Defence: a worrying development
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Nonetheless, we would not be entirely alone in worrying a little about the maudlin sentimentality of the official eulogies which magnify the significance of each death almost to the point where the loss of an entire army could not be a greater tragedy.
This trend is unfortunately manifest with the death of Sergeant Lee Paul Davidson of the Light Dragoons, killed in Afghanistan on Sunday 9 September 2012 after his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device.
Official details, as usual, have been repeated by press agencies and our state broadcaster, and multiple newspapers, not least the Evening Standard. This plumbs the depths of the Dianafication process, offering a "tribute to husband" from the "pregnant wife", with a degree of intimacy which, although touching, is perhaps best kept private.
What makes this death different though, is a detail not always given in official bulletins and sometimes quite deliberately withheld because of the political sensitivity – the type of vehicle involved.
But in this case, there can be no concern that the media will pillory ministers for another case of inadequate equipment. The vehicle involved is a Ridgeback (type illustrated above), a 4x4 version of the famed Mastiff, and one of the best-protected vehicles in theatre.
To my knowledge, this is the very first public report of a soldier being killed in such a vehicle, which has justly earned a reputation for impregnability, having saved the lives of countless numbers of soldiers.
That, on the face of it, the Taliban should have found a means of breaching this vehicle is, therefore, a matter of considerable concern and a very significant development, even if none of the media reports seems to be aware of that.
Very little detail is given of the incident, other than Sgt Davidson was the vehicle commander, and that his was the last in a convoy. But even these details add to the worry. As commander, he was most likely fully inside the vehicles, unlike the gunner, who is partially exposed. Then, as the last vehicle, we might assume a possible degree of sophistication in the targeting.
One hopes, nevertheless, that this was one of those sad, random events, and that Sgt Davidson was an unfortunate casualty of war. But if it is the case that the Taliban have got the measure of these vehicles, then nothing in theatre is safe. Such a situation would be a very worrying development.
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Richard North 12/09/2012
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