Tributes for SAS soldier

SERGEANT Blaine Diddams was a soldier's soldier, a hard hitter who led from the front and inspired his men with courage and humour.

Early on Monday morning, the decorated SAS veteran was leading his team against an insurgent commander's compound in the Chora Valley, near Tarin Kowt, when a round from an enemy AK-47 got past the armour plate in the middle of his chest and killed him. The senior SAS man and a bomb sniffer dog were both killed by enemy rounds.

The kevlar armour plate only protects the centre of the chest and rounds can penetrate either side of it or  under the armpit. A Special Forces commando, who was shot in the upper leg in early June, was also hit four times in the chest plate and once in the helmet, but the rounds did not penetrate and  he survived.

Sergeant Diddams was a popular 40-year-old married father who was leading his team as he always did.

Known as "Dids", his middle name was Flower, but he was far from a delicate petal. According to his mates, he was a larger-than-life character who got along with everyone during an "amazing" military career that began with the Townsville-based 1st Battalion and a tour to Somalia in 1993.

Sergeant Diddams was the first Australian soldier to die since October last year when Captain Bryce Duffy, Corporal Ashley Birt and Lance Corporal Luke Gavin were shot dead by a man in an Afghan army uniform.

Many other Special Forces troops have undertaken five or six tours of duty and they have been told that they will be fighting in Afghanistan until at least 2018. Australia's conventional forces are due to leave the country by 2014. The Special Operations Task Group has now lost 12 of the 33 Diggers killed in Afghanistan since late 2001 and five were from the SAS regiment.

Sergeant Diddams' patrol had just been dropped by coalition helicopters for a kill mission targeting an insurgent commander when it was engaged by small arms fire.

A solemn Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the loss as a "dreadful blow" for his relatives, the nation and the Australian Defence Force.

"I know Australians today will stop, will pause, will reflect and will mark with respect the loss of this brave soldier and will honour his service and his sacrifice," she said.

Source news.com.au