ianstone
10-09-2010, 03:11 AM
'I heard the distant rumble of a roadside bomb. The victim's ID came over the radio. It was my son': Agony of a soldier in Afghanistan
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Even from more than a mile away, the thump of a roadside bomb going off is unmistakeable to our soldiers in the Afghan warzone.
Instantly their minds turn to the comrades caught in the ferocious blast of the booby-trap devices.
But imagine the thoughts of one battle-hardened veteran when he realised the distant rumble was the sound of his son’s armoured vehicle being blown up.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B79A6DD000005DC-197_468x606.jpg Military family: The Lilleys, John Senior, left, and John Junior
Platoon Sergeant Major John Lilley Senior had been on duty last month in Helmand Province when he heard the familiar sound of an improvised explosive device one-and-a-half miles away.
The 40-year-old father of four’s heart was in his mouth as he listened to information about the attack on the unit’s radio.
Commanders in his company’s headquarters then told him over the airwaves that his son, Guardsman John Junior, 20, had been injured when his 23-ton Mastiff armoured vehicle was blown up.
PSM Lilley told the Daily Mail: ‘I asked them to confirm the identification number just to clarify. I was moved by helicopter at the first available opportunity to Camp Bastion to be with him and got to see him for about 30 minutes before he was airlifted back to the UK.’
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[URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318762/U-S-reliance-private-security-Afghanistan-funding-Taliban-militants.html"]U.S. is lining the Taliban's pockets by spending millions of dollars on private security in Afghanistan (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318999/I-heard-distant-rumble-roadside-bomb-The-victims-ID-came-radio-It-son-Agony-soldier-Afghanistan.html)
Pakistan accuses the White House of exaggerating Al Qaeda terror threat (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318784/Pakistan-accuses-White-House-exaggerating-Al-Qaeda-terror-threat.html)
Two other comrades were slightly hurt. He then he broke the news to his wife, Elizabeth, 38, at home in Catterick, North Yorkshire, with John Jnr’s brothers Craig, 17, Connor, 14, and Charlie, seven.
He said: ‘I started to feel a wee bit sick with worry, not so much for him because I knew he was in good hands but for my wife back home.
‘I phoned Elizabeth. At first she said it was my fault but then she calmed down and seemed to go into auto-mode and started planning for him coming home.’
He added: ‘To tell the truth it was one of the worst days of my life and I wouldn’t want to have to repeat it.’
Three of John Jnr’s vertebrae were fractured in last month’s blast and he is now recovering at home. His father admitted: ‘It is a feeling of mixed emotions – I call it a million-dollar injury. On one hand, my son has been injured which I’m not happy about. On the other, I’m chuffed to bits he’s home and safe.’
PSM Lilley and his son were fighting together in Helmand Province – one of the world’s most dangerous places.
The pair, who both serve with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, were stationed at bases two miles apart near the insurgents’ stronghold of Loy Adera, north of provincial capital Lashkar Gah. PSM Lilley, who has done six tours of Northern Ireland and two of Iraq, commands a unit of men at Checkpoint North, a remote mud-walled compound.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B88583D000005DC-960_468x312.jpg John Lilley Snr surveying the countryside surround Camp North near Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
John Jnr searched for improvised explosive devices, leading patrols through fields, tracks and irrigation ditches with a metal detector in hand. He was based at nearby Checkpoint McCallum.
Over the summer, the Taliban have attacked the small compounds day and night with AK47 machine gun, rocket-propelled grenades and missiles.
‘When it went kinetic, it was hell,’ said PSM Lilley. ‘We were getting hit breakfast, lunch, dinner – and usually at supper time as well.’ Three soldiers have been killed in the attacks – Lance Sergeant Dale Alanzo McCallum, 30, and Lance Corporal Stephen Monkhouse, 28, both of the Scots Guards, and Corporal Matthew Stenton, 23, of the Royal Dragoon Guards.
Last night John Jnr said he felt very fortunate to have survived such a terrifying experience.
‘A lot of my colleagues have come home with terrible injuries,’ he added. ‘My back will never be quite the same again, but I am already walking on a crutch and hope to return to Afghanistan when I am fully recovered.’
Mrs Lilley recalled that she was at an Army barbecue when a welfare officer told her that her husband was on the telephone.
‘I just knew it was bad news,’ she said. ‘My heart flipped. John said “I want you to keep calm and listen to me, John has been involved in an IED, but he is absolutely fine”.’
Mrs Lilley, whose second son, Craig, 17, is also due to join up next year, added: ‘The treatment John has received since he flew home has been amazing. The Army have done everything to make John’s treatment and recovery as fast and comfortable as possible.’
Mrs Lilley said it was her ‘worst nightmare’ when her husband and eldest son were sent to Afghanistan on the same day, 29 weeks ago.
