PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Falkland Islands Cleared of Landmines
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Old 11th Nov 2020, 07:40
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Fortissimo
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: London
Age: 67
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That is excellent news, just a shame it has taken so long.

During my first stint 'down South', the entire undershoot at Stanley was full of mines and UXOs. The informal brief was that in the event of an ejection into said area, you stayed exactly where you were and waited for the SAR Sea King to lift you straight out. I remember an RE Major losing a foot installing Portakabins on the south side of the airfield in a supposedly cleared (Green) area, a sad reminder of the need to be a bit careful. There was some idiocy too - a gory photo on display around the unit showing the hand injury to an SAC who had clapped the initiators from 2 anti-personnel mines together to prove they were inert. He was wrong. They also found an anti-tank mine in his locker in the Coastel. He was shipped home to get his hand fixed, and then came back to finish his tour via a rather expensive orderly room experience. And there was a Cpl who had a good kick in the pocket from the Stn Cdr after being caught throwing rocks at the visible mines on the beach, though he had at least decided to stay the right side of the barbed wire festooned with the traditional 'Danger, Mines' signs! I am not proud to say I once spent a couple of hours watching sheep grazing in a minefield (my nav was fishing the river nearby for our supper); 'no sheep were injured in the making of' etc., which was fortunate for all concerned.

Perhaps the luckiest person at the time was the G2 Major (infantry) who took CBF's son on a battlefield tour - Mt Longdon ISTR. He told me he had a moment of startling clarity which prompted him to tell the young man to stand very still and then got him to follow exactly in his footsteps as he extricated them from the unmarked minefield they had just walked into. His main concern was apparently what he would say to the General if...
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