Nato General Secretary Jaap De Hoop Scheffer from Holland congratulated the UK yesterday for being a "team" player in the war in Afghanistan. He also remarked that Britain's losses should be seen as part of the "shared sacrifice" being made in the war against the Taliban.

He said: "If one reads any national press, you could be forgiven for thinking that your forces were fighting in Afghanistan alone. But they are not. They are part of a team...... Fourteen nations are fighting in the south of Afghanistan, alongside their British colleagues, along with Afghan forces. Hundreds of Nato soldiers from other countries have also lost their lives - which is a sad, but real, measure of shared sacrifice. The United States has lost 747 soldiers, the most of any nation, followed by Britain 187, then Canada 125, Germany 35, France 28 and Denmark and Italy 25."

However, what Mr De Hoop Scheffer chose not to point out is that the disproportionately high sacrifice being made by the US, Canadian and British Allies is happening because they are the ones who are prepared to take the fight to the Taliban and are consequently bearing the brunt of the fighting and of the losses.

President Obama and Prime Ministers Harper and Brown have repeatedly been pleading with other Nato-Euro countries to "step up to the plate". One wonders whether Mr De Hoop Scheffer has been asking his European friends to play a fuller part in the team that is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Mail: British bomb disposal expert dies in Afghanistan as Nato boss says UK is making a 'shared sacrifice'

The eight soldiers who were brought home yesterday gave their lives in the defence of their country, fighting to protect British streets from islamic terrorism.

The government is being condemned from all sides for its failure to provide the quantity and quality of equipment necessary to provide the best protection possible for the troops risking their lives every day on the frontline.

The government is being heavily criticised by strategists both inside and outside the Armed Forces for its failure to provide the resources in men and materials that are required to bring the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda to a successful conclusion.

We hear Hash Brown complacently saying how he is doing everything he can for the guys in Afghanistan. With typical Ministry of Truth spin he tries to rewrite history. He must think we're stupid. We know that for the last decade he has presided over the continuous cutting of the defence budget, especially during his Treasury days. He may wring his hands now but we know that he is directly responsible for the lack of resources available to the troops today.

Although recently additional funding has been made available through the Urgent Operational Requirement scheme, it has been the year-on-year pruning, in real GDP terms, of the defence budget that is having such a tragic impact on operations today - and it has been Hash Brown who wielded the knife. Once defence procurement programmes are cut, it takes years to get back on track - both in terms of hardware and skills.

The government has even failed to adequately explain to the British public why the troops are fighting and dying in Afghanistan. Even the months of planning that allegedly went into Armed Forces Day only brought success at a micro level.

Despite all this the public knows that brave men are sacrificing their lives and suffering terrible injuries in the service of their country. The respect and grief shown at Wootton Bassett is an expression of the respect and grief felt across the country.

BBC: Thousands honour repatriated men

In 327BC Alexander the Great led his Macedonian army to victory in Afghanistan. He founded several cities in the country which, as usual, he named after himself - the best known of them is Kandahar. 2300 years later descendants of his Macedonians are about to join ISAF forces in Kabul. Under the command of the British Army, a contingent of 150 men from the Macedonian Army's Second Mechanised Infantry Brigade will be providing additional security in Kabul - patrolling the streets and guarding military bases and facilities.

If they could do it once, let's hope they can do it again!

Good luck, the Macedonians! (but remember that Macedonia is Greek)

Macedonia Daily: Army leaves for Afghanistan

The MoD has announced the news that a further five soldiers, all from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, were killed yesterday near Sangin. Three soldiers had already been reported killed in Helmand earlier in the day.

15 soldiers have now died in the last ten days and many have been seriously wounded.

These men died to prevent terrorism reaching the streets of Britain. We all owe them and their families an immense debt.

Today the newspapers headline two events: the latest tragic deaths of soldiers in Afghanistan and the latest obscene bonuses being paid to bankers in London.

While soldiers are sacrificing their lives for their country, bankers in the City are once again screwing the country for every penny they can get. The labour government yet again is quite prepared to hand over £millions to their fat friends in the City while denying the troops the resources that would save lives and bring about a successful conclusion to the war.

