But, the men of 3 Squadron RAF Regiment weren't here to admire the view. They were here to stop suicide bombers.

We were parked on a flat bank overlooking the arrow-straight canal and a string of ragged buildings either side of Highway 4, the main route to Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban.

Only 24 hours earlier, a suicide bomber had blown himself up at an Afghan National Police checkpoint two miles south of our position.

As he ran towards the checkpoint, he pulled back a sheet revealing a grenade and was shot by Afghan police.

The bomber had time to detonate the grenade, but, fortunately, the resulting explosion did not injure others.

Read more of Jonny's reports from Kandahar:
Our Man in Afghanistan - peterboroughtoday.co.uk/kandahar
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If the local reaction was anything to go by, a suicide bomber was as normal an occurrence in Afghanistan as a road traffic accident is in the UK.

Had a suicide bomber struck in Peterborough, "pandemonium" as one gunner put it would have ensued. The area would have been cordoned off for days with men in white suits poring over the scene.

Here, the road was re-opened shortly after and the remains of the man lay by the roadside in full view of road-users for several hours before it was eventually removed.

A day after the suicide bomber struck, it was the job of 3 Squadron to protect a convoy of oil tankers moving south to Kandahar Airfield from Forward Operating Base Wilson.

Our vehicle was parked to face the junction of two highways, with Senior Aircraftman (SAC) Louis Whitehouse and SAC Steve Evans sitting in the front, and SAC Chris Davey on top of the vehicle.

To our left was a second vehicle, parked at an angle to survey traffic as it rumbled south towards Kandahar Airfield.

Behind us, snipers were positioned on the summit of a 1,200m-high mountain.

All eyes were focused on the road, concentrating, looking out for anything unusual – a man on a mobile phone, someone loitering close to the junction, or a vehicle that matched that of a suspected suicide bomber.

We waited under the scorching sun, the temperature rising to 40C. One hour, then two and three. It reminded me of an old saying that war is 90 per cent boredom, 10 per cent terror.

The challenge is to remain focused, so when the unexpected happens – and it will happen – you are ready to react without hesitation.

At last, the convoy came into view, a trio of armoured vehicles followed by 10 tankers.

It wasn't as a result of luck that a suicide bomber didn't strike. It was a result of careful preparation, of a job well done.

It is a job that 3 Squadron have been doing for the last five months.