As the war in Afghanistan enters its final chapter, Sean Smith's brutal, uncompromising film from the Helmand frontline shows the horrific chaos of a stalemate that is taking its toll in blood. Warning: contains distressing scenes and strong language.
Here are two South African Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) The Ratel and the Caspir. I was wondering how these vehicles would stand up to the terrain and I.e.ds of Afghanistan? I would assume they would be slightly cheaper to make than those British vehicles in theatre at the moment, but as for whether they would withstand an IED that’s a question you sometimes don’t want to find out.
The Daily Telegraph's Thomas Harding is the first British journalist to visit Sangin for three months. Upon leaving a market on a routine patrol with Charlie Company, 40 Commando Royal Marines, he came under fire from the Taliban. For a moment you could hear the wind gently rustling the trees and the pigeons cooing in the branches where they hid from the relentless sun. The paused moment of idyll was broken by gunfire cutting into the trees above us this time from the high ground to our left that complimented the growing number of shots to our left. The only thing we could thank the Taliban for was forcing us into a waist-deep irrigation canal whose cool waters soothed sweating bodies as the thermometer marched relentlessly towards 50C long before the sun reached its zenith. The gunbattle that ensued was just another morning of strange normality for the people of Sangin. But it is a dangerous normality for the Royal Marines of 40 Commando who venture onto the streets and footpaths of Sangin dozens of times each day. Already 11 have been killed in the 1,400 strong battlegroup almost three months into their tour with another 30 injured either by small arms fire or more usually by the Taliban’s sophisticated IED (improvised explosive device) network. On patrol eyes have to be not only on the next treeline and a potential insurgent gun emplacement but also focused on the ground immediately under your feet.
It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a soldier from 36 Engineer Regiment was killed in Afghanistan on Monday 26 July 2010. The soldier, serving as part of the Counter-IED Task Force, was killed in an explosion in the Sangin area of Helmand province.HERE RIP
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
Britain mourns for her dead across the sea.
Those that have never experienced War will always think War a good idea,
Tony McNally
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The Union flag does not fly because the wind moves past it. The Union flag flies from the last breath of each military member who has died protecting it. British servicemen and women don't fight because they hate what's in front of them...they fight because they love what's behind them.
A quarter of homeless people are ex-services and 5,000 former service personnel are in prison.
The Red Poppy Company.
Did you know that each year an average of ten Falklands veterans commit suicide, this means that more soldiers have killed themselves since the end of that war than the fewer than two hundred and fifty eight who died during it.
(Source: Times cover story 12/11/02)
A "tsunami" of mental health problems resulting from the war in Iraq is "headed our way," - -
