A SOLDIER who fought alongside Digger Jared MacKinney when he was killed in Afghanistan says his mate would still be alive if the troops had adequate fire support and better intelligence. <!-- google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction) -->
<!-- // .story-intro --><!-- google_ad_section_start(name=story_body, weight=high) -->In a scathing email sent from the frontline and obtained by The Courier-Mail , the Digger, who cannot be named, said it was a miracle that five or six more Australians were not killed in the Battle of Derapet.
And, far from being an ambush, the two groups of Australian and Afghan soldiers were expecting to be hit as they patrolled the green zone at Deh Rawood, 60km west of Tarin Kowt, on August 24.
The soldier's email accused the Australian Army of exposing troops to unnecessary risks.
The Digger, from the Brisbane-based 6th Battalion, estimated the enemy body count at about 20.
"That contact would have been over before Jared died if they gave us f-----g mortars," he said.
<!-- // .story-sidebar -->Lance Corporal MacKinney's widow Becky gave birth to their second child, a son, Noah, only five hours after his funeral service in Brisbane on October 10.
The soldier said his section had been in combat 100m from the same spot two days earlier and reports from sappers clearing bombs on the morning of the battle had stated that civilians were fleeing the valley.
"That told us it was going to be on," he said. The patrol's first big surprise was the enemy force's size.
No intelligence reports had prepared the two sections of about 24 men for a confrontation with up to 100 enemy soldiers attacking from multiple positions as close as 80m away.
"We were at times pinned down by a massive rate of fire but we stuck to it," he wrote.
"We are not operating in platoon size groups, so this is hard when you can't manoeuvre sections against them, but we tried to fix them so we could destroy them with air assets."
The second shock for the Diggers, who were forced to withdraw as they started to run low on ammunition, was the complete lack of support from artillery, mortars or aircraft.
"The army has let us down mate and I am f-----g disgusted."
The soldier, from the 1st Mentoring Task Force, said an unmanned spy plane flew above the battlefield pinpointing enemy positions throughout the three-hour contact, but effective fire support had still failed to materialise.
"Every (c###t) is too scared about collateral damage."
He also revealed Lance Corporal MacKinney died almost half an hour into the battle.
"They were copping rounds the whole time, all the way through to carrying him on the stretcher and loading him on the AME (Aero Medical Evacuation chopper)," he said.
The Digger also slammed the lack of air support provided by a US Apache helicopter that flew just two offensive strafing runs all day.
The soldier's blunt email has been circulated to senior officers, including Chief of Defence, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.
According to the email, most fire support came from Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAVs) providing overwatch to the joint Australian-Afghan patrol from a nearby hillside.
The soldier's plea is strongly supported by retired counter-insurgency expert Major-General Jim Molan, a coalition operational commander in Iraq, who said the Government should immediately send Abrams tanks and Army Tiger attack helicopters before more soldiers die
