Published: Thursday, 11th June, 2009 10:00am

Men of Calibre

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Rfn Cyrus Thatcher, 19, who was killed in Afghanistan last week

WHEN considering the futility of war, the name Afghanistan looms large in any argument.

What also comes instantly to mind is the bravery and heroism of Britain"s armed forces - and specifically those from Berkshire - called to fight there against both a ferocious enemy and a terrain and climate which make for some of the most hostile conditions experienced by soldiers anywhere.

Hardly a news bulletin passes these days without a mention of Helmand Province and, had radio and television been invented during the Second Afghan War, it"s a safe bet that the same would have been happening in 1880.

Indeed July 27 will be the 129th anniversary of the Battle of Maiwand in which the 66th Berkshire Regiment of Foot lost 286 men with another 32 wounded. It is said that there was not one family in Berkshire unaffected by that battle, losing a relative, friend, neighbour or workmate.

Until last Thursday most of us had never heard of Cyrus Thatcher, blown up 48 hours earlier in a roadside explosion while serving with 2Rifles, a regiment directly descended from those 19th Century heroes from the Berkshires.

However, what we have gleaned about this terrific young man in the intervening seven days means that he is fully entitled to stand four square alongside the heroes of past generations.

Whatever the folly of the politicians who decide where our troops should go to fight, there is fundamentally little wrong with a nation, county and town which can produce young men of the calibre of Rifleman Thatcher.