Eastbourne man will fight Taliban for his injured brother (From The Argus)
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Eastbourne man will fight Taliban for his injured brother
5:00pm Saturday 3rd October 2009 in News By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter
Lee (left) Chris (right)
The brother of a hero soldier who had his leg blown off while fighting in Afghanistan has signed up to the Army saying: "I want to carry on what he didn't get the chance to finish."
Brave Lee Howard applied to join the infantry yesterday — just six weeks after older brother Chris was flown back to the UK with crippling injuries after being blown up by a roadside bomb.
Lee, 19, who lives with his mother in Firle Road, Eastbourne, said: “I'm not afraid of going out there.
"It makes me angry about what happened but now I just want to fight for my country.”
Chris, who is in the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was on foot patrol when he was caught in an explosion on August 13.
He lost the bottom half of his right leg and three fingers off his right hand in the blast.
Lee will be taking his selection tests next week.
Comments(17)
Sweepster
says...
5:45pm Sat 3 Oct 09
Hugh Rinall
says...
8:30pm Sat 3 Oct 09
tinkywinky
says...
8:49am Sun 4 Oct 09
Your brother is a hero.
Respect.
HF05
says...
9:25am Sun 4 Oct 09
Sweepster wrote:+1
Don't do it. Think of your family. Thankfully your brother did not come home in a box.
Absolutely spot on
HF05
says...
9:26am Sun 4 Oct 09
Hugh Rinall wrote:Opps, this was the post I meant to quote.
You are NOT fighting for your country Lee. You are being used as cannon fodder in an unwinnable political war supporting a totally corrupt foreign government. Think of your future and your family.
Spot on
tinkywinky
says...
10:16am Sun 4 Oct 09
No wonder the country is in such a state when there is such cancer and self hatred from within.
Where the hell did patriotism go? No wonder the states is so powerful. A population from all round the globe , but a pride in their forces and country.
You lot are lefty, yoghurt knitting PC idiots. Move to Iran!
We are in Afghanistan because of our commitment to NATO.
Not that you lot would understand. Get back to protesting outside starbucks and avoiding soap! And try supporting our brave forces do their jobs.
Hugh Rinall
says...
10:37am Sun 4 Oct 09
The ghost of Osama bin there
says...
10:51am Sun 4 Oct 09
tinkywinky wrote:But we aren't talking about the UK being invaded. If we were, I would be the first to do something, although at 58 I would probably be in 'Dad's Army'.
I dread to think what would happen if the UK were to be invaded most of this bunch of cowardly posters would be shot for treason and cowardice. No wonder the country is in such a state when there is such cancer and self hatred from within. Where the hell did patriotism go? No wonder the states is so powerful. A population from all round the globe , but a pride in their forces and country. You lot are lefty, yoghurt knitting PC idiots. Move to Iran! We are in Afghanistan because of our commitment to NATO. Not that you lot would understand. Get back to protesting outside starbucks and avoiding soap! And try supporting our brave forces do their jobs.
What we are talking about is our armed forces being used to prop up an unelected regime in a foreign country, just because the unelected world's policemen - the USA (in the guise of NATO) - say we have to.
Saying that is wrong is nothing to do with being unpatriotic. Actually it's the opposite. It's saying that our armed forces should not lose their lives in a campaign that is unwinnable and of questionable morality in the first place.
Most afghans don't want NATO there. It's their country, and if that's their decision, why is NATO still there?
Because of oil. Pure and simple.
It's you that are the idiot for not understanding history or the origins of this conflict. Get back to reading the Daily Express and The Sun.
I support our armed forces 100%. What I don't support is our government sending them to serve in this stupid conflict.
TheInsider
says...
4:42pm Sun 4 Oct 09
There are literally hundreds of young men in their teens and early 20s with legs, arms and eyes missing who really have no idea what misery lies ahead of them as they get older.