The descendants of a once mighty military machine are now considered by their own inspector general as being "an embarrassment". General Wolfgang Schneiderhahn told the Bundestag that depite their positive contribution in Afghanistan, German troops needed to have "a better feeling for discipline and to show a greater readiness to serve the state".

His comments came after troops had been moaning about their conditions during deployment - e.g. the quality of their sleeping bags. This lack of esprit de corps may in part be due to the fact that German forces are not allowed in offensive combat situations and, in Afghanistan for example, are only assigned to protecting reconstruction projects - and that only during office hours.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy have for some time been strutting around Europe extolling the virtues of an integrated European Defence Force; French and German troops have actually formed a Euro Brigade and have carried out joint exercises in their borderlands - the Saargebeit or somewhere. Border guards sounds about right.

The Telegraph: Moaning German soldiers an 'embarrassment' say chiefs

Following on from it's ambitious and innovative "Start Thinking Soldier" campaign (a visit to the ArmyJobs microsite is well worth it), the Army is now seeking an agency to help expand their digital recruitment programme.

Publicis Modem, the architects of the current campaign, will continue to take the lead in a project

which aims to bring high-tech, computer game technology into the recruitment vitual office - something that would be attractive to the X-box generation. The arcade-gaming approach was pioneered in the US where it proved very successful.

It will, however, be difficult to assess how successful the digital marketing strategy itself has actually been since it's running at a time when the recession is anyway leading to a significant increase in numbers applying to enlist.

COI: British Army seeks digital agency
MoD: Interactive campaign prompts you to Start Thinking Soldier

Because of their internationally recognised world-class training skills, NATO Defence Ministers have agreed that British Forces will take the lead in developing a new Combined Arms Training School providing courses to members of the Afghan National Army (ANA).

The CAT School will train ANA officers and NCOs in the effective use of infantry weaponry, armour and artillery with Britain's role being to provide overall strategic direction to the training..

This new role fits in with the UK government's aim of providing sustainable security to the people of Afghanistan by developing the skills of their own indigenous forces.

M2: British forces to lead new Afghan training school

Britain's Muslim guests are now not only insulting British troops at homecoming parades in the UK, they are also fighting with the Taliban against British troops in Afghanistan.
The Army has long suspected that men born in the UK have been going to training camps in Pakistan and from there over the border to join up with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The finding of an Aston Villa tattoo on the body of a dead Taliban fighter would seem to be pretty strong evidence that young Muslims from Britain are trying to kill British soldiers in Helmand.
While Britain may just about put up with banner waving on the streets of Luton, she will not tolerate the firing of AK47s at her troops by disaffected radicals from the streets of Birmingham.

The Mail: Killed, a 'Brummie' Taliban fighter with an Aston Villa tattoo

I got kicked out of my room yesterday in Naples at 10:00 and my flight back to the UK wasn't until 16:50. But instead of having to pass the time counting the hours, I had the great good fortune to have with me Ed Macy's latest book "Apache".
The account of his second tour in Afghanistan - the awesome power of the Apache helicopter, the skills and characters of the Army Air Corps pilots and ground crew, the descriptions of combat in Afghanistan and the heroic, incredible rescue of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford, Royal Marines - was, quite simply, amazing.

My only regret was that I didn't have access to the Internet as that would also have let me look up the videos and pictures linked to specific pages in the book.

I finished the book somewhere over the Alps and passed the rest of the flight re-reading bits.

You can read the first chapter online at www.edmacy.com - you'll then have to go and buy the book!

For a good account of what its like for the guys of the 2nd Battalion, the Mercian Regiment stuck out at a Forward Observation Base in the wilds of Helmand, read Colour Sergeant Mike Saunders' post on Frontline Bloggers

R.i.P Lance Corporal Kieron Hill from 2Mercian who was killed yesterday in Afghanistan.

A scrapbook compiled by a British soldier during his years of imprisonment during WW2 has been reunited with his family 64 years after it was entrusted for safekeeping to a fellow prisoner from Canada.
The secret journal of Private Gidney recounts the brutal treatment he and his comrades received at the hands of their German captors during four

years as a PoW and on the infamous death march from Stalag VIII into the heart of Germany ahead of the advancing Red Army.

