Peter’s Blog

BBC NEWS | UK | UK troops in huge turbine mission

Two thousand British troops in southern Afghanistan have successfully transported a huge hydroelectric power turbine through Taleban territory.

In one of their biggest operations in Helmand, a convoy of 100 vehicles took five days to move the massive sections of the turbine 180km (112 miles).

…

British forces were helped by 2,000 Nato and Afghan troops.

..

The convoy travelled the length of the Helmand river valley - through areas insurgents have controlled for more than two years - carrying seven 20-30 tonne sections.

Oh, and did you see the BBC reporter there in his baby blue polo shirt? An American reporter would probably be wearing 2 flak jackets and a helmet…

Man, this is a harrowing story about a company in Afghanistan. Apparently the second part will run next Sunday.

The above-the-fold front page article in today’s NRC was about SecDef Gates saying that many NATO armies weren’t good at counter-insurgency operations and it was accompanied by a very large version of this image:

(Aside: it’s a rather odd photo to use, considering both the subject matter and that the photo was taken in November)

What is the first thing I noticed? Canadian soldiers have major facial hair! Check out the ’staches on those dudes! And it’s just just them. Here’s one of their colleagues:

Is the Canadian Army taking the whole lumberjack stereotype a little too far? =)

Proof again that things are more liberal up north: among US troops in Afghanistan only Special Forces are allowed to have beards. But what beards!

I don’t know if this is a still the case, as it seems that the beard policy wasn’t popular higher up. From one account, Special Forces operators (that’s right, they’re beyond soldiers, they’re operators!) played all sorts of charades to protect their officially-sanctioned beards from the wrath of senior officers.

At least they don’t look as funny as these Dutch Special Forces troops, though I’m sure Jack would tell you a light orange beard is the height of style:

On a more serious note, the Reuters website is very good and has lots of incredible pictures from around the world. While looking for the first image, I found this striking photo: