Alex Duncan - Sweating the Metal

Hellfire AGM-114N: Enhanced blast version of Hellfire air-to-surface missiles carried by Apache AH-1.

Hesco Bastion: Square wire mesh cubes lined with hessian. Filled with sand and/or rubble and used as defensive ramparts to protect bases from fire.

HLS: Helicopter Landing Site.

HRF:Helmand Reaction Force.

ICOM: Radio scanner used by Coalition and Taliban forces to monitor one another’s radio transmissions.

ICOM chatter: Intelligence Communication. Term for intercepts of Taliban radio chatter.

IED: Improvised Explosive Device.

Illume: Term given to light conditions for night flying in theatre. Green illume signifies good vision using NVGs; red illume signifies no vision, even with NVGs.

Intel: Intelligence.

IR: Infrared.

IRT: Incident Response Team consisting of aircrew, medical team, EOD (bomb disposal) team and fire rescue team. The medical team is made up of a surgeon/anaesthetist, paramedics and emergency-care specialist nurses. Protected on the ground by Quick Reaction Force.

ISAF: International Security Assistance Force. NATO multinational military force in Afghanistan.

ISTAR: Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance – a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing the information they gather.

JDAM: Joint Direct Attack Munition. Guidance system bolted on to 500lb or 2,000lb bomb to make it an accurate, all-weather weapon.

JHC: Joint Helicopter Command. UK-based command for all British military helicopters in the UK and overseas.

JHF (A): Joint Helicopter Force (Afghanistan). Main at KAF, ‘Forward’ at Bastion. Afghanistan helicopter HQ operating under authority of JHC.

JOC: Joint Operations Centre. The control centre of operations in Helmand Province.

JTAC: Joint Terminal Attack Controller, also known as FAC, or Forward Air Controller. A soldier responsible for the delivery of air ordnance on to a target by combat aircraft. Call sign normally ‘Widow’.

KAF: Kandahar Airfield.

KIA: Killed in Action.

Klick: Military slang for kilometres.

LAW: Light Anti-Tank Weapon. A portable one-shot, disposable 66mm unguided anti-tank rocket launcher; pre-loaded w/HEAT rocket.

LCJ: Load Carrying Jacket.

Lockheed AC-130 Spectre: A heavily-armed ground-attack aircraft based on the Hercules C-130 airframe.

M60D: 7.62mm automatic, gas-operated machine-gun mounted on the Chinook’s rear ramp. Rate of fire of up to 550 rounds per minute.

M134 Minigun: 7.62 mm, multi-barrel machine-gun with a high rate of fire (up to 4,000 rounds per minute), employing Gatling-style rotating barrels, either battery- or externally-powered. Fitted to forward side doors of RAF CH47 Chinooks.

Max Chat: A euphemism for full power or top speed, the term originates from World War II when most aircraft were piston engined. It stands for Maximum Cylinder Head Air Temperature.

MERT: Medical Emergency Response Team or Combat Air Ambulance based at Camp Bastion.

Military Cross: Third-level decoration awarded in recognition of gallantry during active operations.

NVG: Night-Vision Goggles. Optical instrument that magnifies available light by 50,000 times.

OC: Officer Commanding – Wing Commander in charge of a Squadron.

Operation Herrick: British codename for all military operations in Afghanistan.

Operation Telic: British codename for all military operations in Iraq.

PHF: Passenger Handling Facility at Bastion.

Paradigm: Prime contractor for the Skynet 5 contract with the MoD. It enables military personnel deployed on two to six-month tours to make thirty minutes of Government-funded phone calls to any location in the world each week.

Pinzgauer: High Mobility All-Terrain 4x4 and 6x6 military utility vehicles with open backs, covered by a canvas roof. Used alongside or in place of the Land Rover Defender as a patrol vehicle.

QRF: Quick Reaction Force. Members of RAF Regiment or Army used to provide force protection on IRT missions.

R&R: Rest and Recuperation; a fourteen-day break from deployment given to everyone in theatre on a six-month tour.

RadAlt: Radar Altimeter, cockpit instrument that measures altitude above the terrain beneath an aircraft.

RAF Regiment: The RAF’s own military corps responsible for force protection, airfield defence, forward air control and parachute capability.

RIP: Relief in Place – one aircraft replacing another over the battlefield.

RoC: Rehearsal of Concept.

Rock Ape: Colloquial term used within the RAF for members of the RAF Regiment.

RoE: Rules of Engagement. Laws set by a country’s Government laying down rules for the use and proportionality of arms and military force.

RPG: Rocket-Propelled Grenade. Soviet-designed, shoulder-launched rocket with a powerful grenade warhead.

SAFIRE: Small arms fire.

Tracer: Bullets coated with phosphorous paint that burns with a red, orange or green glow. Usually loaded every fourth round to check trajectory and accuracy of fire.

USL: Underslung load.

Wingman: The other aircraft in a pair.

Yaw: Side-to-side movement of the nose of an aircraft. Defines the aircraft’s heading.

Local girls gather for the ribbon cutting of Laki Girls School, in Garmsir district, Helmand province, while coalition forces provides security. The Taliban banned girls’ education when they were in power between 1996 and 2001. Following their overthrow, the Karzai administration received substantial international aid to restore the education system. According to UNICEF, there were 2.5 million girls in school in 2010, up from 839,000 in 2002.