Fresh from TheEye twittering congratulations to Lance Corporal Jason Capena being commended for his service when seconded to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Iraq last year, the Daily Express today reports that bureaucrats have banned the Royal Gibraltar Regiment from fighting in ­Afghanistan amid fears its soldiers would not be ­insured against injury.

The move was last night branded “inexplicable” by Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan in 2003 and praised the Gibraltarians’ previous work there.
The highly decorated regiment is made up of men and women born in Gibraltar and its soldiers have served in Iraq as well as Afghanistan – but six months ago the MoD barred it from ­further deployments to Afghanistan.

“It is understood the move was prompted by concerns that soldiers wounded during operations would not be covered by the Armed Forces ­Compensation Scheme because they are not British-born” said the Express. The loyal and brave servicemen from the Rock are not impressed by this rubbish, as you can imagine. Serving overseas in a combat zone is purely on a voluntary basis for the RGR but there are no shortage of volunteers.

Colonel Kemp said: “Frankly I find this ruling inexplicable since they provided such valuable service in the past and not only in Afghanistan. When I served in Bosnia my second in command was a captain from the Royal Gibraltar ­Regiment. Excellent chap.”

The Tories, said the Express, are now calling for a re-think to allow the men and women of the Rock to do their bit in Afghanistan. Shadow defence minister Gerald Howarth said: “General Dannatt [the former Army head] made it absolutely clear that more boots are needed on the ground and he was not prescriptive about whose boots they should be.

“Here we have a loyal ­regiment of the Crown who want to do their bit, and bureaucracy shouldn’t stand in the way of bravery.”

Couldn’t have put it better.