Stunning images of Welsh troops in Afghanistan

Corporal Barry Lloyd scored a notable first when he became the first professional photographer to be specifically attached to regiments from Wales
He's the first professional photographer specifically designated to Welsh troops.

And now Corporal Barry Lloyd, 27, of the 160 Brigade Headquarters in Wales, has just returned from his third tour of Afghanistan and shared some of his incredible images with WalesOnline.

After five years as a supply controller in the regular army, Cpl Lloyd found the perfect combination of his two passions - photography and the forces - when he stumbled across a magazine advert to become one of only 37 professional army photographers, and the first to be attached to regiments from Wales.

Based in the Brecon Beacons, he has been attached to various regiments from across the nation, including the Royal Monmouthshire regiment, the 3 Royal Engineers Newport.

Life for a photographer in Helmand province, where Cpl Lloyd has been deployed on multiple occasions, can obviously be very dangerous.

“They were the hairiest moments –  knocking on enemy doors after being dropped off by helicopter and then having to manage on foot,” he said.Read more   HERE 

Soldier, 20, hanged himself the day after comrade's funeral, whose Afghan killer he shot dead.

A young soldier hanged himself the day after the funeral of a fallen comrade whose killer he shot dead, an inquest heard yesterday.Ryan Ward, 20, had gunned down an Afghan policeman who had killed two of his colleagues in a 'shocking and horrible' ambush.He had later gone to pay his last respects to Sgt Gareth Thursby, 29, at his funeral in Skipton, just 24 hours before his own death, the hearing was told.Sgt Thursby died alongside Private Thomas Wroe, 18, manning a checkpoint in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province on September 15 last year. A rogue Afghan policeman pretended to be injured in the road so they would help him, but then opened fire on the pair. Kingsman Ward reacted swiftly and 'appropriately' by killing the Afghan police officer.It was one of a string of 'blue on green' incidents where police officers, supposedly loyal to the Afghan government, have instead turned their guns on British soldiers. Kingsman Ward, who served in Alma Company, 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, had gone to the funeral of Sgt Thursby on October 26.The next day he was found hanged by his mother at the family home in Kendal, Cumbria. Read More HERE  R.I.P.

Helicopter Assault Force UK Forces

Lance Corporal Paul Goodwin, 4th Battalion The Rifles, talks about his role in the Helicopter Assault Force, on operations in Helmand province, Summer 2013.

Images by Sgt Barry Pope RLC; Crown copyright

Victoria Cross British Soldier Was 'Unlawfully Killed'

An inquest has found that a soldier who won a Victoria Cross for bravery in Afghanistan was unlawfully killed. L/Cpl James Ashworth 23, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was fatally injured by his own grenade after he was hit by a Taliban bullet just as he went to throw the explosive device into an compound in June last year. At L/Cpl Ashworth's inquest today Anne Pember, the Northamptonshire Coroner, said a post mortem had revealed cause of death as blast injuries caused by an explosion. She recorded a verdict of unlawful killing while he was serving on operations in Afghanistan. L/Cpl Ashworth died after crawling along being peppered with bullets to throw his last grenade at a sniper who had his team pinned down. He was attempting to clear Taliban compounds in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand Province. Read More HERE R.I.P.

A HERO AMONG HEROES

I left my legs in Helmand Province

"I left my legs in Helmand Province
High on a hill near the FOB
To be where the IEDs explode
The stifling heat it baked my brain
I don’t care
My legs wait there in Helmand province
Scattered around for all to see
Il never return to you Helmand Province
England’s rainy clouds are the place for me."

© Tony McNally

This is my version of the song I left my heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett, some civilians may not get it but us soldiers have a macabre black humour that gets us through the worst of times