RANGER AARON MCCORMICK

It

may seem strange but there is much to admire in the landscape of Helmand — its vivid colours and
stark shapes, the lush foliage of the green zone, the endless desert with its water courses and ridges,
the mountains always visible in the distance. And everywhere run the tree lines and irrigation
ditches, natural and man-made features that a soldier sees with a different eye to the civilian. They
provide cover for a patrol against small arms fire and allow stealthy movement through hostile
territory.

Over the years of British involvement in Afghanistan the enemy has watched and learnt our tactics,
seen how we avoid tracks and space out our men to give depth and protection from attack. They
understand our view of the land and our use of it. And while we avoid patterns and routine there are
always ways and routes that we cannot avoid because of military imperative or topographical
constraints.

And it is in these places that the insurgents sow the ground with IEDs whose purpose is to damage
and destroy. The unseen presence of these deadly devices means that soldiers view the terrain
around them not with awe but with suspicion.

On Remembrance Sunday Ranger Aaron McCormick, one of my men, was killed by such a mine.
He died clearing the ground so the rest of his patrol could pass safely. Although there are specialist
counter-IED teams, whose skill and bravery are rightly praised, it is the ordinary soldier, the patrol
member, men like Ranger McCormick, who search for and find most of these weapons.

Each time they put one foot in front of the other they know that they may be just a step away from
dying. And yet they take that step and then another and another, and so on until the job is done and
they are back at base.
In 2008 Ranger McCormick was stationed in Sangin District, with Ranger Company 1 R Irish.
While there he found more IEDs than anyone else; he became expert at his trade. In 2010 he
volunteered to use those skills once more, at the front of the patrol. It was this selflessness and
bravery that finally had such miserable consequences.

I had only known Ranger McCormick for some four months. For the last two we had been serving
together in the Saidabad area of Southern Nad-e-Ali. It wasn’t a long time but it was more than
enough for me to gain a measure of the man.

On the day he died there were tears in the eyes of many of the men. It is deeply humbling to see
courageous people at their most vulnerable, feeling the loss of a colleague, the loneliness of being
so far from home and expressing compassion for those who have suffered doing the nation’s
bidding.

These emotions are not ones of weakness. They are human qualities and frailties, as much present in
fighting troops as any one else.

And once the tears are wiped away the soldiering goes on. Ranger McCormick’s friends and
colleagues have once again stepped out from behind the wire and towards the danger. That is the
sign of their commitment to the job and to honouring one who has now gone.