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Building a defensive bunker at "Calvi". |
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The bunker is almost finished,
just needing some camouflage. At the time we had at our disposal an MPG
wheeled bulldozer/earth-mover to help clear ground and set up the
sectors of observation. Sadly it was during the protection of this MPG
that one of our VAB vehicles was hit by an RPG-7 rocket, severely
injuring the driver and the group leader. |
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Another view of the bunker. The
roof was sandbagged to provide some protection from shell splinters and
ricocheted bullets. |
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A staged photograph in another
prepared position, this time at a different checkpoint christened "Lumio".
We only spent a short time there, as it later became the responsibility
of the 3rd Company. Note the Minimi light machine gun, present in every
combat group (squad equivalent). |
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Back at "Calvi",
and a rebel delegation is making its way towards our position. The
stolen vehicles were painted with slogans and insignias of notorious
insurgent/terrorist forces (including Al Qaida). This time the
negotiations went smoothly and eased some of the tension between the two
sides. |
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Two caporals (corporals) posing
on top of the VAB. This one is armed with a 12.7mm machine gun, many
others had the 7.62mm ANF-1 in its place instead. |
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Our combat group (squad), with an
improvised combat "standard". In the group there was the
leader (a Caporal-Chef), a Chef d'Equipe (a Caporal), the VAB driver, a
Minimi machine gunner, a LGI mini-mortar operator, an AT4CS anti-tank
rocket launcher operator and a simple "Grenadier Voltigeur" armed with a FAMAS and hand grenades. |
