UK casualties in Afghanistan

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by dbf, Jun 8, 2008.

  1. Stormbird

    Stormbird Restless

  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    A soldier who refused to return to Afghanistan because he opposes the war has been jailed after admitting going absent without leave (Awol).

    L/Cpl Joe Glenton, 27, from York, joined the Army in 2004 but absconded in 2007 after serving with the Royal Logistic Corps in Afghanistan.

    He handed himself in after two years and six days' absence.
    Glenton, based in Oxfordshire, was jailed for nine months in Colchester and reduced to the rank of private.

    The court martial was told that Glenton, who later campaigned against the conflict, was discovered to be absent on 11 June 2007, when he was due to return to Dalton Barracks in Abingdon.

    He returned to barracks 737 days later on 16 June 2009, when he was charged.

    During that time Glenton went to south-east Asia and Australia.
    He had previously performed a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

    When he returned he was ordered to go back to the conflict zone.
    Nick Wrack, in mitigation, told the court martial that this was nine months after his previous tour had finished, even though military guidelines suggest soldiers should not be deployed again within 18 months.

    Mr Wrack said Glenton had suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his first tour of duty.

    'Coward and malingerer'
    He told the court that when Glenton raised concerns about going back he suffered bullying.

    "When he first raised with his staff sergeant his reluctance to be deployed again, instead of being dealt with in a sensible way, it resulted in the sergeant at the time bullying and intimidating L/Cpl Glenton," he said.

    "He was called a coward and a malingerer.

    "When this information was brought to his commanding officer, the sergeant was spoken to, but this reinforced the bullying."
    Consultant psychiatrist Lars Davidsson told the court Glenton may have reacted the way he did because of PTSD.

    Glenton took part in an anti-war protest in October last year.
    After the hearing a spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition said: "Joe Glenton is not the person who should be facing a jail sentence.

    "It should be the politicians who have led us into disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

    His mother, Sue Glenton, said: "I am extremely angry. The court barely paid lip service to justice.

    "The judge clearly didn't listen to the arguments or if she did she ignored them. The lawyers are considering an appeal.

    "The Ministry of Defence will be hearing a lot more from me."

    BBC News - Anti-Afghan War Awol soldier Joe Glenton jailed
     
  3. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Soldier 'threw back hand grenade'

    Rifleman James McKie: "I dived forward, picked up the grenade and threw it off the roof"
    By Caroline Wyatt BBC Defence correspondent

    A British soldier has described how he picked up a Taliban hand grenade which landed at his feet and threw it back towards the enemy.

    Rifleman James McKie was on a tiny rooftop in Sangin. He and two of his platoon could hear the bullets fired by the Taliban below bouncing off the roof.

    The 29-year-old soldier had just finished firing back when the grenade thrown by the insurgents bounced off his platoon commander and landed just a foot away from him.
    He heard a small pop, "like a fire-cracker", before he saw the grenade land.

    The young soldier, originally from New Zealand, made a split-second decision that was to save his life and those of his two comrades on that roof. He picked up the grenade, and threw it back.

    "I saw the grenade, and my first thought was that I knew I had to get it away from us. And my second was 'I hope this doesn't hurt too much'," he says, with a wry smile.

    "As I picked it up, my thoughts were for the other guys with me - Capt Graeme Kerr and Rifleman Holtman. We had lost Cpl Green the day before.

    "I didn't want to go through that again, and I wasn't prepared to see another guy from our platoon get hurt. I'd rather that it was myself than someone else. So I got my body behind the grenade and managed to throw it off."

    More here
    BBC News - Soldier 'threw back hand grenade'
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Error - I was stating the obvious.
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    BBC News - George Cross for Army Afghanistan bomb heroes


    Two Army bomb disposal experts have been awarded the George Cross for their heroics in Afghanistan.
    A posthumous honour goes to Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, 30, who made safe 70 devices before his death in October while defusing a bomb near Sangin.

    The GC, one of the UK's highest awards for gallantry, was also conferred on his comrade in the Royal Logistic Corps, Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes, 30.
     
  6. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    BBC News - George Cross for Army Afghanistan bomb heroes


    Two Army bomb disposal experts have been awarded the George Cross for their heroics in Afghanistan.
    A posthumous honour goes to Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, 30, who made safe 70 devices before his death in October while defusing a bomb near Sangin.

    The GC, one of the UK's highest awards for gallantry, was also conferred on his comrade in the Royal Logistic Corps, Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes, 30.


    Excellent news.
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Indeed albeit belated mate.
     
  8. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    Indeed albeit belated mate.

    Yes but better late than never.
    Hurt Locker is still no oscar winner in my book. But big balls to do that job.
     
  9. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Liar

    May they rest in peace, and god bless them and theyre families.... from a Fellow operation Iraqi freedom and Enduring freedom vet, And an American soldier
     
  10. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

  11. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  12. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Liar

  13. Stormbird

    Stormbird Restless

    My own country's death toll is only 5 so far.
    What disgusts me, is Norwegian politicians' refusal to send more troops AND to send them to hotter areas. RCN, Farayab especially, being the most quiet part of the country.
     
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    My own country's death toll is only 5 so far.
    What disgusts me, is Norwegian politicians' refusal to send more troops AND to send them to hotter areas. RCN, Farayab especially, being the most quiet part of the country.

    At least your country is there, if they weren't, one of the other countries would have to find troops to do the same job. So something is always better than nothing :)
     
  15. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Liar

    The link I provided is from ISAF. And always updated you can also find the falllens service, and limited personell information as well... That is one list i hope does not get larger
     
  16. Jakob Kjaersgaard

    Jakob Kjaersgaard Senior Member

    The link I provided is from ISAF. And always updated you can also find the falllens service, and limited personell information as well... That is one list i hope does not get larger

    Thanks for posting that.

    Scary how many IED casualties there really are...
     
  17. Stormbird

    Stormbird Restless

    At least your country is there, if they weren't, one of the other countries would have to find troops to do the same job. So something is always better than nothing :)

    Thank you.
     
  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  19. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

  20. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Another 1,282 UK military and civilian personnel have been wounded in action since 2006, including about 388 who suffered serious or life-threatening injuries. Of those, 120 lost limbs.

    The Ministry of Defence has no clear record of how many casualties there were before then, although statistics show 10 were seriously hurt.


    BBC News
     

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