Following the killing of three paratroopers in a Taliban ambush last week a soldier from the 2nd Battalion, the Mercian regiment was blown up on Saturday in a roadside explosion while on patrol in Helmand province. His was the 196th British death in Afghanistan since our forces first arrived there in 2001.  

Having praised the courage of this latest victim, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wenham, spokes- man for the British Task Force in Helmand, said that the soldier had “died working to make Afghanistan a better place”.

Those words expose the lethal folly of the Afghan mission.

The catalogue of deaths is fast becoming a monument to socialist vanity. Why should brave young men have to  sacrifice their lives to “make Afghanistan a better place”? Britain has no more responsibility for the Afghan people than we have for those living in Peru or Timbuctu.

Soldiers are recruited to defend our country, not to act as charity workers in the developing world. It is the height of arrogance for our Left-wing politicians to treat our troops as nothing more than fodder for their internationalist socialist agenda.

The Afghan war might have started with some justification when, in the wake of 9/11, there was a determination among Western governments to hunt down the leaders of Al Qaeda.

But now almost eight years later neither the politicians nor the generals can explain the purpose of our continuing  involvement in this quagmire.n place of a clear military objective there is vague rhetoric about supporting women’s rights, stabilising democracy,  ending the drugs trade or upholding the Pakistani government’s fight againstextremists. Sounding just like a
bombastic Labour politician, General Sir David Richards, the new head of the British Army, said at the weekend:
“Jobs and simple governance that works are key and there has to be a strong reconciliation element to the latter.”

SISTERS are doing it for themselves in the race to beat breast cancer.

Caroline and Rachael Storm, from Appleton Roebuck, have joined the Breast Cancer Campaign’s Jigsaw runner’s team, and will take part in The Great North Run on September 20.

The two sisters, who are both nurses in the British Army, recently lost their neighbour, Meredith Ziegler, to the killer disease, which has provided them with the inspiration to raise money for the charity.

Caroline said: “Meredith recently lost her battle with breast cancer, leaving a significant imprint upon both of our lives with her optimistic character.

“She was exceptionally brave and courageous throughout her illness which inspired us both to complete the Great North Run in her memory, and raising money for the Breast Cancer Campaign would be the perfect way of achieving this.”

In the UK there are nearly 46,000 new cases per year, making it the most common form of cancers among women. The pair hope to raise £700 for the charity, which funds research into the understanding and treatment of the disease. It currently runs 106 research projects worth £14.3 million in 42 centres throughout the UK and Ireland.

Louise Garrahan, from The Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “We are thrilled to have the sisters on board to help the 45,500 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. They are taking part in the race in tribute to their friend and we wish them the best of luck.”

The women have been training hard for the event and are determined to complete the 13-mile course in the world’s largest half-marathon.

After returning from Afghanistan on Saturday the men and women of 63 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment received a heroes' welcome as they paraded through their hometown of Uxbridge today, Wednesday 5 August 2009. Report by Tristan Kelly.

63 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment have been on active duty in Afghanistan since February. Their primary role was to protect Kandahar Air Base in the south east of the country and ensure its smooth operation for UK and coalition forces.

An incredible 20,000 friends, family and locals thronged the streets of Uxbridge today to welcome back the squadron and to witness them exercise their freedom of the town.

Together with an RAF lining party and standard bearers from the Royal British Legion, the streets were packed with onlookers waving flags as they excitedly waited for the parade to march.

To applause and cheers, and preceded by the Band of the Royal Air Force College, the squadron marched up Uxbridge High Street with a discipline that betrayed their dual role of the Queen's Colour Squadron before stopping in front of the Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor Shirley Harper O'Neil, and the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal T M Anderson.

After a flypast by an RAF Chinook helicopter the squadron were officially welcomed home by the mayor, who spoke of the town's honour to host the freedom parade before inviting the crowd to raise three cheers to the squadron - an invitation that was taken up with three deafening hurrahs!

63 Squadron and the RAF in general have a long history with Uxbridge spanning back as far as 1919 through to the Second World War when the town housed the operations room for 11 Group, Fighter Command, which had the responsibility for the air defence of southern England.

Service and MOD personnel are being encouraged to talk about themselves and their work online within new guidelines which give advice on how they can protect their security, reputation and privacy.

Social media - such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - are an increasingly important way for Forces and MOD personnel to do business, engage with the public and keep in touch with family and friends.

New 'Online Engagement Guidelines', published by the MOD today, 6 August 2009, make clear that Forces and MOD personnel can make full use of websites such as Facebook and YouTube as long as they: follow the same high standards of conduct and behaviour online as would be expected elsewhere; always maintain personal information and operational security and be careful about the information they share online; and, get authorisation from their chain of command when appropriate.

Under the new guidelines, Armed Forces and MOD staff can talk about their work online without prior authorisation from their chain of command, as long as they stay within the advice. This is an important change over earlier rules, under which personnel always needed to seek authorisation before publishing any work-related material.