UK:The real story behind brave Apache rescue

Poor training, confusion and friendly fire, the real story behind brave Apache rescue
· Battle of Jugroom Fort Inquiry report reveals errors in attack
· Officer relieved of post during failed assault
Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Saturday August 16 2008
It was hailed as a heroic operation. Four Royal Marines strapped themselves to the sides of two Apache gunships to recover the body of a dead comrade. Dodging Taliban gunfire, the pilots landed allowing the marines to pick up the body of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford before taking it back across the Helmand river to their base.

Yesterday, however, an official report on the circumstances leading to Ford's death revealed he had been killed by one of his own comrades in an operation carried out by poorly trained troops.

A devastating board of inquiry report released by the Ministry of Defence exposed a catalogue of errors. The report revealed how a request for more troops by the commander of 3 Commando Brigade was turned down, and how communications became confused as troops struggled to cope with unfamiliar equipment.

Amid the gun battle, a marine company commander, a major, was relieved of his post, the Guardian has learned.

Ford died on January 15 last year during Operation Glacier, an assault on Jugroom Fort, a Taliban base in Garmser, in the south of Helmand province. The idea, says the board of inquiry, was to show that the Nato-led coalition was "capable of operating anywhere it chose". However, "shortfalls in combat power", identified by the brigade commander whose request to London for more troops was refused, prevented British forces from succeeding, specifically in being able to "take and subsequently hold" ground, the report says.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/16/military.afghanistan