Although Private Gidney survived his ill-treatment and lived for many years after the war, circumstances prevented his journal from being restored to him. However, after months of research, the daughter of the Canadian pilot tracked down Pte Gidney's family and last week returned the journal to his daughter.

Amazing story.

The Mail: Returned after 64 years... the harrowing Stalag scrapbook of a British prisoner of war

Our wonderful Labour Government has been happily dishing out £millions of British taxpayers' money to Iraqis who have allegedly been poorly treated in some way or other by British troops.

Last week nine Iraqis, caught looting an aid distribution centre in 2003 and subsequently mistreated by British troops, were rewarded with £1million in compensation.

Um, £100,000 each - that'll do nicely. That's a fortune in Iraq where the average wage is £120 per month. They'll be living like millionaires. Talk about looting!

Compare this with the relatively small levels of compensation the Government has had to be forced to provide to troops who have been seriously injured fighting for their country - millionaire lifestyle, I don't think so!.

The reason of course is that Labour politicians are so used to looting the British taxpayers through their expenses claims, that they think there's nothing particularly wrong in it. The compensation they have been paying themselves for the hardship of living in London has also meant that there's no money left for injured troops.

The Telegraph: Iraqi looters awarded £1m compensation

Toyota pickups have long been the transport of choice for the Taliban. Now in a bid to beat them away from the lights, the British Army has just taken delivery of 50 Toyota Prius.

Forming part of the Army’s so-called white fleet, the new cars are on their way to join 19 Light Brigade in Helmand. Sgt Tim Nichols said: "The lads can't wait to get behind the wheel of these ATVs and show the Taliban some real driving".

The 50 Toyotas will also meet the Government's emissions targets for whole of Op HERRICK for 2009.

CarPages: The Toyota Prius Recruited Into The British Army
MoD: Army takes delivery of 50 hybrid cars

On the subject of cuts in the Russian military (see below), Moscow has decided that it can now no longer afford to go ahead with the planned replacement of the army's uniforms.
Last July the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence announced that it was going to replace the current drab Soviet-style uniforms with snazzy, designer outfits more appropriate (well, they thought anyway) for a modern army.

Since then , like everywhere else, money has become tight in Moscow and so the guys in the Russian army are going to have to carry on patching their old kit. Mind you, having reduced the size of the army so massively, there must be storage depots packed full of surplus stuff; but there again, that's probably long since mysteriously disappeared.

BBC: Russian army scraps new uniforms

While Britain's Armed Forces are still trying to boost recruitment to reach their target strengths, the Russian military is shedding personnel by the thousand.

The Russian news agency, Tass, earlier in the week quoted one of the country's Deputy Defence Ministers,

When ordered to launch an attack in support of British troops during fighting in Afghanistan, the commander of a unit of the Czech Republic's elite Special Operations Group is reported as saying "we're not going; its too dangerous". On another occasion they are alleged to have refused to take part in fighting because "too many of them were on leave". Fortunately the Danes were able to fill the gap.

We have already read that German troops in Afghanistan only operate 9-to-5 refusing to leave their bases after dark. And in the Czechs we seem to have another NATO ally who want to keep as far away from the Taliban as they possibly can (until they visit Wenceslas Square, of course).

The Telegraph comments that a contributing factor is that many of our European friends think that the Taliban will be defeated in the playgrounds of rebuilt schools rather than on the battlefield, that their remit is to reconstruct and not to get involved in anything at all dangerous.

It makes you think what's the use of NATO as a military organisation at all. If the armed forces of certain nations are not reliable, its better that they're not there in the first place.

The Telegraph: Czechs 'abandoned British soldiers during Afghan fight because it was too dangerous'

On September 20th 1942 Vasiliy Zaitsev came to Stalingrad with the 284th Division. In his youth Zaitsev had hunted deer in the forests around Elininski, his home in the foothills of the Ural mountains. In Stalingrad he was a sniper and hunted different prey. His success made him a national hero (a Hero of the Soviet Union, no less), his exploits followed avidly in the papers by Soviet citizens eager for some good news.
Not only did his fame reach the Germans but the psychological impact of the "bullet from nowhere" was having an immensely demoralising effect on soldiers of the 6th Army, so much so that the German High Command brought in their own über-sniper, SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald, head of the Wehrmacht Sniper School, to hunt him down. The duel between the two snipers symbolised the death-struggle being fought between the two nations themselves and even Hollywood, never one to recognise the decisive part played by the USSR in the defeat of Nazism, produced the film "Enemy at the Gates" about it.

