then and now

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:39am BST 14/08/2007
The contrast between the current conflict in Afghanistan and the original deployment five years ago could hardly be sharper. The first British soldier to die in the Afghanistan campaign was L/Cpl Darren George of 1st Bn Royal Anglians. At the time troops had been welcomed into Kabul and, with the Taliban routed the previous year, they were patrolling in berets and little body armour on a peacekeeping mission. L/Cpl George, 22, was the unfortunate victim of an accidental discharge from a weapon in April 2002. In the last four months six Royal Anglians have been killed by enemy fire in an operation that is all-out war.
British forces in Helmand have now surpassed at least two million rounds fired in anger - a long way from the former defence secretary John Reid's assertion that they might not fire one. Fighting is at times so intense it has been said to be the fiercest fight in which the British Army has been engaged since the Second World War. It is the huge amount of hard fighting that the British troops are now doing that is causing some resentment in the ranks. A number of soldiers want the hardships that they have faced to be recognised by a medal separate from the one awarded during the quieter days of service in Kabul in 2002. Fighting a long way from home with little news of the heroism and difficulties of the front line being reported in the press, some would feel a new medal would be a more fitting tribute to the dead and those wounded and mentally scarred by the Helmand fighting over the past year. While their wishes are unlikely to be granted by the Ministry of Defence, there is a strong argument for a bar with "Helmand" written on it being added to the Afghanistan campaign medal. It is a place after all, that has seen British troops experience the hardest and most sustained fighting and casualties for more than 60 years.