The Ministry of Defence has issued a strongly worded denial after an MSP claimed that Scots army recruits stood a one out of nine chance of being badly wounded of coming home from Afghanistan in a ‘bodybag.’
SNP politician Christine Grahame’s claims that the country’s troops accounted for 9.4% of all UK personnel deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan sparked controversy on Wednesday.
Mrs Grahame added that Scotland’s toll of death and wounded compared with a figure of 8.6% overall for the UK.
But the MOD countered her claims by pointing out that 16 Scottish soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan in the four years period between 2006 and 2009
At any one time there were about 8,000 to 9,000 - or an average of 17,000 - service personnel on operations in Afghanistan each year on a six-month basis.
The MOD statement said: "Over a four-year period there have been about 68,000 UK troops in Afghanistan, and out of that number, 16 of them were Scottish soldiers who were killed, which is 0.02%.
"There are no statistics which can accurately predict how likely it is for a soldier to be killed or injured on operations.
"Every death of a service man or woman on operations is a tragedy, and their loss is felt deeply. But they return home with dignity, as heroes."
Mrs Grahame had claimed the ‘one-in-nine chance’ of death or being seriously wounded was ‘the grim reality of joining the British Army ...if you join up."
She said that out of 206 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2006, 20 were from Scotland, and 60 out of 716 wounded in action came from units with Scottish ties.
Her remarks followed statements by Scottish ministers that they were ‘delighted’ that army recruitment north of the border had attracted 1,000 new soldiers since April.
David Cairns MP, a former Scotland Office minister, said: “While their ministers are uttering nice words about our armed forces, they authorise backbenchers to make offensive claims like this.”
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