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83HERC DETACHMENT - CAMEROONSBack in 1988, I was the captain of a Hercules from RAF Lyneham, supporting British troops on an exercise in the Cameroons. The detachment, lasting over three weeks, gave the troops the opportunity to practise their long range navigation techniques over unfamiliar terrain, jungle training, air re-supplies, parachuting, strip procedures and also assisting the local forces. There are several stories from this detachment, but the final exercise was probably the most memorable for the Hercules crew.An exercise was planned with the Cameroon forces who were to defend a military airfield where they were holding hostages. The airfield, although disused, still had a serviceable runway for our use.Our troops were tasked to recover the hostages and, if possible, carry out destruction of the vital locations on the field. This would take place over a period of a week, with the opposing forces not knowing what might happen and when. A plan was formulated, and it was decided that we would drop an advance party of troops into the local area, using a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) Parachute drop.The group would then carry out reconnaissance missions, some days prior to the main assault and recovery phase, and mark out the runway for our landing. The main assault would commence with a tactical landing on the runway, at night, to unload two Land Rovers and troops, who would then link up with the ground party and carry out the hostage rescue. The landing strip would be marked by troops using infra-red devices, either chemical lights or modified torches.Infra-red devices cannot be seen by the naked eye, but are visible to Night Vision Goggles (NVG) up to 5 miles away in good conditions. The phase was planned to coincide with a visible moon, which would greatly enhance the use of our NVG. The tactical strip would be laid near to the end of the runway, using a system called a %u2018box and 2%u2019. The start of the strip would be marked by 2 troops standing 60 feet apart then, 1000 feet further on, another two troops would mark the end of the box, again 60 feet apart. A final two troops would then mark the end of the strip, another 1500