THEY have been fêted as heroes and it was a hero's welcome for Westcountry troops as they took to the streets for their homecoming parade yesterday.

In front of the Duke of Edinburgh and large crowds cheering and waving flags, hundreds of servicemen and women proudly marched through Exeter to allow the public to thank them for their sacrifice in Afghanistan.

It was in stark contrast to the much-criticised jeering they received when they paraded in London on Tuesday – and came two days after the region's latest casualty, Trooper Joshua Hammond, 18, died in an explosion in the country.

Yesterday, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth claimed British forces in Afghanistan were "better equipped than they have ever been" after news of the deaths of Tpr Hammond and of the most senior Army officer killed in action since the Falklands War.

Exeter

parade filmed by the WMN's Mike Brown

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died when his Viking vehicle was blown up near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province on Wednesday. Tpr Hammond, from Plymouth, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, was killed in the same attack.

Mr Ainsworth, speaking in Exeter before the parade, said, when asked if the vehicle Lt Col Thorneloe was travelling in was suitable: "If you ask anybody in Afghanistan, they will tell you our forces there are better equipped then they've ever been.

"There's been a fantastic improvement in the last couple of years, both in personal equipment and vehicles as well.

"We're bringing in as many new vehicles out there as we can."

Mr Ainsworth said bringing in more helicopters would not reduce the risk on the ground.

"We can't conduct the kind of operations we need to conduct in Afghanistan from the air.

"Of course, helicopters are needed – we're moving the Merlin helicopter across from Iraq. But ask the guys doing the job – they can't conduct the operation in great big massive vehicles all the time, they need a range of vehicles.

"They need manoeuvrability, they need to be able to see what's going on and they need to be able to get off the beaten track.

"But they equally need to get in among the people and to walk around and there's always going to be risk.

"Ask anybody, even those who have been injured, and they will tell you the risk can never be removed.

"There's a long way to go, and if we're impatient about how we proceed in Afghanistan, we will achieve nothing.

"But I believe progress is being made. I think we can get Afghanistan into a place not only where it ceases to be a threat to us back here in Britain but a place that offers a better life and opportunity for ordinary Afghan people.

"We need political progress, we need development progress, but we've got to remember all the time, none of that is achievable without the security progress that has been made and continues to be made."

Mr Ainsworth, paying tribute to Lt Col Thorneloe, said: "I knew Rupert personally, not well, but he worked in the main building for a while before he took up his command.

"(His death) will have quite an impact on the men who work directly under him and they really will be feeling and going through it, having lost the boss.

"I'm sure they will be big enough to get over this and continue to do the job.

"Rupert was a man of enormous enthusiasm, and a leader of men. He was a great guy to work with.

"He did a fantastic job commanding out in Afghanistan. He believed in the operation.

"I was out there at the weekend, and there are people out there coming to Afghanistan, and they do believe they are doing a good job not only in terms of making us safe back here at home from the threat of terrorism, but also on behalf of the Afghan people themselves.

"They're enthusiastic and they think they're making progress."