Last night the sister of one soldier told the News Letter that more than five exhausted Ulster soldiers who left Afghanistan last week chose to pay £120 to fly home from England with easyJet after plans to fly them into RAF Aldergrove fell through.

Angry at what her family sees as a snub to the bravery of men who have watched colleagues die, she said in a letter to the News Letter that she was “disgusted” at the soldiers’ treatment.

Yesterday several soldiers privately said that there had been problems with flights between Afghanistan and the UK and the family of one soldier said they were unhappy that there had been no military welcome on the RAF Aldergrove runway.

However, the MoD said it had done everything to get the soldiers home to their families as quickly as possible after it became clear they would not be able to fly in on Sunday morning, as had been planned.

The woman who wrote to the News Letter said the soldiers were reluctant to complain about what had happened because they did not want to ask for recognition.

“These men were brought to England, thinking they would all be flying home to Northern Ireland together to be welcomed home as heroes,” she said.

“They were then told that instead, after their six months of hard work and dedication, followed by travelling from Afghanistan, they would have to sit on a bus for six hours to get a boat home.

“From talking to my brother, you can hear the disappointment in his voice.

“I asked him, ‘Are you going to complain about it?’ but he said there was ‘no point’.

“They were late getting out of Afghanistan, late coming out of Cyprus and late back in England which meant they missed their slot with the RAF to come home.”

The reserve soldier’s sister said that she was “totally behind” the homecoming parades – but said it was important for the soldiers to feel their actual return was important.

“My brother flew home on Monday night to Aldergrove and a few friends and family cheered them when they came off but it was so disappointing, given all the coverage in the News Letter about welcoming home the heroes that they couldn’t all come home together.

“They should have flown into RAF Aldergrove, marched off the back of the plane with a band, with banners and with flags — but there was basically nothing for them.”

But last night an MoD spokesman said: “Because of operational commitments and different transit arrangements from theatre it was not possible to secure an air move from UK as operational requirements always take priority.

“The plan for an air move was always dependent on operational requirements for aircraft and it should be noted that all moves after demobilisation in UK – including troops to Germany – have been by land and sea.