“Doing 9-liner, doing 9-liner”, shouts one of the soldiers. The footage shows the men desperately firing rounds at the enemy, defending themselves from the incoming attack. At 8.46am they call a 9-liner, a military term which means a call for medical evacuation via helicopter. Lt Evison’s men know they need to get him medical help quickly. The film reveals the first round hit Lt Evison’s body armour, but the second hit his shoulder from behind, severing an artery, and leaving his body through the front of his shoulder. One of Lt Evison’s fellow soldiers – a captain from the Welsh Guards, wrote a report marked “restricted” early on the platoon’s tour of Afghanistan, stating: “I did feel we were short of some equipment that would have made our comms nets more robust.” Poor radio communications have been a high profile issue in recent years, with a committee of MPs criticising the MoD’s £2.4bn Bowman radio system three years ago for being too complex to use in battle conditions and slow in sending messages. Standing in the entrance of Compound One, in order the Coroner said, “to improve the signal (of his radio) and to get ‘eyes on’ (the enemy).” Lt Mark Evison had been shot twice by a Taliban sniper. Then moments later: “Man down in the compound over there…the medic’s gone over…” ![]() It follows Lt Evison’s men who are pinned down in an irrigation ditch on the wrong side of a road and canal, under enemy fire from the Taliban.Īt approximately 8.42am the words every soldier dreads are heard: “Medic…Man down…Man down…Medic! Medic…Medic!” The film shows the true, harsh reality of the Afghanistan war. "The inquest also heard that radios were working and an extensive log of the patrol's communications was shared with the coroner."įootage filmed from a head-cam on the helmet of one of Lt Evison’s men as his platoon came under enemy fire, has been exclusively obtained by Channel 4 News. "The independent coroner concluded that the time taken for a medical helicopter to arrive did not contribute to Lt Evison's death as his injuries were, sadly, unsurvivable. "Our sympathies remain with Mrs Evison following the death of her son, Lt Mark Evison. “But obviously nothing makes up for the tragic loss of this young man and the loss that his family will feel.” The MoD has issued the following statement to Channel 4 News: We now have a much better situation where we’re covering less of the ground – I think its important we took our troops out of Sangin and concentrate on central Helmand and as I understand it today with the extra US helicopters there are more than enough helicopters to provide support for our troops, transport, causality evacuation and other things. ![]() The number of helicopters and helicopter hours has increased specifically since the US marines arrived with us in Helmand. “I think the situation is now a lot better. “This is an absolutely tragic case and for too long we did not have enough helicopters in Afghanistan – that is a point I made over many years. When Channel 4 News spoke to Prime Minister Cameron about the footage today he said: “But if it was that there weren’t enough helicopters and a soldier was left bleeding to death 20 kilometres from a hospital in Afghanistan, then I think it needed looking at.” Speaking exclusively to Channel 4 News Mark’s mother Margaret Evison said: “Even if they said ‘well we don’t know’ or it was human error, I would be very forgiving if it was human error. One of the medical reports quoted in the inquest said: “Only a vascular surgical clamp across the damaged artery could stop the bleeding.”Īs the government addresses vital frontline equipment issues in its strategic defence review and after Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox warned Prime Minister David Cameron of “grave consequences” if “draconian” spending cuts are made to British Armed Forces while Britain is at war, Channel 4 News has been given exclusive access to head-cam footage of the battle. ![]() Only surgery could have stopped him from bleeding to death in the field. Bleeding profusely, his men tried to give him medical attention, but his shoulder injury was so severe a medical evacuation (Medevac) or “9-liner” was required to take him by helicopter to Camp Bastion for emergency treatment. Shot at by a Taliban sniper, Lt Evison was attacked in the entrance to Compound One on the morning of 9 May. Lieutenant Mark Evison, 26, died in May 2009 as he led his platoon from 1st Battalion Welsh Guards out on a patrol to secure compounds and “dominate” the Haji Alem area of Nad-e-Ali district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
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