On saturday, First Lieutenant Bjark Olsen Kirkmand was killed by an IED in Iraq, and the two others in his recon vehicle were seriously injured.  May he rest in peace.



The attack took place around Basra, where the Danish battalion is stationed (in the British sector), and is particularly distrubing because the area has been extremely stable, with very little violence.  In face, the Danish casulaties have been extremely low so far - with virtually no fatalities to date.  

Fortunately, the Danish government had just recently decided to reinforce the Danish battalion by sending a Fennec helicopter platoon (with support personnel) to add to the battalion.  Support for the mission i Iraq is still pretty strong in Denmark, and there are no plans to reduce our troop presence there.   Yay team!  




Disclaimer - I completely realize that the Danish military presence in Iraq is trivial compared to the U.S. (and even British) presences, but given our extremely small military and our commitments in Kosovo and Afghanistan, the 500 troops we've got in Iraq is actually a very substantial part of our standing army (because we only send professionals to iraq, not draftees - and a large portion of our army is still draftees).   So this post is in no way meant to be dismissive towards the tragic American losses this weekend

Rest in Peace, Soldier.  

We value every coalition soldier, regardless of the size of their contingent.
God bless this man and his family.
Future generations of Iraqis will owe him much.

Quoted: this post is in no way meant to be dismissive towards the tragic American losses this weekend

and if any comes along and says otherwise, the line to kick his ass will be forming right behind me.

Prayers for the Lt and his family.  Thank you for keeping my family safe.

Morn your motherlands loss.  One of your losses is one of our loses in this war no matter the size of the contribution.

At least the Danes showed up, unlike the Germans, French, etc who could have sent a much more sizable force but chose otherwise. That means a lot.

Besides, I'd rather have 500 good Danish troops than all the frogs put together anyway.

BTW, I am very sorry to hear of this loss. Hopefully we can come up with some counters for these damn IEDs. If it weren't for those, we wouldn't have many casualties.

Thanks to the Danes for their help and especially, their sacrifices.

May they all come home safe... And if that's not possible, may God bless them and keep them.

(we need a "teary eyed guys looking up at the Danish flag" icon)

Quoted: Disclaimer - I completely realize that the Danish military presence in Iraq is trivial compared to the U.S. (and even British) presences, but given our extremely small military and our commitments in Kosovo and Afghanistan, the 500 troops we've got in Iraq is actually a very substantial part of our standing army (because we only send professionals to iraq, not draftees - and a large portion of our army is still draftees).   So this post is in no way meant to be dismissive towards the tragic American losses this weekend

God bless the Danish soldiers fighting the good fight. And Denmark needs to get a bigger military! Your numbers are scaring me, and I'm not even Danish.

Any idea what the vehicle was? Those Eagles they drive around in are what the armoured HMMWV -should- have been.

NTM

RIP

Quoted: Quoted: this post is in no way meant to be dismissive towards the tragic American losses this weekend and if any comes along and says otherwise, the line to kick his ass will be forming right behind me. www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/0009/denmark.photos/danish.flag.jpg

+1

Here is the email address of the Danish Embassy in the US.

[email protected]

In case anyone wanted to send them a letter, here is their address.

The Royal Danish Embassy
3200 Whitehaven St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008

I sent a letter to the Polish Consulate in LA when I learned of Polands involvement in the war. I got a reply back from the Consul General. We'll see what the Danes have to say.

Tak nemlig jeres service...   Hvil i fred

Quoted: Any idea what the vehicle was? Those Eagles they drive around in are what the armoured HMMWV -should- have been. NTM

The Eagles are cool, but based on the picture, this vehicle was a Mercedes GD - which is usually what is used for the fast scout/recon role.

The Danes have shown great honor in joining our fight against terror.  They are a proud people who have remembered the atrocities of WWII. They now stand by us,  remembering and honoring what our "Greatest Generation" did for them in their time of need.  If all countries and all leaders showed such honor this world would be a better place.  We are greatful for their help and feel their loss as one of our own.  May he rest in peace.