Operation Certain Death

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Although they only had to travel eleven miles towards Punta Arenas this had to be done under cover of darkness, while keeping an eye out for hostile forces. One of his deployments was in the Falklands War, as a pilot which involved taking SAS and SBS patrols to the Falkland Islands and Argentine mainland. The British media struck a celebratory note at the success of Operation Barras, but some suggested that Marshall had erred in diverting the patrol off the main road to visit the West Side Boys.

The committee is named after the room in which it meets—the Cabinet Office Briefing Room—and usually known as "COBRA" or "Cobra" or sometimes "COBR".There was an armed soldier standing outside and he watched us walking up the road and he watched us walk by and he didn't bat an eyelid - I couldn't believe the complacency and lack of awareness," said Richard.

Operational security was tight throughout the preparations for Operation Barras—even the negotiating team were not informed that the operation was going to take place. On 25 August 2000, a patrol led by Major Allan Marshall consisting of 11 men from the 1 R IRISH and an official from the Sierra Leone Army acting as interpreter, Lieutenant Musa Bangura, left their base in Waterloo to visit Jordanian peacekeepers attached to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and based at Masiaka. Media reported that the gang's drug habits also posed a problem for the British negotiators as their cannabis use allegedly caused them to forget previous discussions and the cocaine made them distrustful. This only spurred Phil on, leaving him "absolutely furious" and desperate to get his hands on anyone in sight.I couldn't believe it, I said to him 'No, we're from the British ship in the port,' and he said, 'There is no British ship in the port, please get into my car,' and he drove us into base.