Sandstorm blasts UK troops in Kuwait

British troops in Kuwait and Iraq are being blasted by a fierce sandstorm which for the last 48 hours has made their work of bringing UK kit home from Iraq almost impossible.



With winds of over 52mph whipping up the sand in temperatures of 47 degrees, the logistic force, ensuring that six years' worth of combat equipment returns from Iraq in good order, are battling with terrible working conditions, but they are still managing to get some work done.

Private Simon Ameet Limbu says as he takes an hourly atmospheric reading:

"It's like standing in an oven, in a wind tunnel, and on the beach all at the same time."

Private Limbu is a Combat Medical Technician from 4 Medical Regiment based in Aldershot who are manning the medical centre for the Joint Force Logistic Component (JFLogC).

He and others provide the medical care for 500 troops split between Iraq and Kuwait. They are bringing out the remainder of the kit and equipment from Iraq following the end of combat operations in April this year:

"We hear on the news that they are experiencing a heat wave in Britain at 33 degrees. That's nothing! It's hotter than that in the middle of the night here," he added.

"It's tough, but it's not impossible. We get issued top spec goggles that keep the sand out and we're all pretty well acclimatised now. We just work at a pace that suits the heat and take in as much water as possible. The Army have even given me a Camelback drinking system to keep my fluid levels up in the heat of the day."



Captain Ned Brown, a pilot from the Joint Helicopter Force, said it was a tough day to fly in:

"The helicopters are modified to fly in the sand but there comes a point when it just becomes impossible."

He explained that planning ahead can beat the weather:

"We knew it was going to be a tough day weather-wise so we got our business done in a weather window this morning."

Meanwhile troops from the specially deployed Theatre Drawdown Unit continue in their mammoth task of accounting, checking, packing and moving thousands of items of equipment either back to the UK or to Afghanistan. Many of them working in the open.

The storm is forecast to continue for the next few days.

Anna-Lee the brains behind Forces day

Major Anna-Lee Johnston, who is currently in command of 9 Armoured Company, part of 4 Close Support Battalion REME based in Bordon, is organising the first Armed Forces Day in Kuwait on Saturday.

Major Johnston (34), is responsible for the work of more than 50 Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers personnel who are repairing vehicles in Iraq and Kuwait and preparing them to be sent back to Britain in good order, now that the UK combat missions in Iraq have finished.

The unit has so far overseen the movement of around 5,000 containers and shipped more than 600 vehicles – from quad bikes to Challenger Two main battle tanks – back to the UK.

All the kit being returned to Britain is quickly refurbished and either redistributed or 'put on the shelf' ready for reuse at a later date.

The REME is part of the force of more than 600 personnel in Iraq and the Kuwait Support Facility at Camp Buehring near Kuwait City, supporting the withdrawal of combat kit in good order from Iraq.

When not busy at her 'day job', Major Johnston is organising a day of events to celebrate Armed Forces Day in Kuwait.

She said: "It's important to remember servicemen and women past and present and our Armed Forces Day will be a celebration for them. It will also be a landmark in our deployment in Kuwait and gives the guys something to look forward to."

Major Johnston joined REME in 1997 after gaining a Masters Degree at Cranfield University. Since then, she has enjoyed an exciting career, serving in Germany, Cyprus, Canada, the Balkans and Afghanistan.

l The British Army have finished combat operations in Iraq and are currently bringing their personnel, kit and equipment home, to be out of the country by Friday, July 31.

Iraq To Start Drilling At Shared Field With Kuwait

Iraq will commence drilling for oil at a field shared with Kuwait although the lack of an agreement outlining investment in equally owned fields, according to sources. In the weeks before the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Baghdad blamed the nation of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from its fields through horizontal drilling. Kuwait denied the charge.

"The oil minister visited Safwan oilfield and inaugurated the installment of many rigs, which are due to start drilling in a few days," oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said.

Several fields overlap the border, including the Rumaila South field and also the Safwan and Zubair fields.

During a visit to the joint border fields, Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani said that until an agreement is entered with Kuwait, Iraq will drill additional wells in the region, his spokesman said.

"We will start drilling more wells in the border field of Safwan to make the most of crude available to raise production and export rates," Jihad quoted Shahristani as saying.

Iraq has not signed any agreement setting out the technical and legal mechanisms to spend in oilfields shared by the two nations.

Basra 'Won't Be The Same Again'

Lisa Holland, Foreign affairs correspondent

If British troops pull-out from Basra next spring it will be just over six years since the war in Iraq began.

British servicemen try to win the support of the local children near Basra

That's been six long years of occupation for the people of Basra and beyond - an occupation although not planned this way - which has meant an end to ordinary life.

It's meant insecurity, fear and rising unemployment as the militias battled with British forces and each other to exert their influence.

For years it meant a life of never quite knowing whether a gun battle could happen down your street at any moment.

And it was an occupation that changed the character of a city.

The situation has changed dramatically in Basra since the Iraqi government took on the local militias earlier this year. As a result, the British presence in Basra could be all over by next summer. Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay

Basra used to be a place where people would travel to from neighbouring Kuwait for a beer or just an evening out.

It was a place where female students walked the streets happily in a fashionable mini-skirt - unafraid of the religious fundamentalists who came to exert such influence in recent times.

It's been a long road which began with a honeymoon period for British forces.

In the beginning they used to be able to walk the streets wearing so-called 'soft' berets. Those days soon disappeared.

The British used to have their headquarters down town in an old palace of Saddam Hussein.

The soldiers I went on patrols with called the road out of the palace into town Death Alley.

By June 2006 things were so bad they told me that seven out of ten patrols were hit by some kind of attack - everything from sniper fire to a roadside bomb.

When you got back to base even the toughest of soldiers must surely have heaved a private sight of relief - there was no doubt you took your life in your hands just leaving the base.

Progress has most certainly been made. And it is considerable.

British troops in Basra

In March this year Iraqi security forces fought fierce gun battles with powerful Shi'ite militias in Basra in a major operation aimed at bringing the southern oil city under government control.

It was a critical test of the training they had undergone at the hands of British forces and of the political will of Mr al Maliki to take on the militias who for so long had undermined his control of the country.

It was a pivotal moment. Iraqi security forces passed the test and life in Basra turned a corner.

Things are slowly changing back but life will never be the same again.

For the Iraqi people the hope is that the promises of those invading forces of the spring of 2003 to deliver a better life might finally be round the corner.

Just as long as the militias haven't simply been biding their time until the last Hercules transporter plane takes off from Basra carrying the last of Britain's fighting forces with them.

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