Belfast Telegraph: May God help our soldiers

March 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Feb
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Afghanistan has shown us the true horror of war

By Gail Walker
Tuesday, 14 July 2009

It’s probably true that the recent escalation in the death toll among British troops in Afghanistan has brought home to a new generation the true cost of war.

Of course, for the many families of dead servicemen over the last 40 years — picked off in ones and twos in various conflicts, not least our own, with the occasional multi-casualty event — no reminder of what people like to call ‘the grim reality’ was needed. It’s been there every day in photos on the mantelpiece, in the faces of children growing up without mummies and daddies.

But the flurry of deaths in recent weeks — 15 soldiers in 10 days in southern Afghanistan, taking the number of British troops killed since the start of operations in October 2001 to 184, surpassing the total who died in the Iraq war — has certainly brought the horror of it all home. We are at war. And this is what it looks like.

Until recently, Afghanistan was The Nice War. Though there was unease among US-haters (who still haven’t come to terms with the uncomfortable fact Obama is an American), one didn’t find liberal ranters quite so vociferous about the multinational effort to oust the Taliban and restore democracy to a country ravaged by retarded, misogynistic, pseudo-religious tribalism.

They didn’t like it; but Iraq was easier to bleat about and, as they’ve difficulty with issues too complicated to be summed up on a placard, they left Afghanistan alone. Now, though, with the hated US-inspired strategy of the Surge having been successful in Iraq, the consequent upping of the stakes in Afghanistan has led to the Lib Dems breaking the consensus among political parties. And the mood has arisen that something is wrong in the way the war is being handled simply because British soldiers are dying in it.

Sadly, that’s what soldiers are for. They know that better than anyone. That doesn’t mean they’re not important individually as citizens, and as members of families and communities right across Britain and Ireland, north and south, and further afield.

And the memory of those who die is cherished in all those places, one hopes; but certainly in the battalions and units and regiments in which they served.

But part of their job is to die. It’s a hard thing. Probably the hardest of all. It is easier, perhaps, to identify the value to the rest of us of the sacrifice in the Fire Service, RNLI or other rescue services. Or the police when they suffer losses in the cause of protecting us from murderous attack.

With the Armed Forces, though, it’s harder to see the immediate relevance of far-off lands. Maybe that’s because there is no immediate relevance, but that doesn’t mean there is none.

Maybe too the reputation of soldiers works against them. That macho, slap-happy image which gets them banned from town centres across Britain has fuelled a centuries-old prejudice which has led to a very uneasy truce between civilians and the uniform.

But these are the days when the Armed Forces are tested. And it’s absolutely the case that, when action has been needed to defend an embattled population against repressive, random and anarchic medievalism, and engage with serious and seriously-armed forces, in tandem with our coalition allies, our armed forces are not being found wanting.

Our forces are nearing full strength for the first time in a generation. In the six months to March 31 this year, recruitment rose by 14% compared with 2007/8. Over a 12-month period, almost 23,000 new soldiers joined up. Young people are responding to the challenge of careers and values the armed services presents to them.

You see, it’s one thing to bleat about demagogues in Zimbabwe, Cuba or Sudan, and to call for action to oust political leaders too right-wing or too left-wing or just not nice enough to women or unions or wildlife. It’s one thing, even, to demand that so-called civilised nations should not stand by while decent people are slaughtered in foreign parts. As if it had nothing to do with us.

But take a good look at the footage of the obsequies of Berkshire-born Daniel Hume (22) from 4th Battalion The Rifles, killed in an explosion on foot patrol near Nad-e-Ali. And those of Private John Brackpool (28) from Crawley, West Sussex, Prince of Wales’ Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, killed by a gunshot near Lashkar Gah.

Because that’s what ‘being in the right’, ‘making a difference’ and ‘acting on our behalf’ looks like.

May God help all our soldiers who find themselves under fire. And may He help the families of those who won’t be making it back.