The book, last call

'My mother’s battle with cancer': final transcription on the last day of fundraising for the book, please support and share at: http://igg.me/at/InOurOwnWordsAfghanistan/x/5439516

"Its my 1st time here and has
been an experience, a lot of mixed
feelings and scary moments but
some how under all this poverity
and wartorn country I still find
connections to home in ways by
seen children playing games just
like I did but without the soldiers
and the threat of Taliban
on their families.
 The one major
comparison I have is we had
a contact one day in which
the Taliban ambush us and
we pinned down taking fire from 3

positions we had no choice but
to make a sprint across open ground
cause we could not use the ditch
cause of the IED threat. Once we
took off across the open ground they
started to smash us, it was crazy
round going everywhere. It was not a
case of am I going to get shot it was
where am i going to get shot. With
the help of God and the drive of a
soilder we all made it across. We
patrolled back when it died down but
as we walked back to the base i seen
what looked like a father and son
working in the fields. It brought
my mind back
 
to when me and my father worked
together making a living for our family
but the only battle we had was
the one my mother had to fight off
cancer and the only soilder we had in our
safe environment in the west of
Ireland was my mam cause she
fought and still fights her illness
What
i am trying to say is no matter where
you go in life or what you do your
family memories will never be forgotten
and influence you many ways
without you even known.
If any younger
children read this all i can say

is treasure your family cause
thinking about them can get
you through the toughest
times in life even it it’s the
hell hole of the earth like
helmand afganistan"

Two wars

Hi, I'm in the last week of my book campaign and am transcribing the postcards for the book content and came across this one, which has always moved me more than most.  Here is the exact transcript.

Two wars

The thing that im going to write ab­out is something

that is never portrayed in the press or anywhere i

have ever seen, Its not a war story where rounds

are landing everywhere or on the other hand it isnt

a daily log, It is something that all people dont

understand until you have been somewhere like this

for this amount of time. Im going to write about

the day to day struggle of being away. When

people think of being in Afghanistan i think

they instantly think of soldiers being shot at

and bombs landing around people, and while

those things happen daily those are the things

that you came here for, you came here to fight

a war. On the other side the thoughts of

the people you miss and the things you miss

and the thoughts you have about this, when you

aren’t out fighting or keeping yourself

busy this is what is constantly going through

your head. What your girlfriend was wearing last

time you saw her, what she did, said, what she

smelt like, what she will look like and if

anything will have changed while you have been away

and if you will fit in with the changes when you

get back. I sit here and miss just fitting into

the daily routine at home, sleeping in a normal bed

seeing all the people you love, seeing your home, sitting

down and relaxing. Sometimes it drives you crazy missing

everything and sometimes it makes you smile knowing

that you will have those things to look forward

to again. As I said at the start yes we are

over here fighting a war and yes bad things

are constantly happeing out here but take away

with you something else when you read this, hold

onto the people you love and the things that you

love doing. If you are close to someone that is

away out here know that you will always be in

their minds because there are two wars bring faught,

one which is publicised and one which goes on

in a soldiers head when everything goes quiet….

Written by a soldier with A coy 1 Royal Irish


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British PM supports Afghanistan book

British Prime Minister writes to support my Afghanistan book at:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/in-our-own-words-handwritten-postcards-by-front-line-soldiers-in-afghanistan