While they are still employed by the MoD they are supported and have the camaraderie of colleagues to get them through the dark days of first being disabled and learning to walk etc they can get through. But in a few years when they are dumped, unemployed and time has caught up with them and they are fatter, less fit and need carers to lift them onto wheelchairs and hoists to help them bathe and have to battle for social servie help and benefits, they will feel very differently about patriotism. Listen to the young men who fought in the first Gulf War and who stood in line and took multiple vaccinations and who now suffer serious illness.They too were dumped despite their patriotism.
Listen to Simon Weston talk about the issue. One of the most sensible and honest men of our generation who suffered terribly in conflict.
We want our men and women to come home. This does not mean that people in this country do not support the forces.
John Steed
says...
8:43pm Sun 4 Oct 09
tinkywinky wrote:let us not mix patriotism and cowardice, cowardice is not the problem here, far from it, understanding a NATO deployment to the middle of nowhere is a little bit more to swallow, I seem to recall Nato stands for North Atlantic Treaty Orginization, ie states bordering more or less on the North Atlantic Ocean, usefull in the days of the cold war, now nato forces include some of our once opposition and these states do not nessacarily border any oceans. The Cold war is over, nato is a wider alliance, our old adversaries are now far more open and pose no military threat to us.
I dread to think what would happen if the UK were to be invaded most of this bunch of cowardly posters would be shot for treason and cowardice. No wonder the country is in such a state when there is such cancer and self hatred from within. Where the hell did patriotism go? No wonder the states is so powerful. A population from all round the globe , but a pride in their forces and country. You lot are lefty, yoghurt knitting PC idiots. Move to Iran! We are in Afghanistan because of our commitment to NATO. Not that you lot would understand. Get back to protesting outside starbucks and avoiding soap! And try supporting our brave forces do their jobs.
I cringe every time I see a report from calais showing young afghan and iraqi men trying to get into the UK illegally, the UK is such a wonderfull attraction yet their compatriots kill our guys daily, to me there is not an afghan or iraqi life worth just 1 of our military dead. and to make it worse we let them (Afghans)profit by growing bumper opium crops to feed the needs of the worlds and the UK addicts with all the crime and grief that it brings.
Jack Straw last week publicly voiced what I have proposed on here many times, give the heroin away to addict free, cut out the dealers, do away with the crime.
Our military should napalm or agent orange the insidious feilds of opium poppies in afghanistan, and if a few locals are tending the crops of ruin, then count that as collateral damage. the iraqis stole so much of the copper wire in the country it brought world scrap prices down, then they moan about not having any electricity & dont forget the beheadings and the one british hostage they still have.
Our military are the finest professional force in the world, they unstintingly & unselfeshly do what the government of the day require of them, they do it to the very best of their ability, but in this case I reiterate Not one afghan is worth the life of 1 of our men and women, over 200 dead and I have never heard a single word of gratitude from them, leave them to get on with it, bring our guys home.
I do not nessacarily agree with the veiws of left wing, yougurt eating flip flop wearing tree hugging soap dodgers BUT I would not resort to calling them COWARDS, look at history tinkywinky When the british get put in a corner they always come out fighting & ignoring the battle of hastings which was more or less between a pair of kermits WE STAND SIDE BY SIDE & WE WIN, we dont have to stand for the national anthem with our hand on our heart to show we are patriotic, we know our place and our duty, its just that at times and this is one of them, the object of the exercise is not clear cut, the people of the countries involved didnt invite us in and blatently dont want us to stay.
It is because we are british, left wing, right wing, is doesnt matter, but I can say what I like and you can say what you like and we can happily live to disagree, its called democracy, and we are the birthplace of it, and the true guardians of it despite what other states may claim but that is no reason why we should attempt to be the worlds policemen and pay the price in blood.
respect to the lad for his enthusiasm especially in light of his brothers injuries, the military could well be the sort of career he will like and thrive on
tinkywinky
says...
10:00pm Sun 4 Oct 09
indiebright
says...
