conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about Times, Daily, Mail with the genre: Biographies & Memoirs, Leaders & Notable People?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'Commando'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Commando
  Marty Collins, it emerges, has been working on plans for a major offensive operation for weeks. Code-named 'Operation Sparrow Hawk', it is designed to extend the immediate area under control of the Royal Marines, as well as the Afghan Army and the Afghan National Police, and therefore to push the Taliban further and further away from the all-important Kijaki dam and power station. At the moment the Taliban control the road leading to the dam and are continually obstructing or destroying any traffic that attempts to approach it. This has meant that the dam, capable of supplying electricity to over two million people in Helmand Province, is operating at a fraction of its potential. Only one turbine is in partial and intermittent use, thanks to a handful of courageous Afghanis who continue to brave the Taliban threat by working at the dam. The plan eventually is to get three turbines up and running as well as enticing everyone back to the local town of Tanghei, but before that the hinterland needs to be secured and made safe. To achieve this end, Marty first intends to establish a Royal Marine base on the top of a nearby mountain that overlooks the HQ called Sparrow Hawk. He already commands the two mountains next to it – code-named Athens and Normandy and on which he has substantial gun and missile-launching emplacements – but he needs Sparrow Hawk to ensure arcs of fire onto the approach road to the dam that follows the line of the river and which is hidden from both Normandy and Athens (see map). The Taliban have been sporadically active on Sparrow Hawk so the taking of the mountain is not guaranteed and that's why Marty has asked for reinforcements from Bastion and they are expected to arrive sometime in the next few days. Assuming Sparrow Hawk is taken, Marty confides in us, there is an exciting but potentially much more dangerous extension to the plan.
  There is an area of high ground north of the river but visible from where we are in the HQ compound. A limestone plateau thought to be honeycombed with caves, it is known as the Shrine. It's not actually a shrine but a Taliban stronghold from which the marines have received a lot of incoming fire from small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Marty wants to assault the Shrine as soon as Sparrow Hawk is in his hands.
  Later, after dark and a snatched supper (boil-in-the-bag beef stew and potatoes followed by rice pudding), I go down with Bertie to another stone building in the compound to meet his team – known as 11 Troop.
  Pete McGinley is a smiling, jocular man from Blackpool. He welcomes me with a firm handshake and then, rolling a cigarette from a packet of Golden Virginia, promises that 'we'll have a bit of fun out on the ground over the next few days!'
  His corporals, 'Sully' Sullivan and 'Jacko' Jackson, also greet me effusively although they're a bit preoccupied with opening some Christmas mail that came in on the Chinook. The rest of the blokes all step forward to shake hands, full of questions about what I'm doing and when the films will be out on television. One guy, a Scouser called Richie Rawlings, says he's definitely up for being on camera but is immediately silenced by howls of derision and laughter. Next to him is the biggest Royal Marine I have ever seen who greets me with a broad smile and a handshake that hurts. 'Welcome to Kijaki holiday camp, mate,' he says. 'This'll be a Christmas you'll remember!' This giant Bootneck from the East End is called Tom Curry but known to everyone as 'Vinders' – as in Vindaloo.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: four more paragraphs. Start with the sentence 'As soon as I walk in she gives me a big welcome back hug followed by three large Tupperware containers full of freshly baked oat cookies and apple cakes'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: As soon as I walk in she gives me a big welcome back hug followed by three large Tupperware containers full of freshly baked oat cookies and apple cakes.
  I tell Laura all about the extraordinary Christmas I spent in Kijaki, Operation Sparrow Hawk and all about Sasula, the eleven-year-old gun-toting marbles enthusiast. I describe the rocky landscape, the wild camels and the turquoise waters of the reservoir held back by the dam.
  I am at my flat and preparing to get on the road to return to Lympstone when my phone rings. It is Bertie Kerr's mother, Lou, who sounds upset. She had just heard from Bertie who called to tell her about his most recent action just the day before. 'He and 11 Troop stormed an enemy compound,' she tells me hesitantly. 'But the Taliban were waiting and opened fire. One member of the troop was killed.'
  Yes, I think, and for Bertie the loss of Vinders would have been the greatest test of his leadership skills to date. The lads of 11 Troop need him now as never before. And he needs them.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Mike Sharkey, the chaplain who I travelled with to Kijaki from Camp Bastion last Christmas, is to conduct the short service on top of the rock. With the white cross behind him and 450 men in front of him – who have all now donned their Green Berets – he makes his address.
  After Mike leads his own prayers in memory of the fallen, Corporal Anthony Brisley steps forward. The last time I saw Tony was in that school in Gareshk when he taught an entire class of Afghan boys the Queen's Park Rangers chant. Now, however, in far more serious mood, he reads out the Royal Marines prayer.
  He pauses, looks up and then, in a clear and resolute voice, recites Laurence Binyon's timeless dedication to young, fallen warriors:
  Following the Last Post, played by a lone bugler, and a minute's silence, everyone disperses and makes their way back to the base of the rock. There the sombre mood is replaced with an exuberant one as a sergeant shouts, 'Slow guys at the rear, sprinters at the front.' Moments later he roars, 'GO!' Four hundred and fifty men surge forward and the race is on to be the first man back at the barracks. This is still part of the tribute – but, again, it is done in typically Bootneck fashion. Everyone runs, including Chaplain Mike.
  It strikes me now, as it has struck me before, notably among the flying bullets on top of the Shrine seven months ago, why it is that these young men fight as heroically and selflessly as they do. Certainly, they have a great sense of duty to Queen and country, but their primary concern on the battlefield is the safety and welfare of their friends and comrades. They would and do die for each other. After the best part of a year in the company of Bootnecks I well understand and appreciate the strength of the bond between them. I have felt the intensity of that bond myself and while I must now move on, extract myself from their special world and revert from 'Tomcat' back to merely 'Chris', I take with me many new and lasting friends, extraordinary memories, unique experiences and, of course, my most prized possession – the coveted Green Beret. This represents to me not a mere reward for passing the gruelling commando tests but an emotive symbol of my temporary communion with an incredibly special breed of people who I will never, ever forget.