Digger feared dead in Afghanistan

[Handbrake hates Camping]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22551487-2,00.html
:(

Things not looking good at the moment... developing story.

[landyfromanuthaland]

Lets be honest in all the years now we have had troops abroad be it Irag, Afghanistan or East Timor we have had a good trot, losing troops is never nice but thats the unfortunate side of war, its only by good training and management our boys and girls survive, the yanks have themselves a new Viet Nam with Iraq, we lost two guys in East Timor I remember one shot himself and the other was run over by a forkliftor something, not including the day to day injuries we have been very very lucky so far, everyone touch wood now.

[Handbrake hates Camping]

One dead after road bomb
from www.smh.com.au

October 8, 2007 - 8:23PM

It has been confirmed that an Aussie soldier has died after a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

A group of Australian troops was patrolling part of Oruzgan province today when they were caught up in an incident involving an improvised explosive device (IED), the Defence Department said tonight.

Defence was unable to confirm reports several Australians had been injured in the blast, and was seeking further information about the incident.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Brussels confirmed there had been at least one casualty stemming from the explosion.

But an ISAF spokesman was unable to say if any Australians were involved, or if ``casualties'' referred to injuries or deaths.

"We are aware of an incident in Oruzgan province in which we had some ISAF casualties today,'' a spokesman told AAP.

"There's more than one casualty. Casualties could mean either wounded or killed in action.''

Last month, three Australian soldiers were injured during an intense firefight with Taliban forces.

Australia's deployment to Afghanistan is expected to peak at more than 1,000 troops by mid next year.

AAP

[landyfromanuthaland]

Thats very bad if its confirmed hes dead, and for what?

[landyfromanuthaland]

I know an ex SAS fella and we were talking about this ages ago, there are far more service people killed by training accidents, vehicle accidents then whats been KIA in wars of late, the two Black hawks, the Sea King prang and the last one where the chopper dropped into deep water and the pilot was only recently recovered, we are so lucky we dont have the procession of the coffins coming home the Yanks and the English have had to deal with, there would be total outrage here.

[DirtyDawg]

If the lad didn't enjoy what he was doin he would'nt have been there....god bless his soul, and hope his mates work through it quickly. Wars, best training a soldier can get.

[olmate]

Rest in peace mate.

[Grimace]

Rest in peace mate.

x2, and condolences to his family & friends. Also a wish of hope & resolution for all the soldiers presently serving.

[Handbrake hates Camping]

October 9, 2007 - 10:49AM

The soldier killed in Afghanistan was a 40-year-old married father of two based in Brisbane, the mother-in-law of another Australian soldier in Afghanistan said today.

The woman, named only as Michelle said the dead soldier came from the base at Enoggera in Queensland.

"He was 40 and had two children," she told Southern Cross radio.

The soldier was killed, and another seriously injured after an improvised explosive device was detonated next to a military vehicle in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province yesterday.

Michelle said her son-in-law was in the Australian light armoured vehicle (ASLAV) travelling immediately behind the ASLAV in which the soldier was killed.

"My son-in-law is in shock," she said.

"They spotted the Taliban on the hill, but they couldn't do anything because there were too many civilians. They couldn't fire back.

"The first LAV (ASLAV) got through ... and the second one was the one that was hit.

"We have been up all night waiting to hear from him (the son-in-law) and we finally heard from him this morning at two o'clock."

Michelle said her son-in-law had served twice in Iraq as well as in East Timor.

"He has never had a bad feeling ever, and when he was called up on this one he had really bad feelings about it all," she said.

"He is just a typical good strong soldier, but this has shaken him up more because it wasn't like Iraq."

AAP

[4bee]

Yep, most unfortunate, but as I said some time ago when there was a thread on the new vehicles, the buggers will just keep making the IEDs bigger & bigger or multiples of, to compensate.

How can you combat against these things?

Don't know what the answer is, besides not being there.:(

I hope it's all worth it at the end of the day.

[landyfromanuthaland]

Am watching now on TV he was 41, a real shame, only been in the army for 2 years.

[robert42]

There is no real answer to the problem of religous fanatics.. had a daughter in east timor not a good feeling she is in sivi.street now after 10years .. but the son inlaw is in afganastan not a good feeling when you see that on tv.either..our guys and girls are the best trained in the world today.. thank goodness..

[easo]

You can only follow training and survive. Its not an easy thing to fight someone who is more than willing to die for their cause.

Condolences to his family, Easo

[RonMcGr]

This is a really crappy situation.
Unfortunately this poor bugger was killed.
The "News" published this story and I wrote a reply that they would not print.

I was horrified by the pathetic answers of a few, who said, "It sucks to join the Army".

I guess my attack of the "Intestinal Fortitude" of some of the posters, stopped that. I also mentioned that more people are killed on the road than those killed in action in the ADF!

Being an ex "Grunt" from the Vietnam conflick, some of these gutless *****s really get to me.

Sorry for the rant!

Ron