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Apache

Wizard: Callsign for the Nimrod MR2

WMIK: Weapons Mounted Installation Kit – an odd-looking Land Rover with bars all over it to which weapons can be attached

WO1: A soldier who holds a Royal Warrant is known as Warrant Officer – a WO1; Class one is the highest non-commissioned rank in the British Army

Wombat: Weapon Of Magnesium Battalion Anti-Tank – a huge wheeled or mounted rifle barrel

Zulu Company: A company of marines detached from 45 Commando to the Information Exploitation (IX) Battlegroup for this tour of Afghanistan

ZPU: Soviet Anti-Aircraft Gun – 14.5mm – ZPU 1 is single-barrelled, ZPU 2 has twin barrels and the ZPU 4 has quadruple barrels

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you, Emily, my soul mate, for the love and the freedom to catch my dream and for supporting me in my choice. Thank you also for finding and for pushing me in the direction of my friend and agent Mark Lucas.

Thank you, Mark, for believing that my stories were good enough to tell, and for priceless guidance and advice. Thanks also to Mindy for putting up with my calls at every conceivable hour, and to Alice for keeping me in check.

My sincere gratitude to Tom Newton Dunn for tireless dedication in helping me to tell my story, and to Dominie and Rebekah Wade for putting up with Tom’s absences. And huge thanks to wee Arthur for keeping Tom sane.

The groundcrew and technicians are the unsung heroes of the Apache squadrons and the JHF (A). Thank you for your unswerving professionalism.

Chris, Billy, Geordie, Carl and my fellow Apache aviators in 656 Squadron – my door is always open and for once words fail me.

Thanks to Colonel Rob Magowan MBE RM for taking the time to explain the bigger picture and, more importantly, for having the confidence to allow us to return Mathew to his family.

I owe a special thank you to the old DAAvn, Brigadier Thomson, for his support in the aftermath of the Fort, to the new DAAvn, Brigadier Short, and to Colonel Turner for supporting me in the writing of this book.

Arabella Pike, John Bond and everyone at HarperPress, I can’t thank you enough for your support, enthusiasm and sheer hard work.

To everyone in Mathew’s family, especially Joan, Bootsy and Ina, thank you for allowing me to tell my story.

I am eternally grateful to my wonderful Dad and the British Army for making me who I am today.

To my children, my little AAC: you are my world.

Thank you to my family and friends who have supported me throughout.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ed Macy left the British Army in January 2008, after twenty-three years’ service. He had amassed a total of 3,930 helicopter flying hours, 645 of them inside an Apache. Ed was awarded the military cross for his courage during the Jugroom Fort rescue - one of the first ever in Army Air Corps history. Apache is his first book. He hopes it won’t be his last.

‘You do not need to ask them about their contribution, you need to ask those on the ground who depended on them, day after day, to provide the crucial military edge over the enemy. They will leave you in no doubt about what the Apache achieved, and the praise of the praiseworthy is beyond measure.’ AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR JOCK STIRRUP, CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF

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INDEX

Afghanistan 19

British Army history in 65, 166–7

climate 14, 181

landscape 15–16, 63, 64–5

native population 22, 63–4

opium trade in 1–2, 19, 20, 63, 68, 82–4, 94, 96, 155, 284

reconstruction programmes 22

Soviet occupation of 20, 63, 83, 84, 112, 136, 193