TA soldier’s blog post hits the headlines

A blog post written by a Territorial Army soldier who was killed in Afghanistan has received widespread media coverage.

In the post entilted ‘Hello from Afghan’, Rifleman Andrew Fentiman of 7 Rifles, describes how he was waiting to be transferred to his Forward Operating Base shortly after arriving in Afghanistan two weeks ago.

Several news organisations focussed on one particular line in the post in which Rfn Fentiman said he and his colleagues "are still waiting on these new body armour and helmets that were promised to us."

The comment has sparked further discussion about the equipment provided to British forces at a time when there are mutterings about the possibility of formulating a timetable for British withdrawal.

Merely days after he wrote the post dated 4th November*, Rfn Fentiman was killed on foot patrol in Helmand province.

Media coverage:

 

*All very minor in the grand scheme of things, but strangely, most of these articles seem to say the post was dated the 2nd November. The blog post I’m looking at says the 4th. Maybe it has been changed for some reason, or it’s just a mistake, or I’m seeing things.