NAVY NEWS, MAY 2008 21
Taleban – or is it Scousers again? – roll on the vehicle which has served Royal well for two decades.
ground. Yes, they’re built by the same fi rm. Yes, outwardly they
The three vehicles race through, heading for the look same(ish). A BV is not armoured for a start – and
safety of a wood. no two parts are the same in the two vehicles.
Suddenly, a white Toyota pick-up truck comes Viking is, however, extremely manoeuvrable,
racing down a lane determined to ram the lead extremely reliable – on any given day in Helmand 24
Viking. out of every 25 vehicles are fi t for patrol – and it has
Suicide bomber! most defi nitely saved lives.
Rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat. It is not invulnerable, however. Nine have been lost
The Toyota grinds to a halt. Well, white van man is to enemy action in Afghanistan – and so too some of
a menace on the roads... the men they have carried.
And then it’s back to the start of the course. Viking can handle most terrain (it can climb
The debriefi ng should be interesting. One vehicle a 45˚ slope) and operate in temperatures over an
destroyed by mine and a friendly checkpoint wiped incredible range (-46˚C to +49˚C without changing
out. Still, one broken down Viking was recovered, an the lubricants or oil). It’s also one of the few vehicles
ambush was successfully negotiated and white van which can cope with the Afghan mud – the dust and
man was stopped dead in his tracks. fi ne sand turns to a hideous sludge in heavy rain (the
Barely have we dismounted than the next batch of technical RM term is ‘gopping’).
Viking crew climb aboard ready for their fi nal test: Vikings are on the road (and mostly off it) daily
whereas it once was a steady fl ow of 30 or so green in Helmand. It took wheeled vehicles three and a
berets passing through Bovington every few weeks, that half days to move the 100 kilometres (62 miles) from
fi gure has now swelled to Camp Bastion to Garmsir
more than 60 soldiers, a
One vehicle destroyed by mine and a
in the wet. Viking covered
more challenging ratio friendly checkpoint wiped out. Still, the same distance in four
for tutor and pupil alike. one broken down Viking recovered, an hours.
Luckily the squaddies
ambush successfully negotiated and
The Helmand terrain
prove as keen to get to
white van man stopped dead in his
and constant usage do
grips with Viking as their
tracks.
take their toll, however.
RM forebears. After 40 hours’ action
their crew carry out a
T
he soldiers driving Viking use adjectives like
mini-service. But apart from that it’s continually in
awesome, phenomenal, amazing – normally
use for fi ve weeks before heading to Camp Bastion for
preceded by some choice Anglo-Saxon – to
a ten-day overhaul. Then it’s back out again.
describe the vehicle.
Not so for the Armoured Support Group RM – the
“It’s a phenomenal bit of kit – there’s nothing in
front-line end of the Armoured Support Company
the Army which can beat it off-road,” enthuses Viking
– whose men return this month, while the soldiers
instructor Cpl Joel Davison of The Rifl es.
we’ve been watching at Bovington head in the
They also quite like the Royals, too.
opposite direction.
“The marines have made us very welcome – they’ve
Come high summer in Helmand, it will be 90 per
invited us into their little world,” Joel adds.
cent soldier, ten per cent Royal in command of the
And what a strange world it is, too, full of strange
Vikings.
phrases.
And good as Viking is – and it is good – there’s
“They’ll ask us: ‘Are you going ashore tonight?’ No,
one fundamental which goes back to the dawn of
we’re already ashore,” says Joel. (He has a point.)
armoured warfare when marines rattled around in
“We make a point of not using their language. Are
Peerless armoured cars on the Western Front.
you coming to the galley for scran? No, we’re off to
“The vehicle is only as good as its crew,” says
cookhouse for scoff.”
Sgt Maj Simon Williams RM, chief instructor at
The Army men volunteering for Viking duties are
Bovington.
invariably not tank men. But then Viking is not a tank.
It’s not got a bloody great gun, nor is it cloaked by ● Pictures from top left on opposite page: the
Chobham armour. Vikings begin their journey through hostile Dorset
Nor does it wage armoured warfare in the countryside; ‘Calm down, calm down’, the natives
traditional sense. There’s no ‘Boney’ Fuller, no are getting restless; One controller is clearly un-
Monty, no Guderian to teach the men. impressed by the native uprising; safe departure;
Only basic tactics are taught: never operate in a and the spacious interior of the Viking.
group of fewer than three vehicles. (Guderian would ● Pictures this page from top: the daunting sight
at least be happy: clobber ’em, don’t disperse was always of a Viking cavalcade rolling into town; road swept
his watchword.) the mine detector is returned to the cab; and
Viking’s not a BV either, the sturdy all-terrain watching the road.
Pictures: PO(Phot) Sue Emery
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