British troops behind the front lines in Afghanistan

Over two years ago I met Alex Rawlins, an enigmatic guitar playing platoon commander off to fight in Afghanistan. Inspired I pitch the idea to the BBC of telling the story of the conflict using videos shot by soldiers themselves. I was initially turned down but it was too good an opportunity to miss, so I bought Alex a camera and off he went.

I wanted the platoon to tell their own story but to help them I sellotaped a mass of tiny post-it-notes all over the camera to prompt who ever was holding it to ask proper questions and then for the next few months I sent them a number of encouraging and often pestering emails ("quit using the night vision in the daytime", "stop tromboning the zoom"...."tell me what an earth you are doing..."). It paid off as every week they sent me a new tape and now after two years of endless negotiations I am pleased to say the footage makes up the majority of the second documentary in the award winning BBC series 'Our War' - The Invisible Enemy'

bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01175hg

The rough edit shown here is the initial cut of the footage that Alex Rawlins sent back from Afghanistan and led to the BBC's 'Invisible Enemy' documentary getting underway.

It's the story of a young platoon from the Grenadier Guards and their struggle with land mines, also known as Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Captain Alex Rawlins filmed his men during a time when they lost of one their good mates, 20 year-old Guardsman Jamie Janes, who stood on a land mine during a patrol. The final film (not shown here) shows how Jamie Janes's death became a turning point in the British public's awareness of the human cost of IEDs and how a misspelled letter turned into a political storm for the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. My sincere condolences go to the family and friends of Jamie.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011x1hl

www.samfarmar.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• banter
• british army
• patrol
• incoming
• www.samfarmar.com
• platoon
• MOD
• war
• afghanistan
• Alex Rawlins
• Jamie Janes
• British army
• IED
• BBC
• Our War
• sam farmar
• Gordon Brown
• invisible enemy

[vfffffvfvfv]

</3

[hotredhandluke1]

Bring our boys home,and nuke them,

[ozcarjamezz]

RIP jamie janes

[sh4dy49]

I didn't expect that someone die, that's sad, when you see someone earlier and he talks like everyone and then, you find out that he died. What shall I say? My condolences to family, friends .

[heartbroken870]

i can't put into words just how much i love and miss you my darling Jamie xxxxxx

[heartbroken870]

Rest in perfect peace my brave hero Jamie xxx FOREVER YOUNG MY DARLING SON XXX

[heartbroken870]

@samfarmar 16-05-89 is my son's date of birth....

[heartbroken870]

@wardythethird FOREVER YOUNG MY BRAVE YOUNG SON X

[wardythethird]

R.I.P JAMIE - FOREVER YOUNG

[tombone3]

Did u just use the our war footage or this going to be a docu?