But she said she was looking forward to having her family back together when her husband’s tour ends in just over a week.
[/URL]
Even from more than a mile away, the thump of a roadside bomb going off is unmistakeable to our soldiers in the Afghan warzone.
Instantly their minds turn to the comrades caught in the ferocious blast of the booby-trap devices.
But imagine the thoughts of one battle-hardened veteran when he realised the distant rumble was the sound of his son’s armoured vehicle being blown up.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B79A6DD000005DC-197_468x606.jpg Military family: The Lilleys, John Senior, left, and John Junior
Platoon Sergeant Major John Lilley Senior had been on duty last month in Helmand Province when he heard the familiar sound of an improvised explosive device one-and-a-half miles away.
The 40-year-old father of four’s heart was in his mouth as he listened to information about the attack on the unit’s radio.
Commanders in his company’s headquarters then told him over the airwaves that his son, Guardsman John Junior, 20, had been injured when his 23-ton Mastiff armoured vehicle was blown up.
PSM Lilley told the Daily Mail: ‘I asked them to confirm the identification number just to clarify. I was moved by helicopter at the first available opportunity to Camp Bastion to be with him and got to see him for about 30 minutes before he was airlifted back to the UK.’
More...
[URL="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318762/U-S-reliance-private-security-Afghanistan-funding-Taliban-militants.html"]U.S. is lining the Taliban's pockets by spending millions of dollars on private security in Afghanistan (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318999/I-heard-distant-rumble-roadside-bomb-The-victims-ID-came-radio-It-son-Agony-soldier-Afghanistan.html)
Pakistan accuses the White House of exaggerating Al Qaeda terror threat (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318784/Pakistan-accuses-White-House-exaggerating-Al-Qaeda-terror-threat.html)
Two other comrades were slightly hurt. He then he broke the news to his wife, Elizabeth, 38, at home in Catterick, North Yorkshire, with John Jnr’s brothers Craig, 17, Connor, 14, and Charlie, seven.
He said: ‘I started to feel a wee bit sick with worry, not so much for him because I knew he was in good hands but for my wife back home.
‘I phoned Elizabeth. At first she said it was my fault but then she calmed down and seemed to go into auto-mode and started planning for him coming home.’
He added: ‘To tell the truth it was one of the worst days of my life and I wouldn’t want to have to repeat it.’
Three of John Jnr’s vertebrae were fractured in last month’s blast and he is now recovering at home. His father admitted: ‘It is a feeling of mixed emotions – I call it a million-dollar injury. On one hand, my son has been injured which I’m not happy about. On the other, I’m chuffed to bits he’s home and safe.’
PSM Lilley and his son were fighting together in Helmand Province – one of the world’s most dangerous places.
The pair, who both serve with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, were stationed at bases two miles apart near the insurgents’ stronghold of Loy Adera, north of provincial capital Lashkar Gah. PSM Lilley, who has done six tours of Northern Ireland and two of Iraq, commands a unit of men at Checkpoint North, a remote mud-walled compound.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B88583D000005DC-960_468x312.jpg John Lilley Snr surveying the countryside surround Camp North near Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
John Jnr searched for improvised explosive devices, leading patrols through fields, tracks and irrigation ditches with a metal detector in hand. He was based at nearby Checkpoint McCallum.
Over the summer, the Taliban have attacked the small compounds day and night with AK47 machine gun, rocket-propelled grenades and missiles.
‘When it went kinetic, it was hell,’ said PSM Lilley. ‘We were getting hit breakfast, lunch, dinner – and usually at supper time as well.’ Three soldiers have been killed in the attacks – Lance Sergeant Dale Alanzo McCallum, 30, and Lance Corporal Stephen Monkhouse, 28, both of the Scots Guards, and Corporal Matthew Stenton, 23, of the Royal Dragoon Guards.
Last night John Jnr said he felt very fortunate to have survived such a terrifying experience.
‘A lot of my colleagues have come home with terrible injuries,’ he added. ‘My back will never be quite the same again, but I am already walking on a crutch and hope to return to Afghanistan when I am fully recovered.’
Mrs Lilley recalled that she was at an Army barbecue when a welfare officer told her that her husband was on the telephone.
‘I just knew it was bad news,’ she said. ‘My heart flipped. John said “I want you to keep calm and listen to me, John has been involved in an IED, but he is absolutely fine”.’
Mrs Lilley, whose second son, Craig, 17, is also due to join up next year, added: ‘The treatment John has received since he flew home has been amazing. The Army have done everything to make John’s treatment and recovery as fast and comfortable as possible.’
Mrs Lilley said it was her ‘worst nightmare’ when her husband and eldest son were sent to Afghanistan on the same day, 29 weeks ago.
But she said she was looking forward to having her family back together when her husband’s tour ends in just over a week.