Fitaloon has an excellent post about a report in the Guardian which gives details of the seriously injured soldiers in the war in Afghanistan.
As well as our 17 dead this month, more than 157 soldiers were treated at the field hospital at Camp Bastion last week according to army medics. "There have been injuries like you've probably never seen or experienced," said a medic on Radio 4's Today programme.
This is the hidden tragedy of this unwinnable war. Men who have been wounded so severely -but their lives saved owing to modern medicine - who will possibly never live a normal life again. Then of course there's the mental anguish caused to many seeing their colleagues blown apart. Another hidden price our troops pay to 'protect' us.
I quote this from Fitaloon's post:
It is worth noting that the victim of a roadside bomb while on foot patrol near Sangin on Sunday, was Corporal Joey Etchells, 22, from 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Joey was 22 and on his third, yes third tour of Afghanistan.
Surely we cannot continue to agree to this war in which we're sacrificing our own to this degree. Our troops must be brought out of this hellish situation.
History shows this war will not be won. History will also show that Britain will pay dearly in the long term, for being one of the largest aggressors in Afghanistan. All this for the friendship of the US.
This is a war which involves many other countries. Are they prepared to send in large amounts of their military? No, because the people wouldn't stand for it. Why do we?
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11 comments:
We're so firmly under the thumb of the Dictator's state, we have no way to protest with any effect without ending up being locked up.
Because we are frightened tostand up.
and when we stand up we get shouted down from all angles.
Anyone who says anything about anyone is racist, full of hate, subversive or other such adjectives.
So when we get shouted down or called these things like lambs we shut up and just go quiet.
Thats why they try to out bloggers, thats why nightjack was opened up.
Its the same with Afghanistan.
We're so firmly under the thumb of the Dictator's state, we have no way to protest with any effect without ending up being locked up.
So let's get locked up! The prisons are already full anyway!
What are they going to do with half a million uppity negroes like us?
Old Holborn
They could take you for a walk in the woods or a walk on the mountains.
How changed this island has become since WW2 when many died to ensure I had the freedom to live.
At my age I've seen the best of it and I don't envy the younger generation in the least. The Uk is just drifting towards a police state without any protest.
True LotF, the pressure is being pumped up to 'out' bloggers who say anything other than life is wonderful.
The people who behave like that are fools and they won't be making a fool out of me.
OH, wouldn't it be ammo for Gordon Brown to call an emergency then dig his heels in at No 10 forever more?
Mind you, with all our troops fighting his hellish wars, none could help out.
I'll take to the hills with my bag of oats Lorenzo. In fact, listening to the facilities prisoners have these days, a while in prison may be a genuine holiday and no utility bills to worry about either.
The toll on our troops is indeed dreadful.
But we should not forget the entirely innocent Afghani civilians who've been killed, maimed, orphaned and disposessed by this pointless war.
I do not wish to denigrate the bravery, commitment and application of the armed forces but it should be remembered that every one of them volunteered to join up.
Afghani civillians had no say in the prosecution of this war and we should never lose sight of what's happening to them.
Firstly Naldo, are you aware that, of the numbers blown up by Taliban IEDs, 80% are Afghanis? The Taliban know this, it doesn't worry them in the least. (Easy to check that out on google).
Ah! The only song you possess 'they volunteered'. Nobody in the military, who joined up over 12 years ago, would have considered they would be spending more than half their lives for the past 12 years in hell holes, fighting wars which had no long term strategies.
Many wish to get out but are loyal to their colleagues (a loyalty someone who has never served in the military would never understand) and also many stay because they would lose their pension, which is part of their salary but delayed.
Have a look at army salaries and see what they're paid. So many could be safely employed within industry in civvie street, but they chose to serve the likes of you and me.
You obviously take them for granted I don't. I know, without our military throughout my lifetime, I may not be sitting here so comfortably or even may not be sitting here at all.
I reiterate, we shouldn't be there. The Afghan government is corrupt and weak, the people unable to speak up for themselves and a massive rebel group determined to inflict their own values upon the country. The problem is the Afghanis, not ours. We cannot help and we will only delay any negotiations not halt them.
May I kindly suggest you read some good material about the Afghanis and their culture over the past century. Like many in their situation they will do anything to survive. If that means killing the person who's just given you food, so be it. I'm not going to call them wrong but, perhaps they are from a moral standpoint.
Subrosa, i agree with just about everything you say on Afghanistan, just would like you to see it from more than just a UK military perspective. You stated in a previous post that i am only interested in what goes on in my own backyard but most people who know me reckon i am too interested in foreign affairs. The UK's historically unethical foreign policy is one of the main reasons i want to break up the Union and support Scottish independence.
I am well aware of the wars which have been fought and always lost by imperial powers in Afghanistan since the 19th century. It would be ridiculous to blame Afghani civilians for living in a geo-politically significant part of the world and for having been subject to such brutality from without and, since the West emboldened the Taleban in the 70's and 80's, from within. They are the biggest losers in this war and i make no distinction between victims of either the Taleban or those who are fighting "the war on terror". I entirely agree that the people of that most impoverished nation should be left to sort out their own affairs because we are patently making things worse for them.
I am also not entirely ignorant of the military life. I have an uncle who served 20 years in the army. I have several cousins who served for shorter periods. All of them served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
My father spent his 21st birthday in the Korean war - a war which is almost forgotten by many but which took the lives of nearly 40,000 United Nations soldiers - some of whom were my dad's friends and comrades. Many times that number of North/South Korean military and civilians were killed. At no point did my dad volunteer to serve in a war in which he did not believe, he was unlucky enough to be doing National Service when the UN entered the war and was conscripted to the Royal Artillery because he was good at maths and physics and could work out where best to point the heavy guns. I get quite emotional when i think about my dad's sacrifice and the bigger sacrifices of his friends and comrades. God knows how he copes with it.
Nothing would delight me more than to see our military numbers slashed and many of the brave, disciplined and highly skilled workers within it given useful jobs building homes, schools, hospitals, roads and providing all kinds of social services which their remarkable lives have prepared them so well for. It would be good for them, good for the UK and good for the world.
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