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Col Richard Pickup
Colonel Richard Pickup, who has died aged 48, was the Royal Marine who
commanded the Special Boat Service and led the task force which spearheaded the British campaign in Afghanistan after attack on the twin towers of September 11 2001.
Last Updated: 8:02PM BST 11 May 2009
Colonel Richard Pickup
The British government's response to 9/11 was to launch Operation Veritas,
an attempt to deny al-Qaeda its Afghan base. Two months later Pickup was in the leading aircraft which landed unannounced at the former Soviet airbase in Bagram, which was being strongly contested by thousands of government fighters and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, led by Uzbek warlords.
Although vastly outnumbered, Pickup and his 100 men held on for a day and a night. This infuriated both contending armies, who were insulted by a fourth British invasion in two centuries; it also exasperated the American army's large Delta Force, which had planned to arrive first.
In this extremely tense atmosphere Pickup ordered reconnaissance patrols to ensure the safety of follow-on forces, and imposed his authority on the
local Afghan commanders, thus allowing the first significant coalition
foothold to be established.
After 36 hours Pickup was relieved by Royal Marines of 45 Commando in the
1,700-strong Task Force Jacana, which was charged with checking al-Qaeda's movement throughout eastern Afghanistan.
Pickup later commanded an SBS task force in a counter-insurgency campaign.
The trust he had engendered among Afghan tribal leaders proved crucial in
persuading them to take the first faltering steps towards peace and
stability. For this he was appointed CBE.
In the two years he commanded the SBS, Pickup relentlessly advanced its role as the Royal Navy's major contribution to UK Special Forces (UKSF). He installed renewed ambition and sense of purpose in the SBS, obtaining for it an official cap badge, with a dagger on two undulating blue lines, in place of its unofficial emblem of frog, paddles and parachute.
Richard Allan Pickup was born in Yorkshire on November 7 1960 and read
Biochemistry at Newcastle University. Wanting adventure, he joined the
marines in 1983 and was awarded the Sword of Honour at Lympstone.
His first operational tour was six months in South Armagh. But the routine
of Northern Ireland deployments and Arctic training eventually palled, and
in 1986 he volunteered for the demanding selection process for the SBS. Once again he passed out top, becoming the first officer to win the Coke Snelson
trophy.
As an SBS officer Pickup came into his own. He worked hard and played hard.
After an arduous two months in a Far Eastern jungle, and with only hours to go before an early morning flight back to Britain, he challenged his
officers and men to a pre-dawn rickshaw race round the local town.
When an Australian SAS NCO attached to his unit came close to hypothermia
after a parachute drop into the sea, Pickup gave him his protective
clothing. "Well, he's only an Aussie," he told his men, "and, after all, I'm
a Tyke."
After various staff appointments, Pickup realised his ambition of commanding
the SBS in 2000. He spent the rest of his career within UKSF, including two
years in Washington as special operations liaison officer during the
planning and conduct of the Second Gulf War.
In 2004 he was appointed commander of the British forces in Kosovo for a
six-month tour. More recently, he was Commander, Special Forces Support
Group, establishing and then leading a new UKSF unit to go anywhere in the
world.
He also returned to Afghanistan in another appointment. He retained his
immense respect for its implacable people.
Richard Pickup had been in a new, more relaxed, post * as a defence adviser
in Pretoria * for only three weeks when he died, apparently of a heart
attack, on March 20. He leaves a wife, Sharon, and two sons and a daughter.
Colonel Richard Pickup, who has died aged 48, was the Royal Marine who
commanded the Special Boat Service and led the task force which spearheaded the British campaign in Afghanistan after attack on the twin towers of September 11 2001.
Last Updated: 8:02PM BST 11 May 2009
Colonel Richard Pickup
The British government's response to 9/11 was to launch Operation Veritas,
an attempt to deny al-Qaeda its Afghan base. Two months later Pickup was in the leading aircraft which landed unannounced at the former Soviet airbase in Bagram, which was being strongly contested by thousands of government fighters and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, led by Uzbek warlords.
Although vastly outnumbered, Pickup and his 100 men held on for a day and a night. This infuriated both contending armies, who were insulted by a fourth British invasion in two centuries; it also exasperated the American army's large Delta Force, which had planned to arrive first.
In this extremely tense atmosphere Pickup ordered reconnaissance patrols to ensure the safety of follow-on forces, and imposed his authority on the
local Afghan commanders, thus allowing the first significant coalition
foothold to be established.
After 36 hours Pickup was relieved by Royal Marines of 45 Commando in the
1,700-strong Task Force Jacana, which was charged with checking al-Qaeda's movement throughout eastern Afghanistan.
Pickup later commanded an SBS task force in a counter-insurgency campaign.
The trust he had engendered among Afghan tribal leaders proved crucial in
persuading them to take the first faltering steps towards peace and
stability. For this he was appointed CBE.
In the two years he commanded the SBS, Pickup relentlessly advanced its role as the Royal Navy's major contribution to UK Special Forces (UKSF). He installed renewed ambition and sense of purpose in the SBS, obtaining for it an official cap badge, with a dagger on two undulating blue lines, in place of its unofficial emblem of frog, paddles and parachute.
Richard Allan Pickup was born in Yorkshire on November 7 1960 and read
Biochemistry at Newcastle University. Wanting adventure, he joined the
marines in 1983 and was awarded the Sword of Honour at Lympstone.
His first operational tour was six months in South Armagh. But the routine
of Northern Ireland deployments and Arctic training eventually palled, and
in 1986 he volunteered for the demanding selection process for the SBS. Once again he passed out top, becoming the first officer to win the Coke Snelson
trophy.
As an SBS officer Pickup came into his own. He worked hard and played hard.
After an arduous two months in a Far Eastern jungle, and with only hours to go before an early morning flight back to Britain, he challenged his
officers and men to a pre-dawn rickshaw race round the local town.
When an Australian SAS NCO attached to his unit came close to hypothermia
after a parachute drop into the sea, Pickup gave him his protective
clothing. "Well, he's only an Aussie," he told his men, "and, after all, I'm
a Tyke."
After various staff appointments, Pickup realised his ambition of commanding
the SBS in 2000. He spent the rest of his career within UKSF, including two
years in Washington as special operations liaison officer during the
planning and conduct of the Second Gulf War.
In 2004 he was appointed commander of the British forces in Kosovo for a
six-month tour. More recently, he was Commander, Special Forces Support
Group, establishing and then leading a new UKSF unit to go anywhere in the
world.
He also returned to Afghanistan in another appointment. He retained his
immense respect for its implacable people.
Richard Pickup had been in a new, more relaxed, post * as a defence adviser
in Pretoria * for only three weeks when he died, apparently of a heart
attack, on March 20. He leaves a wife, Sharon, and two sons and a daughter.
