Dead officer had complained of helicopter shortage

Sat Oct 31 2009 11:13:18

The most senior UK soldier killed in Afghanistan had complained that a shortage of helicopters was endangering troops, it has emerged.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, who died in July when his convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED), sent a memo less than a month before his death saying there were not enough of the aircraft.

In a series of dispatches, the Welsh Guardsman said: "I have tried to avoid griping about helicopters - we all know we don't have enough.

"We cannot not move people, so this month we have conducted a great deal of administrative movement by road. This increases the IED threat and our exposure to it."

Lieutenant Colonel Thorneloe goes on to detail how he had "virtually no" helicopters of the type which would allow him to move troops by air rather than road. He adds: "The current level of SH (support helicopter) support is therefore unsustainable."

The 39-year-old adds in a dispatch that the system used to manage helicopter movements in Afghanistan "is very clearly not fit for purpose".

The commander of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died with Trooper Joshua Hammond on July 1 when their convoy was hit by an IED in Helmand Province, north of the town of Lashkar Gah.

His death was the most senior British military casualty since the Falklands War, and came amid a summer of fierce fighting.

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