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SAS in body armor 'private funding' row
The Sunday Telegraph has been told that a £400,000 "contingency fund", financed by private donors, was used to purchase body armour for members of 21 SAS, one of the service's two territorial regiments, prior to their deployment to Helmand in 2008.Cash from the fund was also used to pay for operational welfare equipment, personal kit and to pay-off the mortgages of two members of 23 SAS killed in southern Afghanistan in an earlier deployment. The disclosure has been seized upon by opposition MPs and former Army commanders of proof that the Armed Forces have not been properly funded while Labour has been in power. Tory MPs described the revelation as an "outrage and a disgrace" and it has prompted calls for an investigation into private funding of the Army. Details of the row came just days after the war in Afghanistan was highlighted as an election issue when Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said that troops in Helmand were under-equipped. The 21 SAS fund was created prior to the regiment's deployment to Afghanistan in 2008 and was supposed to be used to help families of soldiers who were either killed or wounded on operations. But after the regiment was mobilised in the spring of 2008, commanders feared the unit did not have access to enough equipment or body armour to properly prepare the SAS troops for their six month tour. The Sunday Telegraph understands that those individuals who contributed to the fund were asked and agreed to allow some of the money to be used to buy body armour, training and operational welfare equipment, such as computers and satellite telephones. Sources have said that the kit issue became crucial after Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Trooper Paul Stout, both members of 23 SAS, also a territorial regiment, were killed along with Corporal Sean Reeve, from the Royal Signals, and Corporal Sarah Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, when their Snatch Land Rover was blown up by an improvised explosive device in June 2008. Following the deaths, it was claimed by an SAS commander that the dead soldiers had not been properly trained or equipped for their role in Helmand. Posted by: lotp 2010-04-18 |
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