FULMER NEWSLETTER - Fulmer Village

THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
You might wonder, when seeing this headline, what relevance this has to life in
Fulmer today; an unpopular war that no one wanted, in a country thousands of miles
from here. To us as a nation it has every relevance, because our soldiers are there
being killed and wounded on a daily basis serving their country and we therefore have
a duty to support them, however unpopular the war may be. A look at the British
Army website www.army.uk will give you an overview of
current operations and makes an attempt at explaining “Why are we in Afghanistan”.
Of the 9000 or so, soldiers sailors and airmen currently serving there, roughly 7/8000
of them are in 20 Armoured Brigade which is currently relieving 3 Commando
Brigade Royal Marines.
The relevance to life in Fulmer today is very much in the forefront of the minds of one
family in Fulmer as their eldest son Brigadier Patrick Sanders DSO OBE, is now in
Afghanistan commanding 20 Armoured Brigade until next May. This is not new for
him as he has already served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq (twice) and
for the past year he and his men have been training hard for this challenging task. For
the families of the soldiers left behind it is an anxious and trying experience not
helped by the fact that communications are not brilliant. Steam post works, the
internet for emails is intermittent, mobile phones are taboo (for security reasons),
there is always a long queue for the welfare landline and Skype is not available. The
worst scenario for any family is the knock on the door and two grim faced officers
with bad news, and it happens far too often.
For any of those reading this article who have served in the forces you will no doubt
be surprised at the size of 20 Brigade (almost 3 times the size of the old Brigades).
There are 2 Cavalry Regiments, 6 Infantry regiments, elements of 6 Artillery
Regiments, Royal Signals, Royal Engineers, REME, Army Air Corps, Royal Logistic
Corps, Royal Military Police, a Field Hospital, and a host of smaller units including a
dog Regiment, made up to this size and divided into a number of Battle Groups for the
Operations in Afghanistan. It is the equivalent of an old Army Division usually
commanded by a Major General (the full composition of 20 Armoured Brigade with all
the units listed is too long to be published here but for those interested a copy is
available from the Editor).
Apart from the relevance this subject has to one family in Fulmer it could be of
considerable interest to other families in the area who may also have sons or
daughters, grandsons or granddaughters, other members of their families or friends of
friends who have just flown to Afghanistan to be part of 20 Armd Bde and who need
our prayers and support. Two of the Regiments currently there are 2 and 5 Rifles
elements of whom made up the old Greenjackets some of whom were from the old
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry a locally recruited regiment. It
would be surprising if there was nobody who is affected and with the help and
support of our local vicar it would be helpful if we could all get together at Fulmer
Church on the occasional Sunday to meet, to pray for the soldiers and share our
common experiences.
This is an excellent proposal by the author and any readers interested in pursuing the idea,
please contact the Editors