Afghan forces help Marines get prepared

Some 3,500 soldiers from the brigade, their 500 vehicles and several Chinook helicopters are testing their powers on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, over a two-week period. As they fined-tuned their craft, a spokesman for the Chief of Defence Staff played down concerns after casualties in the conflict had now matched those of the Falklands.

Speaking in Salisbury, before the brigade deploys to Helmand in April, Major General Gordon Messenger said: "I think we have to be wary of comparing those two conflicts. They are very different in nature and very different in duration.

"The Falklands lasted for three months and we have been in Afghanistan for eight-and-a-half years. But the fact remains that 255 servicemen have lost their lives in the Afghanistan campaign. Each of those is a blow and our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones."