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TA soldier killed after two weeks was awaiting kit
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor17 Nov 2009
A British soldier killed only two weeks after arriving in Afghanistan had complained about a lack of new body armour and helmets, it was revealed this afternoon.
Rifleman Andrew Fentiman, 23, was shot while on foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand province on Sunday.
Writing on his blog Welcome to Afghanistan on 2 November, he said: “We are still waiting on these new body armour and helmets that were promised. You would have seen the story splashed all over the news, they said they would be ready for us but we hope they will arrive soon.”
His death will raise fresh concerns over equipment for British troops following rows over a shortage of helicopters and metal detectors to locate mines.
Rifleman Fentiman, a Territorial Army soldier from Cambridge, was the 97th British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan this year.
The MoD announced in September that 5,000 sets of new helmets and body armour were about to be shipped to Afghanistan for use by frontline troops.
Officials said the new Osprey assault armour was less bulky and easier to move in than existing armour and the updated Mark 7 helmet was more stable when fitted with night vision equipment and made it easier to fire a weapon. The first sets were due to go to infantry soldiers, engineers, drivers, medics, dog handlers and other troops who regularly went “outside the wire”.
An MoD spokeswoman said he would have been provided with full body armour in Afghanistan. She could not confirm whether he had received the new armour by the time of his death but stressed it provided the same level of protection as the older version.
Rifleman Fentiman, a university graduate, was serving with the 7th Battalion The Rifles and had put his career as a sales manager at software firm Team Studio, based in Huntingdon on hold so he could deploy to Afghanistan.
Superiors said he was “oozing with charm” and seen as a future officer.
In the blog, which appeared on his company's website, Rifleman Fentiman said he had arrived at camp after a 24-hour flight from Edinburgh.
He told how the atmosphere was “reasonably calm” and cigarettes were cheap. “I'm now waiting to go to my FOB (forward operating base) which should be in the next 4 days,” he wrote. “We have been doing the training package which consists of IED clearance drills, zeroing, defensive shoots, patrolling skills, use of night vision goggles and some mandatory briefs, we need to complete this before we can move outside the wire.
“We are quite fortunate as the day before we were due to be on the ranges, one person was killed and 2 others injured as someone stepped on an IED which didn't make for a pleasant arrival for us. Looking at the positives, my commander was there at the time and proved himself by helping to save one of the guys' (sic) lives.
“Apart from that incident it's reasonable (sic) calm; helicopters fly overhead throughout the days and nights as well as MRLS launchers firing away. I have to admit, it makes this whole experience feel slightly surreal.”
Reader views (5)
Actually he was wearing body armour, according to the MoD (as reported by the BBC). It was the old version body armour. The new body armour being distributed to troops in Afghanistan is different only in being lighter to move around in than the old style. No armour is fully protective. Poor fellow - so young.
- Newsgatherer, Oxford, UK, 17/11/2009 18:28
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It wasn't the equipment that got him killed, unfortunate though that was. Helmets, the latest versions or those that went before, do NOT stop bullets (they can deflect off-centre shots, but not direct hits), and the latest body armour is merely less bulky rather than more effective than the previous one. This man is nothing more than an admittedly tragic loss in a dirty war, and the equipment had nothing to do with it.
- Rogan, Irving, 17/11/2009 18:25
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So what is new?
For many years the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have complained about the lack of the most basic equipment at the very time that some many civil servants have been collecting a bonus for doing such a good job!
Who actually cares that British troops die fighting on foreign missions rather than defending the UK so politicians can claim that the UK 'punches above its weight?'
- Manny Goldstein, London, England, 17/11/2009 17:17
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Gordon Brown needs to get kit to our soldiers NOW. There is absolutely no excuse for them to be ill equiped.
- Cat, Essex, 17/11/2009 16:02
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Remind us again how much the MPs are collectively 'repaying' in fraudulently-claimed expenses from this Government that can't afford proper kit but still sends troops to battle . . . ?
My thoughts go to his family - what a terrible shock, just 2 weeks after deployment and from the TA.
- Roz, France, 17/11/2009 15:52
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