Jumping forward 70 years, the age of the sniper has returned to the battlefields, this time in Helmand, Afghanistan, and it's the British High Command that has come to recognise the demoralising psychological impact that snipers can have on the enemy. The "clean" effectiveness of the sniper is also seen as a way of reducing civilian casualities in the warzones, a major concern of UK Armed Forces. Snipers are now playing a major role in the fight against the Taliban with one sniper already reported to have made 39 kills (Zaitsev's verified score was 242).
The British Sniper School in Wiltshire has a queue of applicants eager for one of the 120 places available each year and there are now 330 trained snipers serving with the Army.

Zaitsev won the duel with Thorwald.

The Guardian: Army returns to an old tactic to defeat resurgent Taliban: sniping
The Telegraph: New sniper rifle boosts British Army operations against the Taliban

The "War and Medicine" exhibition at the Welcome Collection ends today.

One aspect of the exhibition was: Remembering War - Your Memories

Here's one of them.

The date is 07/07/08 and I leave foward operating base Gibraltar for a routine patrol. I am serving with the parachute regiment and proud of it. As soon as we leave the front gate it begins again, another day another ambush the taliban 200m away on the other side of the canal. Time slows, no emotion, no surprise just a sinking feeling of "here we go again". I have already lost 3 friends in similar contacts around the base. "not me, not today". The weight of fire going in both directions is massive. I've learnt to hate the sound of incoming fire, the crackle and the thump. The first 2 elements have crossed the bridge and are in cover on the opposite bank, "rapid fire" is called, now its my turn to move, no hesitation just doing my job, doing it for my muckers not for anyone else. I'm running towards the engineers bridge, i'm getting there, then the explosion, BANG, 5 meters to my left in the tree. I keep running. I'm in the open I stop I die!! Get accross the bridge. I'm lead man, why can't I run properly. I spot cover and go firm. I tell my platoon sgt I need a minute to sort myself out before we move as my leg is hurting. Then I hear "MEDIC"!! "who's that for"?? I look down....... shit its me. Everything slows but the memory remains vivid. I'm bleeding from my right thigh, its pretty bad. The medic is with me already, I look back at the base, I've only managed to get 30 meters from the front gate. the bleeding is stopped, I'm on a stetcher and on my way back to the base. I keep hold of my weapon, I can't lose my weapon. One thought keeps playing over in my mind...... the guilt that I'm leaving my friends behind in the "the mouth of hell".

Multiculturalism, so beloved by nuLabour that it has become one of the mantras of that discredited political faction, has now even insinuated its way into the ration packs of British troops serving on the frontline.
Plans have been on the back-burner for some months now to throw out the chocolate bars and corned beef hash of yesterday and to wheel in halaal, kosher, Sikh and Hindu fare in their place.

These plans have now come to the boil and nuRations are about to be served.

Pork of course is racially tarnished, so no more bacon butties and bangers and mash. Instead nuRations will consist of badinjan muhassa, CTM, gefilte fish, hummus and kapusniak. And, ever conscious of the need to flaunt its Islington credentials, the MoD is also going to bring in muesli, dried fruit, nuts and berries, yoghurt and cereal bars.

In all there will be 20 updated menus plus a further six menus each for Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Janes, vegetarians, vegans and piscavores. The new multicultural (or should that be multi-climatic?) ration packs have been shortlisted by tasting panels made up of soldiers returning from the warzones and are now to undergo a further six month taster trial in the field in Afghanistan.

The Poachers of course are quite happy just with chicken heads.

One thing's certain though: the new menus are sure to be an improvement on the Goat Cuisine that gave Prince Harry the runs this time last year.

The Guardian: Military unveil latest weapon against the Taliban: chicken tikka massala and Oreos
also
The Mail: Prince Harry calls on Jamie Oliver to sort out Army's 'miserable' rations