Should we strap Trump to the front of a British tank and show him what a Front Line looks like?
'I almost died fighting in Afghanistan. Trump is literally adding insult to injury’
After losing three fellow soldiers to American ‘friendly fire’ in Helmand, Stu Parker condemns the US president’s ‘careless lies’.
“When I heard President Trump tell the world that Nato forces stayed well away from the front lines in Afghanistan, I felt as though I had been kicked in the solar plexus – no, not the solar plexus, the balls,” says Stu Parker, telling it straight, like any soldier would.
To describe Parker, 48, as furious would be an understatement. The former Royal Anglian corporal served in the Taliban heartland of Helmand Province. In 2007, he was all but blown to pieces by “friendly fire” from an American fighter jet that erroneously dropped a 500lb bomb on him and his fellow troops as they were locked in a battle with the enemy.
But according to Trump – who on Thursday claimed that British and other allied forces “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” – Parker and his unit weren’t there.
“I feel outraged and insulted – most of all for my three soldiers who died that day. How must their mothers feel about the commander in chief of the US military denying their bravery and their sacrifice?”
Privates Aaron McClure, 19; John Thrumble, 21; and Robert Foster, 19 lost their lives in the incident in Mazdurak, Helmand Province, nearly two decades ago after American forces were fed the wrong coordinates.
Parker, who was flown back to the UK with catastrophic injuries, was put into a six-week medically-induced coma and missed their funerals, something that still pains him.
His survival was touch and go. The force of the impact blew off his body armour, his clothes melted on to his body resulting in third-degree burns, his lungs collapsed, his eardrums burst and his spleen was ruptured. His leg was broken, his hand was shattered, part of his pancreas was lost, and he was covered in blood – his own and that of his soldiers.
“Trump has literally added insult to injury,” says Parker. “What he says is a complete lie, but the trouble is that when he makes ignorant, careless statements like that, people listen.
“He has no idea. He doesn’t care about facts. This is a president who dodged the Vietnam draft and yet refers to his own soldiers as ‘losers.’”
Indeed, this is not the first time Trump has faced a backlash for making controversial remarks about service personnel. In 2020, he was widely castigated after reports emerged which claimed he had mocked American soldiers killed in action as “losers” and “suckers”.
Trump was said to have made the comments after cancelling a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, where he had been scheduled to honour America’s war dead. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” he is reported to have commented at the time.
During the same trip, Trump also allegedly referred to 1,800 US soldiers who died during the First World War, at Belleau Wood, as “suckers”. The troops’ sacrifice had helped to prevent a German advance on Paris, and remains venerated by the US Marine Corps.
Some details of the incidents were corroborated by a number of news organisations, including Fox News, but Trump has persistently denied ever making the remarks.
“Whatever that disrespectful idiot says, I think it’s important to recognise he’s not speaking on behalf of the US military,” says Parker, whose army career saw him serve in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone before embarking on two tours of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2007.
“In Afghanistan, we worked with them [US troops], and I’ve also worked with them elsewhere in the world. Trump has no concept of the heat, the dust and the high-pressure environment soldiers endure. They lose limbs, they lose their lives, but all he cares about is grandstanding.”
Stu Parker
‘I feel outraged and insulted [about Trump’s comments], most of all for my three soldiers who died,’ says ParkerCredit: Jay Williams
Trump’s latest incendiary statement was made during an interview with Fox News, in which he suggested that Nato would not support America if asked.
“We’ve never needed them,” he said. “They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
In fact, 457 British troops were killed in combat and during other operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and the withdrawal of coalition troops 20 years later. A great many more – including Parker – were wounded and suffered life-changing injuries.
Britain’s swift involvement came at the behest of the US, which invoked the collective security provisions of Nato’s Article 5 after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York. But according to Trump’s version of events, American troops largely fought alone.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was damning in his assessment of the president’s intervention, saying Trump’s remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling” and suggesting he should apologise.
His outrage was echoed by Kemi Badenoch. “Trump saying Nato allies ‘weren’t on the front line’ in Afghanistan is flat-out nonsense,” was the riposte from Tory leader.
