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Dusk on the Khost to Gardez highway and members of US Army 1438th bridge building company
are in a fight against the clock. They're responding to an SOS call. A monsoon
storm has washed away the only bridge into the Salerno bowl, leaving coalition bases
in Paktia Province isolated. They're also fighting a losing battle with
the light. That morning 1438th had been greeted by washed
out roads and the wrecked bridge. "The rains were very strong, and the flood
huge. "One person was on the bridge as it was swept
away, the water took him with it." The combat engineers waste no time in moving
in the earth-shifters. The operation is important; within days this trickling stream could once
again turn into a torrent. Their mission is to install a steel Mabey-Johnson
bridge. It's an operation which has been carried out in countless military campaigns since
the Second World War, based on the design of the British Bailey Bridge.
"Sappers have now completed a Bailey bridge across the Thames."
But while the bridge is a tried and tested design, the technology is simple. Bridges
don't build themselves and the work is gruelling. Local traffic is routed through the riverbed
as the bridge builders work in the heat. But day fast turns to night in the mountains of
eastern Afghanistan, bringing with it a whole new set of dangers.
"This is actually the biggest threat we've ever had as far as building bridges. The brief
we've got is there is a lot of insurgents in the area who don't necessarily like coalition
forces over here." In the hill above them a sniper team from
506/101st Airborne prepare top cover. They're watching for insurgents coming through neighbouring
valleys. Resources are ploughed into keeping the combat
engineers safe. Over 30km away long-range artillerymen launch infrared rounds to illuminate
the building site. The huge show of force also boosts morale
at the bridging site, rolling night back into day.
2am on the building site. Disaster strikes. An ISAF armoured vehicle rolls down the riverbank
and the crew is still inside. The construction team rush to help the stricken soldiers from
their hatches. "Everyone's safe and no-one is injured. That's
the first and most important thing and then now it's the recovery of sensitive items,
which is what we're doing now." With a crisis averted, the engineers get back
to work. The Mabey-Johnson bridge build at Lakah Tizah
in Paktia ended up taking the engineering team 90 hours on the site, occupying the combined
efforts of two ISAF regional commands. As for the overturned armoured vehicle, it
was recovered the next morning. No members of the crew were injured in the roll.