Infantryman killed in planned ambush
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turned to tragedy - just weeks after the troops were moved into
Afghanistan for a six month peacekeeping role.
In a carefully planned ambush, L/Cpl Steven Sherwood died and five
other members of his platoon were injured during a gun attack on their
vehicle.
The weekend attack came at the start of the Royal Gloucestershire
Berkshire and Wiltshire's operations in Afghanistan - the final posting
the regiment will have before its controversial merger into the Light
Infantry as part of the government's shake-up of the army.
L/Cpl "Shirley" Sherwood and his patrol were members of an elite
reconnaissance unit working in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where until
the RGBW arrival, NATO forces had not operated.
As the 550 members of the regiment came to terms with the devastating
loss, commanding officer Lt Col Nick Welch paid tribute to L/Cpl
Sherwood. He said: "Steven Sherwood was a thor-oughly dedicated soldier
who was promoted to lance corporal earlier this year.
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"A highly capable field soldier at the top of his profession, he was a
key member of the battalion's close reconnaissance platoon. In
Afghanistan, he worked as a key member of a tight-knit, experienced and
highly professional military observation team."
Just hours before his death, "Shirley" Sherwood had helped save lives
when his team provided emergency medical assistance to victims of a
road crash.
I met "Shirley" on a number of occasions all over the world - the last
time being in Kosovo, where true to his character he hurled some
amusing abuse in my direction when I arrived in the dining mess
He was just 23 years old, single and great company to be with. His
family lives in Ross-on-Wye.
Ironically, the regiment should never have been in Afghanistan. After
completing their tour of guarding Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle
earlier in the summer, they were due to be posted to Bosnia.
Senior officers pleaded for a more high profile deployment before the
merger.
The MoD decided to order them into Afghanistan where the former Royal
Berkshires perhaps had their greatest hour at the Battle of Maiwand in
the 1880's - commemorated by the Forbury lion statue.
* The last member of the regiment to die on active service was Cpl Gary
Fenton from Newbury who, in 1998, became the last British soldier to be
killed in Northern Ireland when he was mown down by a petrol tanker at
a roadblock.