“British, Canadian, and Nato troops fought and died alongside the US for 20 years. This is a fact, not an opinion. Their sacrifice deserves respect, not denigration.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/23/almost-died-fighting-afghanistan-trump/
After losing three fellow soldiers to American ‘friendly fire’ in Helmand, Stu Parker condemns the US president’s ‘careless lies’.
“When I heard President Trump tell the world that Nato forces stayed well away from the front lines in Afghanistan, I felt as though I had been kicked in the solar plexus – no, not the solar plexus, the balls,” says Stu Parker, telling it straight, like any soldier would.
To describe Parker, 48, as furious would be an understatement. The former Royal Anglian corporal served in the Taliban heartland of Helmand Province. In 2007, he was all but blown to pieces by “friendly fire” from an American fighter jet that erroneously dropped a 500lb bomb on him and his fellow troops as they were locked in a battle with the enemy.
But according to Trump – who on Thursday claimed that British and other allied forces “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” – Parker and his unit weren’t there.
“I feel outraged and insulted – most of all for my three soldiers who died that day. How must their mothers feel about the commander in chief of the US military denying their bravery and their sacrifice?”
Privates Aaron McClure, 19; John Thrumble, 21; and Robert Foster, 19 lost their lives in the incident in Mazdurak, Helmand Province, nearly two decades ago after American forces were fed the wrong coordinates.
Parker, who was flown back to the UK with catastrophic injuries, was put into a six-week medically-induced coma and missed their funerals, something that still pains him.
His survival was touch and go. The force of the impact blew off his body armour, his clothes melted on to his body resulting in third-degree burns, his lungs collapsed, his eardrums burst and his spleen was ruptured. His leg was broken, his hand was shattered, part of his pancreas was lost, and he was covered in blood – his own and that of his soldiers.
“Trump has literally added insult to injury,” says Parker. “What he says is a complete lie, but the trouble is that when he makes ignorant, careless statements like that, people listen.
“He has no idea. He doesn’t care about facts. This is a president who dodged the Vietnam draft and yet refers to his own soldiers as ‘losers.’”
Indeed, this is not the first time Trump has faced a backlash for making controversial remarks about service personnel. In 2020, he was widely castigated after reports emerged which claimed he had mocked American soldiers killed in action as “losers” and “suckers”.
Trump was said to have made the comments after cancelling a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, where he had been scheduled to honour America’s war dead. “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” he is reported to have commented at the time.
During the same trip, Trump also allegedly referred to 1,800 US soldiers who died during the First World War, at Belleau Wood, as “suckers”. The troops’ sacrifice had helped to prevent a German advance on Paris, and remains venerated by the US Marine Corps.
Some details of the incidents were corroborated by a number of news organisations, including Fox News, but Trump has persistently denied ever making the remarks.
“Whatever that disrespectful idiot says, I think it’s important to recognise he’s not speaking on behalf of the US military,” says Parker, whose army career saw him serve in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone before embarking on two tours of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2007.
“In Afghanistan, we worked with them [US troops], and I’ve also worked with them elsewhere in the world. Trump has no concept of the heat, the dust and the high-pressure environment soldiers endure. They lose limbs, they lose their lives, but all he cares about is grandstanding.”
Stu Parker
‘I feel outraged and insulted [about Trump’s comments], most of all for my three soldiers who died,’ says ParkerCredit: Jay Williams
Trump’s latest incendiary statement was made during an interview with Fox News, in which he suggested that Nato would not support America if asked.
“We’ve never needed them,” he said. “They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
In fact, 457 British troops were killed in combat and during other operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and the withdrawal of coalition troops 20 years later. A great many more – including Parker – were wounded and suffered life-changing injuries.
Britain’s swift involvement came at the behest of the US, which invoked the collective security provisions of Nato’s Article 5 after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York. But according to Trump’s version of events, American troops largely fought alone.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was damning in his assessment of the president’s intervention, saying Trump’s remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling” and suggesting he should apologise.
His outrage was echoed by Kemi Badenoch. “Trump saying Nato allies ‘weren’t on the front line’ in Afghanistan is flat-out nonsense,” was the riposte from Tory leader.
“British, Canadian, and Nato troops fought and died alongside the US for 20 years. This is a fact, not an opinion. Their sacrifice deserves respect, not denigration.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/23/almost-died-fighting-afghanistan-trump/
