Mortar Platoon of 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, carry out dry training in Camp Bastion, 2006

Digital photograph by Corporal Mike Fletcher, Royal Logistic Corps, Helmand Task Force Photographer, 14 June 2006.

This image was taken during Operation HERRICK IV, the British deployment into Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. This operation saw 3 Para deploy with 16 Air Assault Brigade in April 2006. Camp Bastion, situated north west of Lashkar Gah is the main British base in Afghanistan and was built that year. In November 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair visited it and while addressing British troops there described it as 'an extraordinary piece of desert, 'where the fate of world security in the early 21st century is going to be decided'.