'He should apologise': Anger of veterans and relatives at Trump Nato remarks

Andy Reid had been in Afghanistan for three months when he was involved in an incident that would change his life forever. He was out on a regular patrol in the Helmand province and was holding a Taliban-improvised explosive unit, resulting in him missing both legs and an arm.

I was on the floor on my back, with a huge dust cloud all around me. I couldn't hear anything,

he says. "I wasn't really in pain at the time, but I did get a numbness throughout my body.

I knew something bad had happened to me. I looked down and couldn't see my legs at that time.

He was one of thousands of British troops wounded in Afghanistan. In the war, a further 457 British service personnel were killed. Many are deeply offended by US President Donald Trump's assertion in an interview that America's Nato allies sent some troops to Afghanistan, but

stayed a little behind, a few inches off the front lines. Reid:

I remember working with some American soldiers in an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team.

If they were on the front line and we were standing right behind them, we must have been on the first line as well.

He's ordered Trump to make a formal apology for his disrespectful, ineffective, and unexpected remarks.

'I'll write to the White House'

The United States became the first and so far only nation to invoke 5 of Nato in 2001, the clause that states that

any armed attack against one Nato member would be considered an assault against them all. British troops served in the country from 2001 to 2014, and they were among a number of America's allies to assist it in the conflict. Denmark, Estonia, and Canada were among the other countries that sent troops. After the United States, the UK saw its second largest deployment since the US, with the number of troops deployed in the country increasing to 11,000 in 2011. In the south of the country, some of the nation's toughest combat took place. They were immediately caught in heavy combat against a resurgent Taliban after being deployed there in 2006 with the intention of securing redevelopment programs. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) caused some of the worst injuries on British foot and vehicle patrols. In an IED attack, Andy Allen, a Northern Ireland Unionist member, was among those wounded. During an early morning patrol in Helmand province in 2008, the 19-year-old had been in Afghanistan for two months when he had his right leg blown off and left his left leg shredded by a homemade bomb.

It was the front line in which I was wounded, and it was the first line of the war in Afghanistan in which my mates and comrades put themselves in jeopardy in order to save me,

he says. Allen says he intends to write to the White House to emphasize that Nato members were on the front line

very much serving with our American comrades and colleagues. Despite the injuries and deaths, Trump's remarks are not the first time his government has been critical of its allies. In a testimony before a Senate committee last year, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who served in Afghanistan, said the Nato ISAF badge soldiers fought in the war, which stands for the International Security Assistance Force, stood for

I saw Americans fighting. Diane Dernie, whose son Ben Parkinson is regarded as the most wounded British soldier to survive in Afghanistan, says Trump's words

stunnedhim.Ben wore the ISAF badge, the Nato badge, while serving as part of the international security service.

In 2006, a Doncaster soldier was wounded after an Army Land Rover mine near Musa Qala in the Helmand province.

How on earth can this be okay,

Diane says. She claims that her son served out of forward operating bases in Afghanistan, which are in possession of military positions near the front lines.

Of course, he's furious to hear this guy say they're playing about behind the front lines. Of course we all are.

Her words were similar to those of survivors and relatives of British servicemen killed in the war. Christopher Kershaw, Monica Kershaw's 19-year-old son, was killed just three weeks into his first active deployment just four years ago. He was one of six British soldiers killed in Helmand Province when their Warrior armoured vehicle crashed over an improvised explosive unit.

He was on the front line,she says.There were six lads who were killed, but they were all killed.

I think they should put Donald Trump in a uniform and place him on the front line,

rather than merely scribing a pen behind a desk, he should go out there and do it yourself.

Cpl Jake Hartley, 20, Pte Anthony Frampton, 20, 21, Pt. Daniel Wade, 20, Sgt Nigel Coupe, 33, and Pt Daniel Wilford, 21. Trump's remarks were all the more hurtful becaUSe they were there at the behest of a US president.

They've all been killed for nothing,

the president says if they weren't around to help. Why were they returned in wooden boxes?

We see you,

US Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver says in a letter to Nato troops. We know you were right there with us.

Just not trueis the president's words, according tovanDiver,

who served off the coast of Iraq and now heads a group that supports Afghan wartime allies rebuilding.

We could not have done without them,

he says. When asked how British families who lost loved ones in Afghanistan may be feeling, VanDiver says they will most likely be

betrayedand thatI would say to those families is I'm sorry. Michael Akpata is one of more than 40,000 Canadian soldiers who served in Afghanistan. In the war, Canada lost 158 soldiers and six civilians, the third highest casualty number after the United States and Britain. Akpata, who served in Afghanistan in 2007 and now LaSalle, Ontario's deputy mayor, says Trump's remarks belittle the sacrifices Canada made. On my tour, he says, We lost 22 young Canadians.Canada's contribution to the world, peace, and stability are illustrative of their blood, sweat, and tears.