Fitaloon at MicroShaft

Always and Forever

The MOD reports that another Royal Marine from 40 Commando has been killed in Sangin, Afghanistan.

The MOD has this:

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a Royal Marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines serving as part of Combined Forces Sangin, Helmand was killed in Afghanistan yesterday, Wednesday 26 May 2010.

My thoughts are with his family and friends on this sad day.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | Royal Marine killed in Helmand.

Always and Forever

Sadly news of the death of a further Soldier in Afghanistan has been announced today by the MOD:

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a soldier from 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, serving as part of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (South), was killed in Helmand today, Wednesday 26 May 2010.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | Soldier from 4th Regiment Royal Artillery killed in Afghanistan.

Col Seddon said it takes six years to fully train a specialist operator

This is very disturbing news and shows how desperate we are in Afghanistan for certain skills.  The BBC has this

The Army’s top bomb disposal officer has resigned, the MoD has said.

The BBC understands from army sources that Colonel Bob Seddon, of the Royal Logistic Corps, quit over fears bomb disposal training could be compromised.

There has been pressure on the Army to produce more bomb-disposal experts quickly as a result of the threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

According to the BBC the MOD admits how stretched the resources are. Panorma will have a feature on this at 8:3o tonight,

In a statement to the BBC, the MoD admitted guidelines for rest periods and the length of tours had been broken in Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately at a time of high operational commitment, breaches of harmony guidelines do occur but we are taking steps to address the situation.”

New defence secretary Liam Fox, who visited Afghanistan this weekend, said he would make sure everything possible was done to ensure that British forces had what they needed to deal with the “indiscriminate threat from IEDs”.

Panorama: A Very British Hero, BBC One, Monday 24 May at 2030 BST

via BBC News – Top army bomb squad officer Col Bob Seddon resigns.

Always and Forever

Sadly  a Royal Marine from 40 Commando has been killed in Sangin, Afghanistan. The MOD has this:

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a Royal Marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines, serving as part of Combined Force Sangin, was killed in Afghanistan today, Friday 21 May 2010.

The Royal Marine was killed in an explosion that happened near Patrol Base Almas, in Sangin, Helmand province, this morning.

He was conducting a joint foot patrol with the Afghan National Army to reassure and improve the security for the local population in the area when the incident took place.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, said:

“It is my sad duty to inform you that a Marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines was killed by an explosion this morning in Sangin.

“He was conducting reassurance operations with the Afghan National Army when he was struck by an explosion.

“He died a Marine, doing his duty alongside his British and Afghan comrades. His actions will not be forgotten and we will always remember him.”

Next of kin have been informed and have asked for a period of grace before further details are released.

My thoughts are with his family and friends on this sad day.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | Royal Marine killed in Sangin.

The Defence Secretary said that as well as conducting the review, his priority was to ensure troops in Afghanistan were well equipped.

“We’re all concerned about the political excitement here but we have to remember that in Afghanistan our armed forces are involved in a very brutal and bloody war and we have to ensure that they have everything they need to do the job that we have asked them to do in our name,” he said. “So the number one priority has to be to look after our armed forces,” he said.

“There will be a number of challenges because the time I spent working as a doctor with the armed forces taught me that it’s not just about our frontline forces themselves, it’s also about the families. And we have to pay more attention to service families and their needs as we also have to do with service veterans. I think that in this country we need to treat our veterans in the way that the best of other countries treat their veterans.”

Fox also added that the coalition government arrangement with the Liberal Democrats would allow the Trident replacement programme go ahead.

“We’ve got a very clear agreement that we will continue with the nuclear deterrent. The Liberals have said that they would like to look at what other alternatives in terms of costs of the nuclear deterrent will be. I will certainly want to scrutinise the cost of the Trident replacement programme but the ultimate responsibility is to keep Britain safe and protect the generations of the future from whatever threats may emerge in a dangerous world.

“We cannot play fast and loose with the country’s security and we will not.”

Fox: defence review is under way – Defence Management.