The Youngest Soldier

As some of you may not be aware, on the 10th of September 2007, only three days ago, an 18 year old Private became the youngest British soldier to die in Afghanistan. A great loss, and painfully pointless.
I haven't supported any of Britains foriegn policy in the Middle East and South East Asia, be that Afghanistan or Iraq, but I have always supported the troops there. There is no reason for the mass of troops that are there ever being there, and there no reason in them staying, only to be magnets for roadside bomb shrapnel. On a personal level, I remember being 18, and how I could barely handle the responsibilty of a relationship, let alone a fully loaded SA80. I can't imagine how terrible it must be for these children.

It was through finding out about this story that I saw an interview on BBC News with the kids parents, and it saddened me further. The kid had always wanted to be in the army, and fair enough, I'll say nothing against that, his choice. But his family were so painfully naive. The mother said she "Always thought the forces that be would keep him safe, I always trusted the government." It only got worse when the boys younger sister, could have been no older than 16, said she was going to join the army when she could "to make my brother proud" she said. And the parents said nothing about that. Why would you want a second child of yours to be killed at such a young age for nothing? It saddened me, for all involved, because none of them have done anything wrong. However stupid the family are, they didn't deserve to lose their son. Nor did the son deserve to die. He was just in a place he shouldn't have been when he shouldn't have been there. And such are the orders of every soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment.

Any thoughts on this tragedy?


www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/07/nsoldier107.xml


[edit on 13-9-2007 by Subcomandante]

[edit on 13-9-2007 by Subcomandante]

[edit on 13-9-2007 by Subcomandante]

As much as the age of the boy enhances the tragedy, there's nothing special about this one death. Such is the nature of war.

The age of the man says to me that, when he joined the Army, he would have known the current political climate and the probability of where he'd end up. He made a decision that was arguably more informed than those who joined the forces years before this situation was aggravated.

The comments from his sister of "making him proud" and following in his footsteps and the lack of opposition from his family would say to me that they knew the situation and thought the cause to be worthy - bolstered by the fact that the family sound less than astute (speculatory and based upon impression, before I get flamed for that).

As sad as it is, and whatever fault the government has in being places it shouldn't, this particular man made an informed decision in joining the forces. There are always going to be young people making bad decisions with their lives - in all arenas of society. And willing is the best kind of fodder in war.

A tribute to Ben Ford, 1989 - 2007




www.lastingtribute.co.uk...


It's a sad fact of war that the old men in charge send the young out to fight their battles. It's never the rulers of nations that mourn their loss, that grief is left up to the families that lost their loved one.