Commemorating The Fallen of Afghanistan

On the 5th of June 2010, on a very hot summer’s day, I drove to the National Arboretum in Alrewas to report for duty. I was to assist with the organisation of the ceremony to commemorate the Fallen of 2009. The majority of those had died serving their country in Afghanistan. Part of my duty was to assist the families as they laid personal tributes to their dearly loved relatives after the formal ceremony.

I would describe that duty as heart-breaking – as small children tentatively approached the wall on which their daddy’s name was inscribed to lay a card or present adorned with carefully written words of love. Except it wasn’t heart-breaking in comparison to the grief that I witnessed in front of me.

This Friday, poignantly just ahead of Mother’s Day, our country commemorated those who gave their lives in the service of their country in Afghanistan. I’m no longer serving, but Afghanistan is woven into my experience, culminating in that June day less than a year before I left the RAF. Back in 2001, in the aftermath of 9/11, I commanded ASCOT operations – responsible for the command and control of Air Transport and Air Refuelling assets for the RAF.

Those assets led the UK contribution, participating alongside the international community, to stamp out Al Qaeda who were embedded in the mountains of Afghanistan. We were asking a lot of our people, operating old aircraft in a hostile and austere environment. Later I was in charge of the Harrier operations squadron as we deployed the Harrier aircraft to Southern Afghanistan in 2005 and was then sent at very short notice to work in Kandahar and Helmand during the inload of 3 Para in 2006.

At St Paul’s Cathedral, families, royalty and fellow servicemen and women joined to remember and commemorate. As well as paying tribute to the 453 who gave their lives in Afghanistan, this is a time to remember the sacrifices made by those who have been injured – physically and mentally – during their time in Afghanistan. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the dedication of all the men and women of our Armed Forces who deployed on Operation Herrick. I can’t, of course, speak for them, but my experience of Afghanistan made an indelible impression on me. It was an incredible country, with fertility and desert existing in close proximity, staggeringly beautiful mountains and sunsets I will remember for many years.

We should be proud of our Armed Forces’ contribution to Afghanistan. There are lessons that have already been learnt, and more to learn, but this weekend is the time to remember. This Mothering Sunday, spare a moment to think of the mothers who continue to hold their families together having lost their husband, partner, son or daughter. I will be thinking of the small children approaching a wall many times their height and peering upwards to look for their daddy’s name.

Sophy Gardner is the Labour PPC for Gloucester. She is a former Wing Commander, and was awarded an MBE for Service to Operations in Afghanistan in 2002