In Afghanistan, British Army mentors have just qualified Helmand’s first gunners to join the Republic’s Artillery Corps. Twenty-one recruits received their certificates after taking part in their first live-firing exercise using high-explosive rounds. Their shots fell accurately to within 150 metres on a desert training range near Gareshk. Maj Mike Lynskey, of the Royal Artillery…
A Parachute Regiment CO who risked death by single-handedly tackling a team of Taliban bombers said he did no more than he would have expected from any of his paratroops. Two Para’s Lt Col Andy Harrison was struck by a grenade cialis price and gunfire after his convoy chanced upon the bombers in the act…
British troops raiding in strength for the first time deep into Taliban-dominated areas of Central Helmand, have successfully destroyed three insurgent bomb factories. The supply bases were inside what the enemy regarded as safe havens. The blow to the Taliban’s roadside bombing campaign was achieved because of a major Afghan-lead offensive code named Operation “Omid…
I have not met Giles Duley. One week ago I had never heard of him. Now he is rarely from my thoughts. I was among the first beyond the military to learn that a British photographer had been badly injured by a bomb here in Southern Afghanistan. As it always must, such news remained unbroadcast…
Fifty-five Tongan marines have swapped their sparsely-populated South Pacific islands for the unfamiliar chill of Helmand in winter. With a population of 123,000, theirs is the 48th and smallest nation to contribute to the internationa forces of ISAF. They are deployed as force protection at the main supply base of Camp Bastion mounting guard alongside…
It must be one of the most dangerous and discredited jobs in the world. Police officers in Afghanistan’s Helmand province confront the Taliban head on. But their service has in the past been a byword for cruelty, criminality and corruption. Yet despite the risks to themselves and their families, scores of hopefuls regularly queue up to…
Watching the latest political day-tripper pass through Camp Bastion it occurred to me that what to wear must be almost as important as what to say when MPs step from their Westminster comfort zone into a war zone. Looking wrong viagra no prescription can completely negate the message they’re here to deliver. Viewers fixate on…
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