The kind of Friend you can do without...

When I was much younger and living in South Africa, Springbok Radio used to have a program on a Saturday Afternoon called "Forces Favourites" - a music program where friends, family and loved ones of those in the SA Defence Force could send wishes and messages to the boys on the border. I was far too young to understand the emotion involved...

Then when I was in England, the Prime Minister decided to send British troops to war. For the first time in my life the true emotional impact of this action was brought home to me as I listened to a similar radio program, hearing mothers, fathers, sisters, wives and friends of those troops wish them well. They were unsure if the troops would ever return home from the war.

I am not a parent, nor have I ever had to wave a friend of mine off as they left to go to war, and so I cannot fathom what this involves. Equally, I cannot imagine the pain of not having a loved one return home, and goodness knows enough British troops have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan (amongst others) recently .

But I am sure that this grief can be topped... As immensely painful as it must be, to have your son or daughter killed by an "ALLY" must be even more heart wrentching and gut turning... So how dreadful must it be for the families of three British soldiers killed this week in Afghanistan by "friendly fire"

These troops have enough to worry about while on duty without still having to worry about their Allies dropping bombs on them...
Sometimes there are friends you can just do without....