Description
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Three sequences with captions showing activities in Helmand Province during Operation Augustus.
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START 00:30:00 Caption "Operation Augustus 15/07/2006". Afghan and British troops board Chinook.
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01:39:00 Interior of Chinook in flight, shot with image intensifier (resulting in a grainy, green image). Sound of door gunners opening fire as the aircraft lands in a Hot LZ (Landing Zone). The aircraft hits the ground hard as it dodges incoming rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) from Taliban fighters. This causes all the soldiers to fall to the floor of the aircraft and people can then be heard shouting for everyone to get up and get out. (Note that it was too dark in the aircraft for the image intensifier to work correctly; in addition, the camera sustained heavy damage to the viewfinder at the beginning of operation, and later had to be tied by cable onto the side of the camera.)
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02:18:00 Soldiers move into attack the from CH-47. Cameraman Paul Punter was attached to the Battery Commanders Tactical Communications team (BC TAC): various shots show members of BC TAC on comms to other units as the fire fight continues. Heavy fire is mainly from Apache and Spectre gun ships overhead. The Coalition soldiers have infra-red cylumes on their helmets, so at they can be identified by friendly aircraft.
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08 57:00 RPG flies overhead from Taliban gunmen this causes soldier to say "What the f**k was that?".
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09:33:00 BC TAC and command team take over a compound.
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09:44:00 Major Gary Wilkinson gives a piece to camera about the operation so far.
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10:02:00 Various shots of command group on comms.
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10:32:00 Image Intensifier removed. A large sack of money is found in Taliban compound.
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11:25:00 Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Tootal, Commanding Officer of 3 PARA, briefs other officers on his intentions.
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12:10:00 Major Wilkinson briefs his team on operation.
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13:36:00 An injured soldier has his foot strapped up by Combat Medical Team.
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15:38:00 RPGs found in Taliban compound (these were later destroyed by EOD teams).
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15:49:22 Soldiers patrol out of the village towards new a new landing zone for extraction.
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16:20:00 Operation Augustus sequence ends: Media Operations Logo
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16:27:00 Caption "Sangin Platoon House 16/07/2006". Various shots of the platoon house with off-duty troops. Soldiers washing in river. Sign "Welcome to 'The Suck'". Soldiers relax, sleeping on the floor, sitting around chatting.
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17:57:00 Views from manned sangar over valley. Soldiers patrol the perimeter of the house. New ammunition lined up ready for use, plus expended ammo. Soldiers on lookout, watching farmers leading their sheep across a bridge.
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20:30:00 Start of patrol through Sangin. Various shots of soldiers patrolling through the outskirts of the town.
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23:15:00 Contact - an enemy mortar explodes near the patrol; troops take cover and put on their helmets before advancing to the suspected launch site.
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25:55:00 Soldiers (two Afghan, one British) question Zaid Mohammed, a Sangin villager who appears quite willing to help the British soldiers with information on the Taliban; he points out two men in the distance.
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28:40:00 Soldiers continue their patrol and head back to camp at the end of the day.
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30:30:00 End of Sangin patrol sequence: Media Operations logo.
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30:35:00 Caption "G.Vs of a Shura. A meeting of the Sangin Area Elders with Governor Doud, Governor of the Helmand Province Afghanistan. Meeting held at Sangin Platoon House 17th July 2006". Brief scenes of the meeting and the Elders gathered together in the open outside the Platoon House, with Mohammed Daoud Safi, the Governor of Helmand, in attendance.
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33:00:00 Media Operations logo.
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END 33:00:07
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Mini-DV