If You Haven’t Served, Respect Those Who Have
When President Trump dismissed America’s allies in Afghanistan, saying we “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” I felt anger – not for myself, but for the men and women I served alongside, for those we lost, and for the families who bear that sacrifice every day.
The Reality of Service
In 2009, I served with the Rifles in Sangin, Northern Helmand – the green zone, the front line. There was nothing “a little back” about it. In six months, my battalion lost 32 soldiers. The company I led lost 10 men, with 50 wounded.
We served alongside American forces throughout, sharing every danger, every patrol, every IED strike. When we handed over Sangin to US forces, they lost 30 soldiers themselves in the same ground. This was young British soldiers – many barely out of their teens – walking the same deadly ground, facing the same ruthless enemy, making the same ultimate sacrifice.
A Deep Insult
To hear these sacrifices diminished is a deep insult to every NATO ally who answered the call after 9/11. Denmark lost 44 soldiers – proportionally, almost as many as the United States. We lost 457. Each name represents a family changed forever, a life given in service of shared values.
Earlier this week, I attended the funeral of a soldier who’d been injured in Afghanistan and subsequently taken his own life. The wounds continue long after the last patrol. When the President says our service “wasn’t as good as theirs,” it doesn’t just insult us – it diminishes their sacrifice.
Why This Matters Now
Words matter, especially from leaders. They shape how people think about sacrifice and the bonds between democratic nations. Right now, we need America – to stand with Ukraine, to support the 20 million Afghan women and girls living under Taliban oppression, to defend the liberal democratic order that has kept us safe for eight decades.
That alliance has been built on mutual sacrifice – from the trenches of the First World War, through Normandy, to the mountains of Afghanistan. When you dismiss that history, you weaken the foundations of the partnership we need to face today’s threats.
What We Owe Those Who Serve
If you ask someone to serve, you have an absolute duty to support them – properly equipped on operations, properly cared for when they return, and properly honoured when they fall. That means governments providing the resources our Armed Forces need, not sending them to fight “on budget cuts” as we were. It means standing up for veterans facing challenges with housing, mental health, or transitioning to civilian life.
The relationship between British and American troops on the ground remains strong. I saw that when a US sergeant told me, “Don’t you worry, sir, we are absolutely with you, we’ll do everything we can.” But we cannot let respect for that alliance silence us when our service members are insulted and our history rewritten.
A Call to Remember
We don’t boast about our dead. We honour them. We mourn them. And we remember that their sacrifice was as real, as painful, and as valuable as any other.
To anyone who hasn’t served: you don’t need to have worn the uniform to understand what we owe to those who have. Listen to their stories, respect their service, and demand that your leaders – all leaders – do the same.
To my fellow veterans: your service was real. Your sacrifice mattered. No politician’s words can diminish what you gave.
We stood on the front lines. We always have. And we always will, when freedom and democracy are threatened. The question is whether our leaders will stand with us.
Richard Streatfeild served in Afghanistan with the Rifles in 2009 and now represents Sevenoaks Town at Kent County Council, where he serves as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and is Chairman of the Kent County Council Scrutiny Committee.
