In April 2006, the elite 3 Para battlegroup was despatched to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan They were tasked with providing security to reconstruction efforts, a deployment it was hoped would pass off without a shot being fired However, around parched, dusty outposts reliant on a limited number of helicopters for food and ammunition resupply, troops were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks, as well as energy-sapping 50 degree heat and spartan conditions