The William Aldridge Foundation

As part of the BBC's Afghanistan Season, The Battle for Helmand is the second of three documentaries being aired on BBC2, beginning with the broader political and policy issues on 22nd June 2011 at 9pm, called 'Afghanistan - War without End'

AFGHANISTAN SEASON
The Battle For Helmand
Wednesday 29 June
9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO

The BBC's intent was to make what they describe as a 'landmark' documentary and a 'programme of record' about Afghanistan as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
The Battle for Helmand is presented by Newsnight's Defence Editor and military historian, Mark Urban, who tells the story of Britain's five-year engagement in Helmand, through the eyes and testimony of the personnel who have served there. It combines interviews with soldiers of all ranks, archive footage and material specially shot by the BBC in Afghanistan.

It includes the story of the IED tragedy that struck 9 Platoon, C Company, 2nd Battalion The Rifles in Sangin on 10th July 2009, as told through the eyewitness testimony of one of our most respected Patron's, Colour Serjeant Jaime Moncho.

Quote from BBC Press Office:

"For the first time, The Battle For Helmand tells the full story of Britain's brutal five-year war in Afghanistan. It describes how the most intense and sustained combat since the Korean War has cost more than 360 British, and countless Afghan, lives.

Combining gripping front line testimony with the tactical insights (and criticisms) of senior officers, presenter Mark Urban reveals how Britain abandoned plan after plan; how we went to war under-resourced, were quickly over-stretched and ended up besieged. Ignorant of the enemy, conditions and pitfalls ahead, it took the arrival of tens of thousands of American troops to sustain the task that Britain started.

The Battle For Helmand is part of BBC Current Affairs' Afghanistan season, marking a decade of involvement in one of world's most complex and dangerous regions".

HD

www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/20...html#wed_afghanistan

Will watch through blurry eyes and with a box of tissues beside me, full of pride and sorrow xxx