The Regimental Sergeant Major of the Grenadier Guards who was killed by the renegade Afghan policeman, was due to have been told on the day he died that he had been awarded a commission as an officer.

Warrant Officer Class One Darren “Daz” Chant, 40, regarded by his comrades in the Grenadier Guards as a legendary figure, was to have become a captain.

The 6ft sergeant-major had also been on a shortlist of three to become the most senior NCO in the Army - Academy Sergeant Major at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

His reputation as a courageous soldier was enhanced by the revelation that he saved the life of a Grenadier Guardsman whose leg had been blown off after an explosion in Helmand.

“Drill sergeant Daz Chant put me on his shoulders and ran more than a mile to the point where the chopper had flown to evacuate me. I owe him everything,” Guardsman Scott Blaney, 22, said.

“I’m a big bloke and I don’t know how Daz managed to carry me on his back for nearly a mile without falling over once,” he told The Sun.

WO1 Chant was present at the reinforced checkpoint where the killings occurred on Tuesday because the Grenadier Guards battle group, recently arrived in Helmand for its six-month tour, had identified the need for increased mentoring of the Afghan National Police within its area of operations.

“WO1 Chant and his team were sent to a police checkpoint of vital importance as it provided protection to the bazaar area of Nad-e Ali where the battle group forward operating base was located,” the Ministry of Defence said.

The revered sergeant major served in the formidable Pathfinders Platoon, the Parachute Regiment reconnaissance force, from 1997 to 1999, before being posted to Sandhurst as a Colour Sergeant instructor. Only the best NCOs are selected as instructors at Sandhurst.

He was there until 2003 and “made a name for himself with his straight talking, no-nonsense approach to training and soldiering”.

As the most senior warrant officer in the Grenadier Guards for the tour of Afghanistan which began in September, “he was a natural figurehead for all Grenadiers and was unflinching in his pursuit of the highest possible standards”.

“WO1 Chant was carved from the very rock that forms the foundations of a regiment. He was a role model for those beneath him and was an invaluable colleague for anyone that worked alongside him. The day before WO1 Chant was killed it was announced that he had been awarded a commission in the Grenadiers as an officer. It is a tragedy that he was due to be informed of his success on the day he was killed,” the MoD said.

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