when i went out there i knew rupert thornwell had been been killed and i knew there was intense fighting going on but what i hadn't expected was that they would be on-demand and they just didn't have enough men. they had 10,000 british troops in helmand and another 20,000 u.s. marines coming in. they didn't have enough men for the mission. they didn't have the right equipment so rupert thornwell his death like truth being better than any kind of fiction almost tragically poetic the way he died. he was killed inside a viking track vehicle july 12009 and a vehicle that should not have been used on tracks in helmand. it was improperly armored. they improvise by putting an armor plate on the front so the taliban would realize that and they would offset the pressure plate so the ied would explode behind it. one reason he was killed because he was in a vehicle that wasn't fully protected. if you were in an mrap he would have been protected. it the review is in the front vehicle was because there was this real phenomenon of battle shock. some of these young guardsman 18 and 19 years old were go