Bergen
ADC

Thank God for the Royal Marines. Hard to believe that 1100 brown-jobs have been dismissed from the Army in the past year for Class A drug offences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Troops Took Drugs To Dodge War Zone
Nov 14 2007 By Janice Burns
SCOTS soldiers deliberately got themselves sacked for taking drugs to avoid being sent to Afghanistan, it has been claimed.
The Record revealed yesterday that 17 squaddies from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders faced being booted out of the Army after testing positive for Class A drugs.
The Argylls are due to go to Afghanistan in March.
And after our story, Army insiders claimed that some of the 17 troops wanted to be caught because they knew a failed drug test would see them automatically sacked.
One soldier told us: "We did it because we don't want to get blown up in Afghanistan. Some might call us cowards but they have never stared death in the face.
"We are not ready to go to war and there was no other way out. We would ask people not to be too hard on us."
Another serving soldier added: "I can assure you that these guys meant to get caught. It's the quickest and best way to get out of the armed forces because of the zero tolerance policy over drugs.
"They are young and inexperienced and they were terrified of being sent to Afghanistan. Some folk might think they are cowards but it is frightening for the young ones."
The mother of a young soldier in the Argylls said: "My son is friends with the lads who were caught and he said they were all terrified of being dumped in the middle of a war zone without any experience.
"These lads took the drugs to get out of going."
Eighty-three British troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
The 17 Argylls failed surprise drug tests during a week-long break in the Mexican resort of Cancun.
The 500-strong battalion, part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, had just finished a gruelling six-week exercise
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Battalion claims that it had no knowledge that this was going on. If so it means that the chain of command from C.O. to L/Cpl was dysfunctional.
RM
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Troops Took Drugs To Dodge War Zone
Nov 14 2007 By Janice Burns
SCOTS soldiers deliberately got themselves sacked for taking drugs to avoid being sent to Afghanistan, it has been claimed.
The Record revealed yesterday that 17 squaddies from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders faced being booted out of the Army after testing positive for Class A drugs.
The Argylls are due to go to Afghanistan in March.
And after our story, Army insiders claimed that some of the 17 troops wanted to be caught because they knew a failed drug test would see them automatically sacked.
One soldier told us: "We did it because we don't want to get blown up in Afghanistan. Some might call us cowards but they have never stared death in the face.
"We are not ready to go to war and there was no other way out. We would ask people not to be too hard on us."
Another serving soldier added: "I can assure you that these guys meant to get caught. It's the quickest and best way to get out of the armed forces because of the zero tolerance policy over drugs.
"They are young and inexperienced and they were terrified of being sent to Afghanistan. Some folk might think they are cowards but it is frightening for the young ones."
The mother of a young soldier in the Argylls said: "My son is friends with the lads who were caught and he said they were all terrified of being dumped in the middle of a war zone without any experience.
"These lads took the drugs to get out of going."
Eighty-three British troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
The 17 Argylls failed surprise drug tests during a week-long break in the Mexican resort of Cancun.
The 500-strong battalion, part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, had just finished a gruelling six-week exercise
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Battalion claims that it had no knowledge that this was going on. If so it means that the chain of command from C.O. to L/Cpl was dysfunctional.
RM