Thorneloe warned of helicopter shortage
Updated on 31 October 2009
Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior British soldier killed in Afghanistan, had complained about a helicopter shortage just weeks before his death. Andrew Thomas reports.
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died in July when his convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmand province, north of the town of Lashkar Gah.
Less than a month before his death, he sent a memo saying helicopter movements in the war-torn country were "not fit for purpose" and there were not enough of the aircraft.
A series of dispatches were sent by the Welsh Guardsman, one which was headed "Battle Group Weekly Update" and read: "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."
Lt Col 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.
The 39-year-old stated that the system used to manage helicopter movements in Afghanistan "is very clearly not fit for purpose".
He also observed that helicopter operations in Iraq "were managed in a more flexible, efficient manner".
Helicopter and other equipment shortages have become an increasingly controversial issue for the government as casualties have mounted in Afghanistan.
Three weeks after Lt Col Thorneloe's death, Prime Minister Gordon Brown dismissed suggestions that British lives were being lost because of a shortage of helicopters.
