A Jamaican enlisted in the British Army was killed in the battlefield in Afghanistan on Sunday.

Dead is 31-year-old Lance Sergeant Dale McCallum, who was fatally shot by insurgents as he commanded his men in an operation to provide security to Afghan local nationals in Helmand province

According to Britain's Ministry of Defence, McCallum was shot as he moved into position to engage insurgents who had attacked a checkpoint.

McCallum, who was born in Hanover, is said to have enlisted in the British Army in June 1998 where he quickly gained a reputation for being an immensely strong, fit and robust individual.

Having joined the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in Germany in March 1999, he was later deployed to Kosovo in 1999 and then to Iraq in 2003. He was promoted to the rank of lance corporal in September 2002.

He was again promoted to the rank of lance sergeant in July 2006 and was recommended for a promotion to sergeant to take effect this October, although he was already performing the duties of a platoon sergeant with the Fire Support Group. The Fire Support Group had spent the past four months increasing the level of security for the people of Loy Adera.

"He loved this role and thrived on the responsibility he held, especially his responsibility to his men," the department said in a statement.

A tribute from his family described him as a wonderful father, brilliant brother a loving son.

"He was cherished and highly respected by everyone that knew him. He will be deeply and sadly missed. We all loved Dale for his easy going attitude and his sunshine smile, for his mannerisms and his charm."

Lieutenant Colonel Lincoln Jopp MC, commanding officer, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, said that McCallum was a consummate soldier.

"A veteran of operational tours in Kosovo, and three tours of Iraq, he was a reconnaissance Section Commander and here in Afghanistan, the Platoon Sergeant of a 27-man Fire Support Group.

"I never once heard him raise his voice or lose his temper. He had control. He was also a gentleman," the commanding officer wrote.

Yesterday scores of tributes poured in on the Ministry of Defence's website from his colleagues.

"The whole battalion has been struck by his loss and we send our sincerest and deepest condolences to his son Kevin, Kevin's mother Edith, Dale's mother Lurline Watson, father Paul McCallum, step-father Errol Watson, and all his wider family and friends," one colleague wrote.

"Dale was one in a million and his boots will be exceptionally hard to fill. He was a phenomenal soldier with considerable experience from his time in both the Irish and the Scots Guards, having spent much of his career deployed on operations," another said.

In a statement issued yesterday the British High Commission in Kingston expressed regret at McCallum's death. Jamaica and the Defence Section, it noted, were working closely with the relevant Jamaican and British authorities to get his father to the UK to attend the funeral.

McCallum's mother lives in the UK.