“Hello buddy. It's me. If you're listening to this tape and have read this letter, then I'm not there anymore and we need to talk about how you're going to embark on your next phase of life and the journey you must take.”
A message from a solider doomed to die, but also words which suggest, despite government denials, that British troops were left fatally exposed by lack of basic equipment.
”General Jackson then turned around -- I don't know if you remember this - last week turned round and said "Yes, we are ready to go" and our vehicles were still in the boats ready to come into port. So what a blatant lie that was.”
A blatant lie is exactly what Sergeant Robert's widow Samantha believes the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has been telling when he denies that her husband or any other British soldier was put at risk by shortages of basic kit.
In the first of his voice diaries, Sergeant Roberts hinted to his wife that body-armour might not be available.
“We are now back into one of the camps to up-armour, which again is a bit of a joke in itself because they are running out of the frontal armour and so it will be interesting to see what armour I actually get, which I will keep you posted on.”
Two days later things are no better.
“As I have written in your letter we have now got absolutely nothing. It is disgraceful what we have got out here.
I can't wait to see you again. I love you so much and I am so proud of you.
Before he went out to Iraq Steve and Samantha spent almost £1,000 of their own money buying items he feared the military would not provide.”
Samantha: “To me it just seems extraordinary that a soldier should be going down to the local High Street to buy basic kit like a tent and a torch. And boots!”
Why did you do it?
Samantha: “Because he didn't think he would get it. I think if we had know then what we know now we would have bought him a flak jacket as well.”
”The tent that I got is great - I am going to sleep in it tonight. The little torch is fantastic. That still works - brilliant. Trouble is I won't let anyone touch it except me. If that breaks I'm going to kill someone. My boots I bought are the best and my feet aren't sweaty at all in them so it's good, and I am looking forward to about six to seven hours kip tonight.”
The night before he was due to go over the border, Sergeant Roberts told his wife he and other members of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment had still not got the right equipment.
“The date is the 21st. We have been bloody busy, with all the prep for the war etc and it's going well. I still haven't received my combats yet. Things we have been told we are going to get, we're just not.
"It's disheartening because we know we are going to go to war without the correct equipment and it fills me with a bit of remorse really and I think remorse is the right word.”
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has remained insistent that as the war began, British troops had all the equipment they needed.
He said: "The truth is that when they went into action into operations all our forces were given the right boots there was sufficient clothing and protective equipment in theatre to deal with force of this size."
Sunday March 23rd”I can't really sleep because I am too nervous that I may never wake up and that we are in enemy territory now and anything could happen.
As Sergeant Robert's prepared to go into battle, it wasn't Iraqi soldiers but the fear of friendly fire - what they called blue on blue - which preoccupied him.
Very very conscious... already had cases of blue on blue where American planes have bombed an American tank so we are very very conscious of our surroundings and helicopters and aircraft as they come over.
I am averaging about one to two hours kip a night and it really drains you. I just want to come home.
Last Tuesday Mrs Roberts went to the Commons to watch the Defence Secretary being questioned about her husband's death.
The Defence Secretary though quoted from a National Audit office report published last month and described instances where soldiers were left without kit as 'detail'.
Sergeant Stephen Roberts was killed on March 24th, his body among those draped with the Union Flag at RAF Brize Norton. These are the last words he spoke to his wife:
“I love you so much and I will speak to you when I can probably tomorrow. I love you lots. Sleep tight. Bye.”
KIT SHORTAGE EMAILS
It seems there may be many soldiers besides Steven Roberts who were exposed to danger because they didn't have basic equipment. Something that could cost Mr Hoon his job.
Since last night's programme, emails have been pouring in to Channel 4 News. Here is a selection:
Cathy Gray, whose husband served in Basra last year, wrote: "...he has stressed emphatically how the army DID NOT provide adequate kit. My husband also did not have body plates issued and was told to get on with the job."
Andy Fuller's stepdaughter is currently serving in southern Iraq. He says: "My stepdaughter, although under missile attack, gave up her body armour for it to be sent forward. She bought her own boots and other equipment... The troops cannot speak out for fear of reprisal."
Among serving soldiers who have contacted us, David Curtin, from the Territorial Army's parachute medical squadron wrote: "I, along with forty others, were mobilised for the war in Iraq. We served with the Air Assault Brigade and the majority were not issued with any Enhanced Combat Body Armour..."
Several soldiers complained they had to spend hundreds of pounds buying their own kit. One, who didn't want to be named, wrote: "I bought for my self, amongst other things, desert combats and desert boots...Approximately 20 of my TA unit were serving and most of us spent between £300 and £500."
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