8:45am Mon 5 Oct 09
tinkywinky wrote:What on earth makes you think people don't understand because they don't share your views. Do you listen to world radio, do you read world publications?
I dread to think what would happen if the UK were to be invaded most of this bunch of cowardly posters would be shot for treason and cowardice. No wonder the country is in such a state when there is such cancer and self hatred from within. Where the hell did patriotism go? No wonder the states is so powerful. A population from all round the globe , but a pride in their forces and country. You lot are lefty, yoghurt knitting PC idiots. Move to Iran! We are in Afghanistan because of our commitment to NATO. Not that you lot would understand. Get back to protesting outside starbucks and avoiding soap! And try supporting our brave forces do their jobs.
I question whether you truly understand?
Armed with facts that come from people in the situation it is apparent this is an illegal war, an unwinnable war, an awful continuing waste of life, a continuing spur for Taliban recruitment and extremism.
Please explain what you do understand that others don't. What job is it exactly that the forces are doing?
I would also be interested to know if you have missed information on the huge numbers of Americans who continue to oppose the war.
There are always many sides to any issue. In this issue I believe it pays to source your information from as wide a variety of media as possible.
I worry for the young mans motivation for signing up and wanting to go to war. I would like to think he had more of a perspective than wishing to seek revenge for his brothers loss of limb.
maxiboy
says...
9:31am Mon 5 Oct 09
We are fighting murderous scum where the life of a human being is meaningless. They wish to spread their filth to every corner of the world. The war on terror is very real caused by a backward and stone age ideology camouflaged by a religious zeal.
They have to be destroyed if we are to protect our way of life and better to deal with them on their own ground. Many ranter on about Great Britain and the Soviets leaving with their tails between their legs long ago but we are fighting a different war and not one based on old empires. Pakistan will be the next battle ground very soon.
Support our brave forces and our allies and to victory. V
The ghost of Osama bin there
says...
10:40am Mon 5 Oct 09
maxiboy wrote:Total and utter nonsense.
Go on. Do what you feel you have to do. You are a brave soul and deserve much respect for your decision. We are fighting murderous scum where the life of a human being is meaningless. They wish to spread their filth to every corner of the world. The war on terror is very real caused by a backward and stone age ideology camouflaged by a religious zeal. They have to be destroyed if we are to protect our way of life and better to deal with them on their own ground. Many ranter on about Great Britain and the Soviets leaving with their tails between their legs long ago but we are fighting a different war and not one based on old empires. Pakistan will be the next battle ground very soon. Support our brave forces and our allies and to victory. V
The very reason we are on constant alert in this country is because we continue to meddle in affairs of foreign, islamist countries without a mandate from the people that live there.
Leave Afghanistan and Iraq to their own devices and they will leave us alone as well.
But it's all about oil, isn't it? In Afghanistan it's all about Bush having installed one of his old mates - Karzai - as premier. Then when they had 'free' elections they were rigged and now he's back in power, even though the country voted him out. Why do you think the Taliban have a following there? Because they have pledged to drive out NATO and Karzai's unelected government.
In Iraq, we all know that the weapons of mass distruction never existed, which was supposedly the reason to invade there. But that was never the reason. It's all about oil.
I have no time for islamist fundamentalists and their 'stone age ideology' any more than I have time for christian fundamentalists and their 'stone age ideology'.
But we have invaded their countries. Why wouldn't they fight back in every way possible?
Don't you think we would do the same in this country if that happened to us?
Barney McGrew
says...
11:03am Mon 5 Oct 09
smithy4544
says...
9:39pm Mon 12 Oct 09
The ghost of Osama bin there says...
5:35pm Sat 3 Oct 09
The whole of the Russian army couldn't win against the Taliban, and the combined forces there now won't win either. It's an unwinnable war, and more importantly it's an internal conflict that has nothing to do with us.
I don't doubt your bravery for one moment, but spare your mother anymore heartache.