Top Australian soldier steps down over 'disgusting' photo showing him drinking from prosthetic leg of dead man

Warrant Officer John Letch. Photo / Supplied

One of Australia's top special forces soldiers has stood down after a shocking photo emerged of him drinking from a prosthetic leg belonging to a dead Afghan man.

Warrant Officer John Letch, Command Sergeant Major of Special Operations Command, has stepped down from his duties and is now considering his options following the photo controversy, according to The Australian.

The nation’s most senior special forces soldier has voluntarily stood aside after the emergence of a photo of him drinking from a prosthetic leg in Afghanistan.https://t.co/sCPAmdjGzV

— The Australian (@australian) December 15, 2020

The publication also revealed former Special Air Service Regiment and Special Operations Task Group commander Jono Beesley has stepped down following the publication of the Brereton Report into war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

A pixelated photo of Letch drinking out of the prosthetic leg of a dead man in Afghanistan was published by The Guardian earlier this month.

The picture was believed to be taken in 2009 at an unofficial bar known as the Fat Lady's Arms, inside Australia's special forces base in Tarin Kowt, the capital of Uruzgan province.

Fairfax had reported two years ago that Australian troops had been using the prosthetic leg of a prisoner from Afghanistan as a drinking vessel at SAS headquarters in Perth, after it was brought back as a souvenir in 2009.

The Australian reports more photos are believed to exist of other senior officials drinking from the leg.

Former SAS captain and Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said Letch was an "honourable man" and a good soldier.

"We deployed together to Afghanistan in 2013. He was my squadron sergeant major and looked after our welfare during tough times," he told the publication.

"John is an honourable man who did the wrong thing more than a decade ago. He accepts full responsibility for it. No one is perfect."

A source also told the publication that Letch had taken "full ownership of his actions and the discredit he had brought to the army".

The photo has outraged Afghans, with a member of the provincial council in Uruzgan, Hayatullah Fazly, branding the photo "disgusting".

"It is the most disgusting, shocking and horrific image I've ever seen," he told The Guardian.

"It is more painful when you consider that [the soldiers] were here to help us and make us feel safe. It's shameful."

The Fat Lady's Arms, where the photo is believed to have been taken, was mentioned in the Brereton Report as a place that was unauthorised but that was continually resupplied with alcohol.

– With Ben Graham