One minute they were talking about Fergie, the next minute A Company, 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment came under fire from the Taleban.
This video captures the moment gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades rained down on the troops as they patrolled a river bed they had cleared of Improvised explosive devices the day before.
The soldiers were on a joint patrol with their Afghan counterparts when they came under fire last Sunday.
As the gunshots start, seemingly from nowhere, the soldiers can be seen to scramble to the side of a building as one man shouts “Back up! Back up!” repeatedly.
Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Ian Atkins, said: “We were caught out in the open and it was a bit of a scramble to get the guys into cover.
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“Some of the firing was pretty accurate. The bullets were going past your head, around people’s feet.
“Once we got into cover it wasn’t too bad and we started to get some suppressing fire down onto the enemy position.”
Private Chris O’Callaghan said: “We could see the splash marks around our feet. You just go back to your training and your drills. It’s just a natural reaction, get cover, see what you can do to fire back.
“When you’re going through it you don’t think about it all.”
Some of the Afghan National Army (ANA) were on the other side of the open ground. The British soldiers threw smoke grenades and Lt Atkins ran across to their position. A bullet had gone through the hand of one of the Afghan soldiers so he called for a medic.
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At this point Army medic Lance Corporal Michael MacDiarmid, of 1 Royal Horse Artillery, dashed across the opening.
When he reached the casualty he found that his Afghan colleagues had already treated him, proving that they had learned from the training he had provided earlier in the tour.
The casualty was eventually driven off in the back of a Mastiff and flown to the field hospital at Camp Bastion.
The insurgents, who had been using small holes to fire through, melted back into the surroundings.
Lt Atkins said: “I was happy with my guys, I was happy with the ANA as well.
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“The ANA were very good, as soon as they got in contact they reacted properly, they got down good suppressing fire onto the enemy.
“A few RPGs that they fired hit the enemy position bang on. The enemy were very lucky not to take a casualty because the RPG landed within a few feet of their position.”
There are a series of check points and patrol bases on the short stretch of road from Sangin to Waterloo.
Coalition forces attempt to dominate the ground by watching over the area and going out on patrol.
But Taleban insurgents are still able to lay explsoves within a few hundred metres of the bases.
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In one instance the insurgents left a bomb in the body of dead cow at the side of the road.
Lt Atkins, 27, from Taylor Hill, Huddersfield, said: “The locals who live next to the patrol bases and the road are very helpful and will give us information.
“But where there are less patrols bases and we have less control, the locals still like to see us, but they see the Taleban just as much, so they are afraid to help us.
“The only way to get rid of the Taleban is to get the locals to help us.
“If every time the Taleban planted an IED someone came and told us where it was they would have no chance.”