Afghanistan diary - day 4

  • Author, Sima Kotecha
  • Role, Newsbeat US reporter at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan

It's been six months since Newsbeat's Sima Kotecha visited Afghanistan and now she's back at Camp Bastion to see the first of Gordon Brown's promised additional soldiers arrive.

I've been dreaming about a cup of tea for days. Unfortunately the Americans don't do tea so I have had to make do with black coffee.

But for all you chai lovers out there, you'll understand it doesn't quite do the same job.

As soon as we arrived at Camp Bastion (the biggest British military base in Afghanistan), I told an officer I'd love a brew.

In pictures: Inside Camp Bastion

That first sip was heaven, especially in the cold weather we're having out here.

Fine grains of sand were swirling in the cool crisp air. Soldiers were strolling to their tents for some hard-earned sleep after an exhausting day.

New troops

And that's probably what 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh were hoping for too: some kip.

Image source, bbc

Image caption, You wouldn't think you were in Afghanistan looking at the tree

Around 130 of them stepped off the C-130 Hercules Jet on to the Bastion runway as the first load of Gordon Brown's surge.

The prime minister's promised an extra 500 British troops for the war here in Afghanistan.

The soldiers don't have much time to rest though. It's straight to training and then onto the ground alongside the 9,000 British troops already out here.

I sat on the veranda and listened to the V-22 Osprey hovering above.

One whizzed by and minutes later so did another.

It's an impressive display of military might but will it be enough to achieve the coalition's mission here?