Excellent programme - looking forward to tonight's.

Has increased my respect and admiration for the boys on the ground in Afghan. I knew the situation was poor but I hadn't realised just how bad!

Perhaps the MOD and our government may start to realise that the only thing holding our armed forces together is the true grit and professionalism of the Britsih squaddie/airman/matelot.

Either support us or pull us out of these theatres asap.

An outstanding piece, and fair play to the journo for ignoring the Brit Mil refusal to allow him access to go in as a unilateral. The situation on the ground in both Afg and Iraq is such that unilaterals are scarce on the ground these days, not least because they are themselves targets. So to go in as he did took guts and he clearly didn't become a burden to the troops either.

Just goes to show that the media are not all on a mission to shaft the military.

The Government already do realise this. To them, it's free and an excuse to remove most parts of sensible funding.

Quite.

And I thought it was an apt piece of journalism towards the end, when sitting on the floor of the LR and filming close in the pile of .50 cal brass on the floor, and reminding everyone of the 'we won't need to fire a shot' speech of Reid, as yet more empty .50 cal brass rained down on top of him.......

"That only happens when politicians get too involved in the fighting."

Well maybe if those B:mad: :mad: tards actually go out there with out armour, pick up a rifle and get in the poo with the lads, they might do something more than pontificate and then f:mad: ck us all over.

Rant off.

BTw, does anyone know how I can get this program via t'interweb, as am away at the mo. Ta

Excellent programme, the guys were fortunate when that bullet passed straight through the Land Rover, not sure if that would happen with a Humvee.

Someone posted about commit 100% or not at all, is that what George is going to announce on Friday?

Could do with a few 'Hogs' out of the Boneyard and get the AAC trained up, wouldn't take long. The USAF did not have twin seat A-10s so it cannot be that difficult:cool:
If we are a bit short on CAS what about a C-130 with one of those bloody great bombs that you drop off the ramp, that should steady the Taliban up for a while.:ok:

LI Captain (Illingworth) just got the CGC! Good effort:D

Think I saw that the Royal Irish Capt - former RSM under Lt Col Collins - was awarded the MC for the action.

Tonight? Part two is at 2300 on Thursday - Dispatches: Meeting the Taliban.

Or the new Panther being tested at Bovington i assume.
If you look at this link:- here and see what all the other arms are using for their patrol vehicles, makes you a bit pissed off that our boys are still sitting in open topped land rovers.
And the new Mastiff, not even the RPG idiots could miss a hooving big tall vehicle as that.... :mad:

This is what the MoD had to say:-
"Dispatches - Fighting the Taliban"
There is a some follow-up coverage of the television documentary "Dispatches - Fighting the Taliban" shown on UK network Channel Four last night. The film features a UK Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team in Southern Afghanistan during September 2006.

We pay tribute to the courage, fortitude and professionalism of the British Service personnel seen in this film, which also showed how the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are increasingly shouldering responsibility for their country's security, and taking the fight to the Taliban.

The MOD went to great lengths to accommodate the documentary maker's wishes and arrange for him to visit our front line troops. However, as always, operational considerations will have effected our ability to provide everything that he wanted.

The documentary maker voiced concerns over logistic resupply and whether NATO and Afghan forces were winning. Brigadier Jerry Thomas, the commander of the UK task force in Afghanistan, has asked the MoD to issue the following statement:

"The situation in Helmand Province has changed markedly since the Dispatches film was made. Since then, British forces have moved into new areas throughout the province, including Garmsir, and made real improvements to security. We have inflicted heavy losses on the Taliban, denied them freedom of movement, and made great progress in winning the hearts and minds of the local people.

"This remains a very challenging mission, but we are winning. Just last week, Royal Marines of the UK Task Force commando forces engaged and destroyed a Taliban training camp in the north east of the province, which will allow contractors to carry out repairs to a hydro-electric dam in Kajaki, which will produce electricity for 1.8 million people in the south of Afghanistan who until now have had none.

"This success would not have been possible unless our forces were properly equipped and supplied. To be clear, I have not asked for additional helicopters and the supply system is working well, with no soldiers or marines running out of food. It is the nature of the conflict that they do not take more supplies than they need to carry; but we have an extraordinary resupply system in place to ensure that they do not run out."

Good to see the Estonians. Worked with them in Afg about 2 years ago. They remind me of the Cloggies - barking mad but allways up for a good scrap. Aggree with all coments about the Mambas, though! (Alvis, aren't they?)

Bringing this to the top as Part two is on C4 tonight at 2305

http://www.channel4.com/news/dispatc...le.jsp?id=1046 for the article that accompanies the programme.

If, like me, you missed this first time around, you might like to set your video for the early hours of tomorrow morning.


Dispatches: Fighting the Taliban
4:25am-5:15am
Friday 12th January
Channel 4 (rpt)