Posts Tagged ‘soldiers’
Brave British soldier saves lives of comrades
Soldier Lobs Taliban Grenade Back At Enemy
9:00am UK, Tuesday March 09, 2010
Damien Pearse, Sky News Online
A British soldier has saved his comrades by scooping up a live Taliban grenade and throwing it straight back at the enemy moments before it exploded.
Rifleman James McKie suffered cuts to his face after the grenade exploded
The device hit Rifleman James McKie’s platoon commander and landed at his feet during a battle in the Sangin area of Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
And as the enemy continued to pound his position from three directions the young soldier lobbed the grenade as far as he could.
“I remember thinking that if I didn’t pull this off, it was going to hurt,” he said. “But at that stage I was pretty much committed.”
Split seconds after the grenade left his hand it exploded in mid-air, firing fragments into Rifleman McKie’s face and arm.
His commander Captain Graeme Kerr suffered leg injuries and is now recovering at Selly Oak Hospital in the UK.
I remember thinking that if I didn’t pull this off, it was going to hurt. But at that stage I was pretty much committed.
Rifleman James McKie
Rifleman McKie was posted on the roof of a building when he saw the grenade. Another soldier, also on the roof, escaped unhurt.
Rifleman McKie, from Recce Platoon, 3rd Battalion The Rifles, and originally from New Zealand, described the drama.
“I heard what sounded like a mini flare come from our right where I knew there were none of our guys, so I thought this was really unusual.
“We were in a high position on a compound roof.
“There was no way you could throw yourself off and not get injured, so I made a decision to pick up the grenade and throw it off the roof.”
He went on: “My platoon has taken a lot of casualties. I really didn’t want to see anyone else get hurt.”
Rifleman McKie threw smoke to cover their withdrawal, allowing them to reach the safety of another compound.
Captain Kerr was immediately evacuated by helicopter, but Rifleman McKie was able to continue in his duties until the following day.
“I don’t feel particularly brave,” he said.
“I’m not expecting anything from my comrades … I don’t want any thanks from them. I just don’t want them to get hurt.”
Outstanding bravery which is typical of our gallant fighting forces. What a great pity this Labour Government doesnt think so. Both Labour and the sneaky LibDems have an inheritant loathing of all things patriotic.
I hope when he threw the grenade back it hit its intended targets.
Jim Ferguson
Tweet this!
Labours betrayal of our armed forces – Military chiefs accuse Brown
The truth of Brown’s attempt to cover up the amount of defence spending is starting to come out. The armed forces are now quite clear on the position that Brown’s Labour Government cannot be trusted. Despite huge professionalism and bravery on the part of our armed services the armed forces cannot depend on this Government. Every military person needs to wake up fast to what Brown and his cabal of misfits have done and how Labour has turned its back on them and our nation.
Labours disrespect for the armed services is staggering and their appalling record and betrayal of our military personel cannot go unpunished. I would urge every soldier, sailor, and air force member of the armed services to assist the rest of the people in this country to throw this dredful Labour Government out of power as soon as the General Election takes place. Only then can we begin to properly fund and support not only our fighting men and woman but ensure we get the support that their families deserve as well.
Jim Ferguson
This graph (hat tip to Burning our Money) gets closest to the truth about Labour’s record on defence spending (click on the image to enlarge it):
For the reasons pointed out by BoM, because defence costs have risen faster than inflation the second graph is most relevant. At a time of two wars Labour has cut the buying power of our armed forces.
***
Yesterday Gordon Brown told the Iraq inquiry that he gave the military all they needed. Liam Fox hit back, accusing the Prime Minister of being “evasive” and pointing to contradictory statements issued by others.
Today, Mr Brown gets both barrels from retired military chiefs in The Times and Telegraph.
“He’s dissembling, he’s being disingenuous. It’s just not the case that the Ministry of Defence was given everything it needed. There may have been a 1.5 per cent increase in the defence budget but the MoD was starved of funds.” – Admiral Lord Boyce, the Chief of the Defence Staff up to the start of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, quoted in The Times
“To say Gordon Brown has given the military all they asked for is simply not true. He cannot get away with saying I gave them everything they asked for, that is simply disingenuous.” – Lord Guthrie in The Telegraph
“The real truth is the Armed Forces are underfunded.” – Major General Patrick Cordingley, quoted in The Telegraph
Speaking on Radio 4 at 8.15am this morning, General Sir Richard Dannatt backed his former colleagues in the armed forces. The whole of the armed forces had been robbed to provide the basics for combat operations, he told listeners.
In its leader column The Telegraph makes the obvious conclusion:
“What they do know is that there are soldiers who would not have been killed had they been better equipped and whether that was the Treasury’s fault or the MoD’s is neither here nor there. The Government must be held to account; and Mr Brown has been at its heart for 13 years.”
Tim Montgomerie
Tweet this!
Labours Financial incompetence costs the Armed Forces
The economic mismanagement of the Armed Forces by this Labour Government is staggering. However while its totally wrong for them to have botched things in such a fundamental way what is totally unacceptable is putting the lives of our fighting men and woman at risk due to their incompetence.
The sooner we get rid of this Labour Government the better.
Jim Ferguson
Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has criticised the Government’s cuts to Britain’s defence capability.
“Today we see that the Government is trying to fight a war from the core defence budget”, he said. This is despite Gordon Brown and Bob Ainsworth saying that the Treasury reserve is covering the cost of the war in Afghanistan.
Fox said the reason for the cuts was not as a response to a diminished threat – “if anything the threat is increasing” – but as a result of “catastrophic economic mismanagement”.”Our brave armed forces are paying for Labour’s incompetence”, he said.
He welcomed the announcement of new Chinook helicopters, but noted that they would not have been necessary if the Prime Minister had not, against all advice, cut £1.4bn from the helicopter programme in 2004.
If it wasn’t for this failure to understand the Armed Forces “those Chinooks could have been on the front line today, saving the lives of our brave soldiers”, he said
“Instead”, he added, “they will not be available until at least 2013 by which time, according to the Prime Minister, we should have substantially transferred security responsibility to Afghan national forces”.
Tweet this!
