Afternoon:
10°c
Come back safe from war, daddy
Terry Kirby25 Sep 2009
In Chester today, it was all smiles as Ella Roberts joined her father, Lance Corporal Steven Roberts of the Ist Battalion The Royal Welsh, as he and his colleagues paraded proudly through the city before their deployment in Afghanistan.
In just a few weeks the infantry regiment will have swapped the autumn sunshine of England for the heat and dust of Helmand province, where they will be starting a six-month tour of duty fighting the Taliban insurgency.
The deployment is the first time that the entire regiment of about 600 soldiers have served in Afghanistan; some served there during 2007 and 2008.
Such parades by regiments around the country have become increasingly common as the Ministry of Defence seeks to build public support for troops at a time when the conflict has been claiming more and more lives. A spokesman said it was a way of saying “thank you and farewell” to the town closest to where they are based.
The soldiers paraded with fully loaded Bergen rucksacks and much of the equipment they will use in Afghanistan. Some snipers were on show in their customised ghillie suits.
But the dangers of the increasingly bloody conflict were driven home again today when it was announced that five United States soldiers were killed in three separate attacks yesterday.
Three died in a roadside explosion, while another was shot by militants. Another soldier was killed when his patrol was attacked.
This year has been the deadliest for foreign troops since the Afghan conflict began.
More than 800 American troops have died in total and there have been more than 200 British deaths in action since 2001. July was the worst month for casualties of British soldiers, with more than 20 deaths.
