My son had to live like a peasant in Guards barracks, says furious mother of hero...

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 8th November 2009 | Christopher Leake and Helen Dowd

[naturalman1975]

The grieving mother of a heroic Sergeant-Major gunned down by a rogue Afghan policeman has accused Labour of treating British troops like 'peasants'.

Heartbroken Elizabeth Chant, whose son Darren was killed last week, is calling on the Government to invest in better accommodation.

Warrant Officer Class 1 'Daz' Chant, 40, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was one of five off-duty British soldiers shot dead last Tuesday by a man dressed in an Afghan police uniform who opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at a police station in southern Afghanistan.

Mrs Chant, 59, said: 'Every day now we are hearing about more young boys killed over there. The Government should spend money on providing them with decent accommodation. My son lived like a peasant in some barracks.'

Mrs Chant said Darren had told her how tough it was fighting the Taliban and had complained about freezing weather at night.

She said his wife Nausheen had sent him blankets and socks.

'Darren would tell me he was shattered because he was cold at nights,' said Mrs Chant, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

'I am so proud of him. He was the bravest boy ever. All he ever wanted to be was a soldier.'

Mrs Chant said her son had been faced with 'squalor' throughout his military career. She said: 'Darren and his men often lived in squalor when they were in this country. Every time he was posted to a new barracks he would have to spend hours scrubbing his house. Before the children arrived he would have to clean every inch.

'When he arrived at the Wellington barracks there was no heating or hot water. It always took the Army ages to get things fixed.

[naturalman1975]

[2banana]

You are infantry - get used to it.

A better question is how a terrorist got through security and why these blokes where not carrying arms 24/7.

[naturalman1975]

Soldiers have to do their duty, certainly, and that sometimes means living in substandard conditions.

But I personally don’t believe they should have to live in them in peacetime.

Back in the early 1980s, I lived on a naval housing estate here in Australia - housing owned by the Navy in a Melbourne suburb. The Navy decided to divest itself of the housing and it was given to the ‘Housing Commission’ - which provides heavily subsidised housing for the poor who can’t afford anything better.

The Housing Commission ruled the houses weren’t up to the standards they required.

There’s something wrong with that.

[cripplecreek]

Nothing is too good for the soldiers in my book.

[SevenofNine]

I don’t know what they do in UK or Down Under NM I think any good housing should be for all our soldiers

Nothing is the best for Brit soldiers and OUR Soldiers BOY Gordie Brown is one f***k up PM of the UK

[toldyou]

“Nothing is too good for the soldiers in my book.”

I was in touch with a guy in Afghanistan at this time last year. The heat doesn’t always work in the plywood B-huts. After sending him two blankets, including a down comforter, I finally sent an electric blanket to make sure he was warm. :)

[cripplecreek]

We should dump the vast majority of our social programs and send the money to the military starting with large pay raises across the board.

[olliecollie]

They were betrayed by a comrade in arms, shooter was member of the Afghan police , they knew him
Reported in the Telegraph, Sunday Nov 8th,, the shooter did not have to get through security, he was one of them.
The troops had just got back from patrol and where in their barracks.
same as the shooting at Fort Hood, the shooter did not have to get past security.
We now have an enemy within.

[wally_bert]

But social programs are what makes America great, the military is just some sort bad social experiment started by evil conservatives and patriots that will be defunded by the 0 and friends soon to make up for all of the evil inflicted by the US.

[toldyou]

“We should dump the vast majority of our social programs and send the money to the military starting with large pay raises across the board.”

Oh how I agree!

[cripplecreek]

If we have to pay the taxes we should at least send the money to a “worthy” cause and not roaches who line up for free “Obama money”.

[usmcobra]

I don’t care how you cut it there is something seriously wrong when a Sergeant Major complains to his Mum about Army conditions......

[toldyou]

Look what this guy did to improve his living conditions in a B-Hut...

http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/2007/10/this-old-hut-—.html

[Psalm 144]

I went into a public-’ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.