BBC: British soldier shot dead in Iraq

[leftchick]

British soldier shot dead in Iraq

The soldier was serving with the 1st Battalion The Highlanders.
A British soldier has been killed in Iraq after coming under small arms fire, the Ministry of Defence said.

The incident happened in Maysan Province at 0840 GMT on Monday, the ministry said.

The soldier was from the 7th Armoured Brigade, serving with the 1st Battalion The Highlanders.

The death brings the number of British service personnel to have died in Iraq to 99, with about 230 troops injured by enemy action.

The soldier, whose name had not yet been released, was part of a multi-national patrol.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4663538.stm

[rodeodance]

1. may his family/friends find some peace.

[bluestateguy]

2. MOD: British soldier killed in Iraq (confirmed)

It is with very deep regret that the Ministry of Defence can confirm that a British soldier from the 7th Armoured Brigade, serving with the Maysan Battlegroup, has died in Iraq today, 30 January 2006.

A Multi-National Division (South East) patrol came under small arms fire in Maysan Province at 0840 GMT. One British soldier from the 1st Battalion The Highlanders subsequently died of his injuries.

There were no other injuries to UK service personnel.

more

http://www.news.mod.uk/news_headline_story2.asp?newsItem_id=3958

[saigon68]

3. "BRING EM ON" shouted the Chimp and the Poodle

[Posteritatis]

4. KIA/WIA ratios

Okay, so we've got 99 KIA and 230 WIA for the British. We've also got 2242 KIA and 16420 WIA for the Americans.

That's kinda making me blink - there's a little more than two wounded for every killed British soldier, but it's more than 7:1 for the American forces (that number drops to less than 3:1 in Afghanistan, with 259 KIA and 676 WIA for US forces).

The British are most emphatically not slouches when it comes to taking care of their wounded, and haven't been for a long time; obviously the Americans mostly aren't either, or else their KIA count would be much higher by this point. I wonder what's causing that huge difference between the ratios for either country, then?

I mean, I have the image of US soldiers reporting mild sprains and papercuts, and UK troops shrugging off a missing arm by saying it's just a flesh wound and will grow back or something; as entertaining as that is, it obviously isn't gonna answer the question. I wonder how much of it is a difference in how each army operates, records wounded, etc., and how much is the areas they're each stuck in.

Just musing out loud; carry on.

[Karmakaze]

5. Or maybe 2:1 or 3:1 is the real number?

Perhaps the US Military has decided that 5470 KIA is an unacceptable number?

[Posteritatis]

7. I don't give the Pentagon enough credit to hide something like that. (n/t)

[seemslikeadream]

6. HOW MANY MORE GEORGIE, HOW MANY MORE?

B.f.p.o.*
Army dreamers.
Mammy’s hero.
B.f.p.o.
Mammy’s hero.

Our little army boy
Is coming home from b.f.p.o.
I’ve a bunch of purple flowers
To decorate a mammy’s hero.

Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

What could he do?
Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.

Tears o’er a tin box.
Oh, jesus christ, he wasn’t to know,
Like a chicken with a fox,
He couldn’t win the war with ego.

Give the kid the pick of pips,
And give him all your stripes and ribbons.
Now he’s sitting in his hole,
He might as well have buttons and bows.

What could he do?
Should have been a rock star.
But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.
What could he do?
Should have been a politician.
But he never had a proper education.
What could he do?
Should have been a father.
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of all that
Army dreamers,
Army dreamers,
Army dreamers, oh...

(b.f.p.o.)
Did-n-did-n-did-n-dum...
Army dreamers.
Did-n-did-n-did-n-dum...
(mammy’s hero.)
(b.f.p.o.)
Army dreamers.
(mammy’s hero.)
(b.f.p.o.)
No harm heroes.
(mammy’s hero.)
(b.f.p.o.)
Army dreamers.
(mammy’s hero.)
(b.f.p.o.)
No harm heroes.

Kate Bush

[0007]

8. Pile the bodies high

Grass Bush

Pile the bodies high in Austerlitz and Waterloo Iraq
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; bush; I cover all.

And pile them high in Gettyburg Baghdad
And pile them high in Ypres and Vedum Mossoul and Al Fallaujah

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?

I am the grass bush.
Let me work.

Carl Sandburg


Support the war - Donate a Son a daughter
Blair is working for a better UD

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. What should shock the fuck out of all Americans

Is that this is only the 99th British military death in Iraq, while the US has 2242.

Is this disparity a jaw-dropping failure of the so-called coalition to anybody but me?

[Posteritatis]

10. Remember the relative troop levels

Well, the British do only have about 8000 troops in theatre to the 150,000 that the US has. When you take the number of troops from each country which have gone through Iraq into account, the British come out with a lower chance of getting killed compared to American soldiers, but it isn't very much lower.