On the day 2 Rifles received operational medals at Ballykinler army base, the Belfast woman widowed by the death of her soldier husband in Afghanistan has said Britain should pull its forces out of the conflict.
Amanda Binnie's husband, Corporal Sean Binnie, 22, was killed trying to protect the life of an Afghan he was training.
She expressed her lack of support for the war as she planted a cross bearing her husband's name in the annual Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.
Corporal Binnie served with the Black Watch 3rd battalion.
He was shot along with three colleagues while on patrol in Helmand with the Afghan National Army in May. A full military funeral was held for him in Belfast before he was laid to rest at Roselawn Cemetery.
Speaking about the Afghan conflict, Mrs Binnie said: "I do not support it. They should get everyone out."
"Sean died saving one of them. You do not know who they are," she added.
Mrs Binnie, who launched this year's Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal in Northern Ireland, said the field of crosses, which was formally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday, was a welcome way to remember her husband and all the others who had given their lives.
For the first time there were specific plots set aside for those killed in recent conflicts, with 234 crosses featuring poppies, names, photos and messages for the Afghanistan dead and another 179 from the Iraq conflict.
'Solution'
Britain's most senior commander in Afghanistan insisted that local security forces were part of the solution to the country's difficulties.
General Sir Nick Parker said the deaths of five soldiers after an Afghan policeman opened fire with a machine gun in Helmand Province should not sway the overall strategy.
The future second-in-command of Nato's operation in the south Asian country watched recently returned soldiers from 2 Rifles receiving their medals in Northern Ireland.
"I hope we don't make strategic decisions on the basis of this low-level, terrible action," he said.
"If you start extracting conclusions from something at that level it could be very damaging.
"I know that the Afghan security forces are part of the future of this country."
Sir Nick's own son, Harry, was injured in Afghanistan.
He said he was proud of the effort of 2 Rifles. They lost 13 men and around 80 were injured, many seriously, during their six-month tour.
Around 500 received medals on Thursday and the families of some of those killed were handed the Queen Elizabeth Award.
A key part of their role was mentoring and patrolling alongside the local police and army.
The battalion suffered the largest number of fatalities of any in Afghanistan.
Sir Nick added: "We know it is possible that some people could get in amongst their ranks and try and disrupt what we are doing.
"People have been killed, but they have done an enormous amount of good."
The soldiers gathered at a windswept Ballykinler barracks in Co Down, greeted by hundreds of family members and dignitaries, who stood and clapped.
Some soldiers, wearing their desert fatigues, were on crutches and one triple amputee was present on a day of mixed emotions.
The battalion, based in the dangerous central Helmand province area of Sangin, found around 200 improvised explosive devices, but also suffered losses and injuries from the deadly bombs.
Rifleman Damien Britton, 23, from Bristol, relived the moment when one of his friends lost his life. He was driving in a convoy of vehicles when they were attacked with bombs.
"You relive it every day in your mind, but you can't hold on to it. You have to let it go because you are working every day until the end of the tour, you can't let it play on your mind."
Sharn Collins, from Manchester, whose son, Rifleman Craig Monaghan, 19, served in Sangin, said she could not sleep with worry while her son was there.
He suffered eye and ear injuries in July when a device blew up.
"I was hysterical, I was numb and I am sure a lot of other parents have been in the same boat," she added.
"He was blown 15 feet away from the rest of the lads."
'Sacrifice'
A ceremony lasting more than an hour saw the troops receive their medals from octogenarian Field Marshal Edwin Bramall.
He paid tribute to those who lost their lives.
"Thirteen brave and much missed comrades in arms, good men and good friends, we will never forget them, the superb sacrifice they made as true soldiers and warriors."
The commanding officer of 2 Rifles, Lieutenant Colonel Rob Thomson, said his men performed heroically.
"We knew that our job was important and urgent. We kept our eyes fixed on the task ahead of us."
He said the Afghan army was superb in the frontline, had suffered its own losses and was getting better.
His men jogged out of the parade ground, but their faces showed the strain of the long deployment.
He added: "It was the most intense, complex and nuanced fight in my 20 years in the Armed Forces.
"We left Sangin in October 2009 a better place than when we arrived."
© Press Association