At the sharp end in Afghanistan, soldiers often have to make instant decisions which can literally be a matter of life and death. 

They know that just killing insurgents won't win the battle - the consent and support of the Afghan people is what really matters. So getting into firefights which can result in locals being killed or injured is not the way - although that's often easier said than done when someone starts shooting.

Earlier this week, in Sadul Kariz - a small village to the north east of Sangin, in northern Helmand province - soldiers from No 2 Platoon, A Company of 4 RIFLES, on patrol as part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, had to deal with such a situation. 

While en route to a village, the lead man in the patrol, Rifleman Tony "Needs" Needham spotted an area he thought looked suspicious.  His training took over as he went through his counter-IED drills with his metal detector. He recalls: "When I saw the black rubber casing poking through the soil, I thought 'oh shit!'"

But the patrol was not to be deterred; they marked the area to warn civilians of the danger and continued on their way.

After a friendly cup of 'chai' and banter at a local mosque, the patrol was just moving off when Cpl 'Danny', watching over the surrounding area with his sniper rifle, saw movement in an unoccupied compound that insurgents were known to have previously used. After warning his colleagues over the radio, he continued to watch as the patrol moved off on a different route, trying to avoid bringing on a fight which might put locals in danger. 

But moments later a burst of fire came their way, from the compound. 'Danny' couldn't spot the source but he saw a man near the compound, apparently unarmed but pointing towards the patrol. Was he part of the attack, maybe directing the fire, or just a local man mixed up in it all, not knowing what was going on? 

He had a decision to make - but only a moment to make it. Protecting his mates, protecting the locals, needing to be sure the man was an insurgent and not a civilian all factors to be considered. "Dropping" the man would be easy - Cpl 'Danny' doesn’t miss. But the months of counter-insurgency training came to mind in that moment: 'we kill because we must, not because we can.'

Cpl 'Danny' fired a single shot into the ground, 5 metres in front of the man, who immediately ran away. The firing stopped and the patrol moved off safely. 

Reflecting afterwards Cpl 'Danny' said he knew he had done the right thing - the easy option would have been to shoot the man, but the braver decision was not to. "I knew I had to fire to stop someone in the patrol being killed. The man was very lucky that I didn't go straight to lethal." That single shot was decisive; no locals or soldiers were hurt. And as the patrol commander, Lt Charlie Winstanley, said "We'll go back for the gunman another time."