Thanks LOTA. Re praise for others, just quoting from Matt's piece here (I'll email it to anyone who wants to see it and sends me a PM, save you buying the book):
'Personally I was a bit embarrassed (to get a medal)...I was just doing my job. Medals are a bit of a lottery...they're only awarded to people who are lucky enough to have been written up. Your 3 Para Tom, whose mate has just been shot, but he still goes out the next day and patrols the streets of Sangin, knowing that the chances are very high that he will be in contact again...that's horrendous. So brave. An 18-year-old lad who's seen his mate shot the day before. Yet he might receive no award and, for that reason, I felt a bit embarrassed. Of course, it was also a huge, huge honour...it's lovely to have things you've done recognised, and great for the RAF Regiment too.
'It's a cliche but I couldn't have done any of what I did without my signallers. SAC 'Sausage' Lucas was my sig on the Chinook incident (a different one to the one this thread started with)...he's just left the forces to become a tree surgeon. And SAC 'Rusty' Whitehouse was my sig for the majority of the time. Rusty was firing back at the Taliban constantly, enabling me to call in the fire, so any praise I got is for them too.'