeks. It was completely serendipitous – a rare coincidence – but it meant they’d be able to come to the press conference for the official announcement.

I drove us up to Colchester early that morning. With Alison beside me, and Mum and Dad in the back, I felt like a million dollars. When we arrived, there were all these amazing people there, so many brave soldiers who’d won gallantry awards for some incredible things. Society today looks up to some bizarre people – Premier League footballers, models, D-list celebrities famous for taking their clothes off or having been on Big Brother , but there’s nothing heroic about what they do. I felt really humbled to be in the presence of so many real heroes, men and women who had done things that would make your eyes stand out on stalks. We were all called forward one by one while our citations were read out by Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb. His speech at the start of the press conference was, without question, the most moving and heartfelt I’ve ever heard. This is what he said:

‘Welcome to this day, particularly the families and friends. We in uniform know only too well the silent burden that you carry for those of us who serve this country. Tomorrow Operational Awards List 32 is made public. Today is about those from all three Services who have been recognised for their bravery. It is their stories that are on display here: respect that.

‘It is said that true riches cannot be bought – one cannot buy the experience of brave deeds or the friendship of companions to whom one is bound forever by ordeals suffered in common – true friendship itself is an emerald simply beyond price. Those in uniform understand that bond, those here and those they fought alongside recognise simple courage and we, the nation, recognise that these young men and women acted above and beyond the call of duty. “Duty”, a word considered rather old-fashioned, seldom heard today, along with integrity, honesty, service, sacrifice, but terms these soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines recognise, live and die by. These quiet and unsung heroes understand only too well what Colonel Paddy Mayne alluded to when he talked of ordeals suffered in common and what held them together.

‘These men and women know only too well the burden that is duty. They are no braver nor less courageous than the likes of Col Mayne and his forefathers, no less committed, no less human and they are in every way the match of those who went before them.

‘These young people, ladies and gentlemen, are the British Armed Forces.

‘I have read ill-judged remarks from casual observers, from armchair critics, that we are an Army that is overwhelmed, humiliated and downtrodden; that we are an Army that struggles to punch above its weight. Challenge those here who spend time – again at world’s end – with that claim. They are not consumed by trivial self-interest, barging others aside in order to gain some material advantage for ambition.

‘These warriors are the stuff of legend. They know the meaning of life and death, of standing by your friends, of standing up for something which they and we recognise as a mighty force and being counted. They know only too well just how fragile is the gift of life and they know only too well the human cost and will remember those, every bit their equal, who did not make it home. Those who gave their full measure in some foreign field: gone, never forgotten.

‘The likes of Sergeant Major O’Donnell, bigger than life, braver than a lion, saviour of others’ lives, holder of the George Medal – posthumously awarded to him today a bar to that award. A most gallant gentleman; I only wish I had had the privilege to have met him.

‘To those who returned: these young people are splendid company. Tough as nails, they do get knocked on their backsides every so often, but they do not lie there and whine that life is unfair; they get up, dust themselves off and get on with it.

‘They are the British Armed Forces; they defend this realm and our way of life, they are made of sterner stuff, and when asked will call out whomever, whenever onto whatever field of battle they choose. Look no further for your twenty-first century role models; these are your real heroes: they live among you, they defend you and your right to freedom and the freedom of those less fortunate than you. There are none better and I would wish to work with none other.

‘They are drawn from across this nation and from regiments steeped in history from Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. Colour or creed matters not, but mark this: they are of the right stuff. If you want to see all that is good, all that is great in this nation of ours and its Armed Forces, look no further than on the pages of the operational awards you are about to print and be humbled. But remember also that what is listed here are those individuals who were seen on the field of battle and their actions recorded – there are quite literally hundreds who were not.