Back To Bastion: Returning Four Years After British Troops Left Afghanistan | Forces TV 

I'm an Afghan vet of 2 tours. I look back at what l did and experienced in 07 and 09 along with my comrades. l feel now it was all for nothing and wish we'd never got involved. All the fallen and money down the drain, I used to believe...

Its incredible how much can change in a year but in 4 years, from a fully operationally base to now a place of memories and rubble. Frighting.

I was there in a period of 2011/2012 serving as a civilian employee this video wakes up some memories and I feel nostalgic and I will get back there in a hearthbeat.

Afghanistan is grave yard of empires.

I have worked for 4 years outside and inside of Bastion from 2010 to 2014 as an interpreter with British Army. This video refresh my memory in 2020. I remember like yesterday when I was working with the 3th Battalion PARA regiment ( 3 PARA ) in Herrick (13). Heroes Soldiers, SGTs and Officers.

2:30 I was a Navy Corpsman at the Marine Corps base next door (Camp Leatherneck) from 2011-2012, I shuttled critical patients from my Combined Aid Station to the Bastion Role III hospital probably 2-3 times a week, I was on that exact ramp probably 100 times. Crazy to see it totally desolate like that, looks like 28 Days Later.

I served in Helmand when the US army was deployed there in 16-17. I briefly visited Bastion. And it amazes me how much of a ghost town the place is! Almost haunting !

Glad to see all those soldiers died for nothing now that the taliban has regained control.....

“450 men and women who came to this base but never returned “ 😔 .. 💔💔💔💔

It’s a shame such an amazing base just turned into nothing

Was my home for two year straight - Is sad to see that state that the base is in now.

It was like a busy city when I was there in 2012. It’s crazy to see this.

It's weird seeing that coffee shop. I had a cup of coffee in there in 2010 with a buddy of mine before we left for Operation Cobra's Anger. I also came back to Bastion in 2017-18 and did that same mission as the guys in the video. One thing that was really eerie about seeing the base then and now was how quiet it was. Alot of the furthest areas are like stepping into a ghost town.

Reminds me of leaving Vietnam to the South Vietnamese Army.

Fascinating, I always wondered how much of it was left. I've been there 3 times and to see it as empty and abandoned as this years after is bizarre.

Afghanistan is a lost cause. It always has been.

Veteran came on our pod and spoke about Camp Bastion life - said it was an amazing base, like a full town in the middle of the desert

I spent 2 tours there, pounding and driving those roads. I lost 3 good friends out there that didnt come back. And for what. We never should have got involved in that debarkle. Back then you wernt allowed a voice, but now i am a veteran i can freely say this...wasted money, wasted lives and wasted time, time and money that could have been best spent elsewhere.

I used to remember driving our mastiffs there a few times. Was like driving towards Vegas at night. It lit the whole sky up.

Dear Forces TV, as a military channel you should know that Camp Bastion was home of the Danish armed forces as well.

I was part of an US construction team in Afghanistan. I always wondered what the bases look like almost a decade later.

Well done boys, and girls! Proud and greatful to all of you Brave souls.

You did this Afghanistan

i remember leaving bastion for the last time in september 2014...it really changed

Grateful for those who serve past and present never forgetting those who sacrificed all including theirs families 😔 god bless👊 Spare a smile your respect even a spare £€$ to those less fortunate veterans - human beings finding themselves on our streets.

helmend 2009. this is heart breaking to watch.

I remember watching a video of the handover to Afghan troops. The Afghan officer was touring the base with his British counterpart telling him what the Brits were leaving and what they were taking. The Afghan officer was complaining about the Brits not leaving enough expensive items (likely for him to steal and sell) and now look at the state of what they actually left to the lazy Afghans.

I was on leatherneck side. 2010-11 but I remember to many visits to that hospital to see my guys offScary seeing that place again.

