BBC3 Our War 2100 tonight

Wicklowrider

" Caught in the Crossfire"

2nd Battalion Princess of Wales regiment as it comes to terms with new rules of fighting brought in to protect civilians.
More here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01221bq

This 3 part series has been a real eye opener because its mainly video shot by the soldiers either through helmet cams or their own mini cam video diaries.

Rawhead

Watched these programs and enjoyed them. I noticed that the officers in both guards regiments spoke with upper class accents as opposed to the officers in the other regiments.
Would it still be the case that the guards attract the upper classes more so than the other regiments? All the officers seemed to have a good rapport with their men also.

Batsy

I watched Our War. It has shown what the British Army is really going through. Each episode is virtually entirely filmed by the soldiers themselves and shows what life is like is the bases where they live and dramatic battles with the Taliban.

The first episode showed a firefight between the two sides and a British soldier was shot. The footage showed the British soldiers having to carry the critically wounded man to a vehicle for him to be taken away to be treated. He later died.

The next episode showed British soldiers - the Grenadier Guards - going on patrols in IED infested areas. Since 2009 IEDs have been the biggest killer of British troops in Afghanistan. The episode showed some troops - those with the biggest balls - being given metal detectors. It was their job to walk in front of their comrades whilst sweeping the metal detectors side by side in the hope that they would detect any IEDs in their path.

But one day in October 2009 one of those brave soldiers with the metal detectors, Guardsman Jamie Janes, stood on an IED. After the dust settled the troops rushed to his aid and found him lying there with both of his arms and both of his legs blown off, but still alive. He was flown by Chinook to a hospital where he later died. This episode showed the moving moment when the commanding officer gathered the boys around to tell them the bad news.

Guardsman Jamie Janes also hit the headlines again not so long after. It is tradition, after a soldier has been killed in war, for the British PM to personally write a letter of condolence to the victim's family. The then PM, Gordon Brown, wrote one such letter to the parents of Guardsman Jamie Janes, who were shocked to discover that it was full of spelling mistakes and appeared to have been written in black felt tip.

This documentary has shown the public the brutal reality of life in Afghanistan, and makes me even more angry at the conduct of the French and Germans. Whilst the British are going out, fighting the Taliban and getting limbs blown off, the French and Germans mostly sit around in their bases doing nothing. When they do go out they are always patrolling very safe areas. Incredibly, German soldiers don't go out at night as they see it as too dangerous.

Britain has so far suffered 374 fatalities. By contrast, the French have suffered 63 and the Germans 56, a total of 119. Britain has suffered over three times as many casualties as France and Germany combined. In fact, I think Britain has suffered more fatalities than the other 26 EU member states combined. Even Denmark, which has a population of just 5 million or so, puts the French and Germans to shame. It has suffered 40 deaths in Afghanistan.