BRITISH heroes have hit back at “ghastly” JD Vance after Donald Trump’s VP has sparked outrage by insulting the UK’s 636 war dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Vice President mocked Britain on Tuesday night as “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
Coffins of fallen soldiers returning to Britain[/caption]
Royal Welch Fusiliers prepare to get into a helicopter in Iraq in 2004[/caption]
Irish Guards check a man dressed in civilian clothes in 2003[/caption]
His comments came as he dismissed British French plans to put boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer, who served as a commando in Afghanistan, said: “Vance needs to wind his neck in.”
He added: “Show a bit of respect and stop making yourself look so unpleasant.”
SAS legend Andy McNab, who fought in the First Gulf War, said, invited Vance to visit Britain’s war memorials.
The author of best-selling Bravo Two Zero said: “He needs to read the names of the dead who have fought and shed blood alongside US troops.”
Ex-Army chief General Sir Patrick Sanders said: “I fought alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan over almost two decades so I obviously don’t agree with Vance’s remarks.
“But I worry that public abuse will just make Keir’s job harder, when we really need to help him.”
Vance served four years in the US Marine Corps including a short six-month tour as public affairs soldier.
Speaking to Fox News, he claimed Ukraine’s only hope of security was a minerals deal with America.
He said: “The only guy in town with a strategy is the President of the United Stated and everybody needs to follow his lead.
“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does nor invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.
“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Ex-British soldier Shaun Pinner – who joined Ukraine’s marines – slammed Vance as a “political neanderthal” who had aligned himself with Russia.
Pinner, who was tortured by Russia as a prisoner of war, fumed: “Vance is a political Neanderthal and when he talks about military matters sounds even more inept considering he was a marine.”
He added: “America is learning from the blood of Ukrainians.
“When was the last time America fought in a trench warfare environment with drones ploughing into you everyday, artillery smashing you and the enemy having a competent air capability?
“I’ll tell you when, never!”
Ex-Royal Marine Ben McBean, who lost an arm and a leg in Afghanistan, told Vance to “shut the f*** up”.
Ben told The Sun: “I got injured in Afghanistan and it is going to last me the rest of my life.
“He never got his hands dirty. He’s never seen the sharp end of the work, so shut the fuck up.”
British soldiers from the B Squadron of the Light Dragoons Regiment load into a Chinook in Afghanistan 2007[/caption]
Ben acknowledged Vance had served four years in the US Marine Corps – but said his job was “taking pictures”.
Ben, 38, from Plymouth added: “This guy couldn’t even pick up the bergen [backpack] we carry or lace up his own boots.
“He would be the guy at the very back of the troop scared of a firefight and expecting me to get my hands dirty.
“Then at the end of the day he’d be the one with something to say about it.
“It is like me talking about being an astronaut when I have never been one.”
Prince Harry hailed Ben a “true hero” after sharing an plane out of Afghanistan as the wounded commando fought for life after an IED blast in 2008.
British soldiers guard at the scene of a bomb attack in Basra[/caption]
Royal Engineers of the 1st Armoured Division taking cover in the First Gulf War[/caption]
Later Ben wrote to Vance on Twitter: “Don’t talk about war you absolute sausage boy. People like him need a slap into reality.”
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West slammed Vance’s comments as “utterly disgraceful”.
The ex-Navy chief and security minister said: “We lost over 450 men and women, plus 3,000 very badly injured when we went into Afghanistan post 9/11, with America as its allies. Nato had invoked Article 5.
“It is utterly disgraceful that Vance ignores that and says such things.
“He is a ghastly man, I am afraid.”
Lord West, who served in the Falklands War, added: “What is even worse, is that he talks as if he is from some great warrior tribe.
“He was in the marine corps, but he didn’t do fighting. He took pictures and wrote stories. He worked in public affairs.
“So for him to be commenting like that is quite inappropriate.”
Ex-Army Chief General the Lord Richard Dannatt questioned JD Vance’s grasp of reality.
He said: “What planet is this guy on?”
Britain’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Britain has fought in a some 11 conflicts since 1990, the most dangerous were the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
636 brave Brits gave their lives fighting alongside the US as it prosecuted the War on Terror.
- Afghanistan
Britain joined the US in Afghanistan in 2001 after New York was attacked when Al Qaeda terrorists flew passenger jets into the World Trade Centre towers.
Washington invoked Article 5 of the Nato alliance – the same section which Europe now fears America may ignore leading to a Russian invasion.
457 British troops were killed in Afghanistan as they fought in Kabul, Kandahar, and Helmand and tried to cut out a Taliban insurgency.
UK troops were part of a multi-national force, the International Security Assistance Force, that also provided security for the transitional government and rebuild the country.
The UK had combat troops in Afghanistan until 2014, but continued to be involved until 2021 before the allied force withdrew.
- Iraq
Tony Blair decided to join George Bush for his invasion of Iraq and to remove Saddam Hussein from power after bad intelligence led leaders to believe the dictator was trying to build nuclear weapons.
Operation Telic, as the British deployment was known, is the biggest since WW2 and consisted of 46,000 troops being sent to the country for the invasion.
179 Brits died between 2003 and 2009 with thousands more wounded.
After the capture of Saddam, British forces continued to patrol and attempted to maintain security in the country in a counter-insurgency operation.
But the power vacuum created by the disbanding of Iraq’s armed forces created an insurgency and the growth of Jihadi groups.
British forces bravely fought through ambushes and a guerrilla war to help stabilise the country and then totally withdrawing in 2009.