It was my home back then 2009 and 2011 doing two tours. When I used to come back from Front line FOBs, used to feel like home in KENT, what a surreal seeing in this condition like lifeless dessert

So much respect for all the armed forces,🙌 and such sorrow for all who died🙇.

I remember that hospital... its so surreal to see it like that.

RIP for my 3 cousins never return home

My brother used to live there! In the danish section called Camp Viking untill he went to the frontline. He said that the entire Camp Bastion was freaking huge and it would have been one of the biggest cities in all of Denmark if it was here.

The IWM should endeavour to take the MERT (Medical Emergency Response Team) memorial shown at 4'05" for conservation and display.

My dad was stationed at Bagram for 6 months. Since he was Air Force, he just did his normal job but in Afghanistan. 6 months of my life, I could only see my dad on Skype. In the end, it was all meaningless, nothing was accomplished. I’m lucky my dad came home but so many weren’t as lucky.

Wow i was last there in 2012. It was full of life.

I'm a Marine who was at Leatherneck for a few weeks. Went to Bastion a few times. Hard to believe the state it is in, hard to believe the state both bases are in.

First time I've seen footage of Bastion since leaving there in 2014. Strange feeling.

4:14 "In memory for those souls Loving Lord, bless them forever in Your eternal peace… Cherish their spirit, honour their commitment, send them our love, and will never forget the service that they gave.”

For better or worse, the military industrial complex at its finest.

I miss for Bastion two years I work.... I miss all my friends

The "DEAD" tag really puts things into perspective. You can spruce it up to feel like home with coffee shops and theatres, but War is still War. So discouraging to know this is still a part of our lives, in an otherwise advanced time.

If the Russians couldn't do it no one can ! ... They were right next door to Afghanistan

Typically ANA commanders have done what they do best. Take for themselves and leave the troops in peril. This was supposed to be the HUB in which operations against the taliban in Helmand would be launched. It’s a shame it’s turned into rubble but that’s what we all thought would happen.

I met a British soldier in Birmingham the second biggest city in UK. I asked him what is the legacy of this war in your personal opinion? He showed me his injured leg "This is the only legacy that I have to live with and many other soldiers for the rest of our lives"

i was stationed at bastion for 6 month its truly was heaven in hell. quite a surreal experience eating kfc in a air conditioned tent in the middle of a war zone.

Just resurfaced all memories of that place. It literally looks like zombie land now. Even you get scared when walking in the aforementioned hospital.

why do we waste money and lives on that place , they won't even help themselves

I was in Bastion 2 in 2009 and 2010. Had a lovely Christmas there for half an hour

I was here 2012 Jan-aug 1st Marine Division Hq battalion Truck Company. I absolutely remember that Pizza Hut trailer.

I didn’t go to the Bastion side much I was at Camp Leatherneck with the US Marines. This makes me feel uneasy seeing everything that was fought for and how it is now.

I loved that place. Spent 18 months of my life there. Can’t believe how ghostly it looks now. My best memories was going on test drives around the perimeter which I did many times and seeing the nearest village, the poppy fields and the occasional camels. Good memories there.

I have been 5 years at camp bastion

Americans get the most grief about leaving in 2021, even though they are the last ones out

This camp was named after my friends family from leeds UK. His family designed the the walls made of sand that protect the base.

WAR......IT'S JUST BUSINESS.

I was in in CampBastion for 7 months during Herrick 13/14... Strange feeling to see it reduced to nothing. Lots of memories, lots of coffee.

A good question is the sense of spending of all these money there instead of investing them in UK?

I was a US Marine stationed at Camp Bastion in 2008. Seeing it empty is bizarre.

"Four hundred and fifty men and women came and never return" that's piercing my heart. Lots of love from India.

I was at LNK back in 2012 and actually worked on Bastion 0 - as well as outside the wire - and I remember all of these places. I was just telling my wife about the pizza at Ciano's, and then this popped into my feed.

' special honor and salute to americans / britishs militarys services

I was there and remember these places. Eerie to see it all gone now. Came home in 2013. It was camp bastion and on the American side it was camp leatherneck.

having been to some of those buildings and canteens it makes me feel a bit sick seeing this video. the lives we lost, what a waste.

