Helmand Mission by Richard Doherty

Helmand Mission (Collectible Afghanistan War Account in Dust Jacket)

A Frontline Account of the Royal Irish Battlegroup's 2008 Helmand Tour, by Military Historian Richard Doherty

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Helmand Mission: With The Royal Irish Battlegroup in Afghanistan, 2008
• Author: Richard Doherty
• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Publication Date: 2009
• ISBN-13: 9781848841482
• ISBN-10: 1848841485
• Binding: Publisher's hardcover with illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo hardcover, approximately 235 x 155 mm. Photographs to the back cover.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The illustrated dust jacket is protected by a clear film cover, held with tape at the corners and edges. The jacket shows a small taped tear and creasing at the top front corner, a grey rectangular patch near the bottom left of the front panel, and some bubbling or lifting of the film on the front panel. The jacket spine is intact beneath the film. Condition of the boards beneath the jacket is not described.
• Interior: The text pages are clean and white, with no foxing or markings visible. The binding is tight. A small crease mark is present at the fore-edge of one spread.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, with small tear and creasing at the top front corner, a grey patch at the bottom left of the front and lifting of the clear film on the front panel. Visible wear, roughly Good. Protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Helmand Mission follows the 2008 Afghanistan tour of the 1st Royal Irish Battlegroup, deployed to Helmand province as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade after celebrating St Patrick's Day that year. The account covers the preparation and training for the deployment, including time in Kenya, and the operations that followed.

The battlegroup mentored the Afghan National Army, and one of its companies was attached to 2 PARA at Sangin. The book gives a unit-level view of a modern British infantry deployment, and of the Royal Irish Regiment's part in the Helmand campaign.

Published by Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, the book is a useful companion for collectors of modern military history and regimental accounts of the war in Afghanistan.

Author Profile: Richard Doherty

Richard Doherty, born in Northern Ireland in 1948, is a military historian from Derry. He was educated at St Columb's College, served as an RUC reservist from 1972 to 1974 and also served with the Territorial Army.

He has worked on radio and television series, including The Sons of Ulster. His other works include The Thin Green Line, a history of the RUC GC, In the Ranks of Death, Churchill's Greatest Fear and El Alamein 1942.

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