MP Russell visits Colchester soldiers in Afghanistan

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 12th Sep 2008

Bob Russell MP with Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith presenting sign in Helmand Province

Colchester MP Bob Russell has made a surprise visit to some of the town's 2,000 soldiers currently serving in southern Afghanistan.

On his return he said: "The people of Colchester overwhelmingly support our soldiers, and as the town's MP I felt I should personally convey that support by visiting members of 16 Air Assault Brigade.

"I sought special permission from the Secretary of State for Defence after several soldiers from Colchester Garrison were killed in action."

Mr Russell said that the message he wanted to tell people back in Britain is that "the morale of the soldiers is exceedingly high - it was a privilege to meet such wonderful people serving our country with distinction in a difficult and dangerous part of the world."

His four-day visit included meeting Colchester members of 13 Air Assault Regiment at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province and the 3rd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment at Kandahar Airport which is where British troops in Kandahar Province are based.

He also met members of other units which are part of 16 Air Assault Brigade including medical personnel from Colchester.

Time constraints prevented him from meeting soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment based at Lashkar Gah, the main town in Helmand Province.

This is the second time Mr Russell has been to Afghanistan this year. In February - before 16 Air Assault Brigade was deployed - he made a longer visit through his membership of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. On that occasion he did go to Lashkar Gah as well as Camp Bastion and Kandahar.

The first members of the Brigade will start a phased return to the UK in the coming two weeks after completion of their six-month tour, with the whole Brigade back in Colchester by the end of October.

Mr Russell said that he had been "deeply moved" when he visited the prefabricated hospital at Camp Bastion and saw British military medical personnel helping save the life of a young Afghan boy who had been injured in an explosion - and at Kandahar when news came in that a British soldier had been killed in Helmand Province by an improvised explosive device (IED), with the lowering of the Union Flag to half-mast in silent tribute.

Mr Russell was greeted at Camp Bastion - a military base which the British have built in the desert - by Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith OBE, Commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade and currently Commander of all 8,000 British military personnel in the whole of Afghanistan including those in the capital, Kabul.

Brigadier Carleton-Smith is based at in the garrison in Lashkar Gah where the names of various British military units who have served in Helmand Province are displayed on a pole.

Remembering this, Mr Russell had arranged for a sign - featuring the emblem of 16 Air Assault Brigade and the Brigade's name - to be painted which he took with him and presented to the Brigadier.

The sign was painted by Colchester sign writer Mr Ron Whitney, of Bourne Road, with the wood prepared by joiner Mr David Bailey of Juniper Way, Stanway.

Mr Russell also gave Brigadier Carleton-Smith a letter from the Mayor of Colchester, Councillor Peter Crowe, expressing support and best wishes on behalf of the people of the Borough of Colchester.

In addition to meeting soldiers from Colchester and other units of 16 Air Assault Brigade, Mr Russell attended high-level briefings given by Senior Officers to a dozen Parliamentarians from the House of Commons and House of Lords with whom he travelled on the Ministry of Defence organised visit to Afghanistan.

He is a member of the Liberal Democrat Defence team.

Mr Russell described the vital role which Colchester soldiers from 13 Air Assault Regiment and 3 Para - supported by elements of 2 Para - had played in what is being described as Britain's biggest reconstruction project in Afghanistan.

"Our visit came just days after a most astonishing and brilliantly successful engineering and military achievement - the transportation of a massive turbine for more than 50 miles through hostile country and rough terrain, involving a convoy of more than 100 military vehicles with 1,190 men making it possible."

It took eight days for the convoy to reach the Kajaki Dam, but the whole mission - clearing the ground, carrying out engineering works, combating Taleban threats and attacks, and the withdrawal afterwards - took a total of 30 days.

Mr Russell said: "The convoy went through territory dominated by the Taleban and our troops encountered significant resistance, but they got through with no British casualties. The Taleban suffered significant casualties."

The turbine is to be installed at the Kajaki Dam on the Helmand River. Built more than 50 years ago, the power station has only one working turbine. The new turbine will in due course double electricity production for the more than two million people who live in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

It will be a vital contribution to the economic reconstruction of southern Afghanistan, providing a lasting strategic effect with significant benefits for local Afghans.

Mr Russell said: "I was able to speak to several of the men from 13 Air Assault Regiment and 3 Para. They can be rightly proud of their outstanding achievement, and for the bravery they displayed in such a dangerous environment."

He added: "We were told that the mission was the largest undertaken by The Parachute Regiment since the Falklands War in 1982 - and, with elements of 1 Para and Territorial Army members of 4 Para also involved, it was the first time since the Second World War that all the Regiment's battalions had taken part in the same mission.

"Soldiers from Colchester Garrison are thus part of this piece of military history, a mission which I hope can be commemorated in some way."

For the past two years the Ministry of Defence has required troops returning from a six-month deployment in Afghanistan to stop over for a day or two at the British sovereign base of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus for what is called "decompression leave" This enables them to unwind with colleagues before returning to the UK to be reunited with their families.

In the next few weeks, wounded soldiers from 2 Para repatriated to the UK will be the first to take part in a new scheme to reunite them with colleagues. If they wish, they will be able to fly to Cyprus to meet flights from Afghanistan. They will then spend "decompression leave" together before all returning to Colchester Garrison.

Between four and seven per cent of British military personnel experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, whereas the figure for the Americans is 20 per cent.

Mr Russell said that the briefing sessions and chats to soldiers had been invaluable.

"I think it is important that MPs should gain as much first-hand knowledge as possible, and I was grateful to soldiers - of all ranks - who expressed appreciation to me for going to Afghanistan to see for myself, and to meet them.

"My visit will prove very helpful in future deliberations in the House of Commons on Britain's involvement in Afghanistan. There will also be several Parliamentary Questions for me to pursue."

Mr Russell said that he would in particular be pursuing the need for more helicopters to be deployed to southern Afghanistan - both by Britain and also other NATO countries.

"Afghanistan and Iraq are two totally separate operations, and it is important that the public does not get confused between the two. We are in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission, but more countries need to support the effort in the south of the country."

The need for other European countries to commit troops to Helmand and Kandahar has previously been raised by Mr Russell during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

"As a result of my further visit to Afghanistan I will continue to pursue this. It is wrong that Britain is getting so little support from major European countries. It is in all our interests that the Taleban and foreign insurgents are defeated, otherwise Afghanistan will once more become a haven from where terrorism is exported around the world."

Mr Russell observed that the development of Camp Bastion from a tented base in the Helmand desert to one with substantial two-storey pre-fabricated buildings suggested that the UK expects to be in Afghanistan for at least another ten years.