I did a tour here in the RAF looking after Apache and Chinook stuff, time split between Bastion and KAF. Spent a bit of time around the MERT AC, watching them come and go with casualties etc Then after my tour I got back to my home base of DMRC Headley Court where I worked in the workshops making prosthetic limbs. I look back on that time as an experience and Im glad I did it but what was achieved ? Loads of people killed, and literally hundreds (the ones we rarely hear about ) with limbs blown off. For nothing. This video brings back some memories for sure !

Afghanistan: Receives a £50 million military base/air port the size of a town. Afghanistan: Don't like it, smells of tea...just gonna leave it here

Heartbreaking to see it lying in such ruins, feel like left a large part of myself there

Really like forces tv. Served for, about, 20 years (not In the British Armed Forces) and been very intrested In Military matters since the age of ten. Forces tv :the very best "show" about diverse, Military "stuff"that I've seen.Really, really good.

i watched this on *2020 Feb 29 Saturday* just after watching the deal signing ceremony b/w US and Taliban. Really feels like this world is a stage and we are all actors.

Memories oh Memories

So strange watching this. To think I once knew that place like the back of my hand. Wouldn't have a clue where I'm driving if I went there now with most of it knocked down.

I did two deployments out of there. Sent many of my US Marines to that hospital. Insane to see now.

Rest in peace my brothers and sisters.

Amazed it hasn’t been stripped by the locals.

It's sad most people never understand it's all about the money.

i lost my uncle who was a construction worker building this camp in 2006 Taliban attacked their vehicle ;( :( :(

Should have turned it into a British colony.

Not too late to destroy whatever powerful weapons left behind.

Looks like an apology for East London... Not a Brit to be seen for many miles

Will never forget bastion

The Brits give the Afghans a 50m pound base and the Afghan strip it and leave it unoccupied lol.

Rip Sgt Balduf, some gave a little but he gave it all. Semper fi. Love to you Brits from America.

I feel like im back in KAF. 09-10 for myself. I can feel the heat as you walk around. I miss it to be honest, I absolutely loved my time over there and felt useful.

Thats what everything is like over there. The only two places that will be left in Afghanistan will be BAF and KAF

Lest we forget, and I never will.

We should never have gone. So much life lost for a disgusting country and people who did not and do not want us or our help.

Should ship the refugees to there, and get the afghans to protect them. Instead of allowing them into the UK, where the taliban can infiltrate.

It's an eerie sight. Not an old ruin, but very much abandoned. Maybe because it is such a recent ruin, it is more poignant. No beauty, just desolate.

What a waste of western tax dollars.

Aged like a fine wine

Man, Bastion was like a metropolis. I was on Payne in 09. I liked Payne better. . .way less people and basically still no stupid rules. 😂 Cheers to everyone who's been over to that neck of the woods.

Human Beings truly are amazing when they put their minds to something.

50,000 people used to live here.....

Spent a year in KAF over 3 deployments and I must say the similarities of the bases are insane. What is sad are the details of the good we did over there and how no one talks?talked about the setting up of schools, hospitals/medical centres, paving roads, building bridges, training ANA and their Police etc. It's just a shame that it has all gone downhill since we withdrew, as Afghani's are some of the nicest people I've met and we both share a dislike for the Taliban.

Even the British personnel are still going on tours to Afghanistan as we speak.

I still remember thinking that coffee shop was a pub, when I was going to the PX next door. I also remember seeing some pretty ladies outside that trailer when it was a dominoes. I assumed they were medical personnel by the uniforms.

" you may have watches but we have the time"

Bastion: Checked Bonstrill: Next

respect too all the soldiers from the UK and all other countries that served in afghanistan, and rest in peace to them who never had returned, from austria

It's still a chance for the US to get out of Afghanistan. (🇵🇰💗🇺🇸)