Weekly newspaper reporter Alistair Nelson is due back in the UK this weekend after spending the week with British soldiers in Afghanistan.

He has joined up with Armed Forces Minister and Harlow MP Bill Rammell in Helmand Province from where the Saffron Walden Reporter journalist has been filing a regular diary about his time spent with the soldiers.

Alistair, left, and Mr Rammell have met with soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Fusiliers and toured their base in Helmand Province.

The Fusiliers lost a comrade on 19 July when Cpl Joseph Etchells was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol.

Alistair said before his trip: “I am both excited and nervous about what lies in store for me in this war-torn country.

“It is hard to digest that I’m heading into a war zone, or as they say in the MoD, into ‘theatre’.

“This is a rare opportunity to experience, in some small way, what life is like for a soldier on the front line. I just hope I can do that experience justice.”

Comments

bob little (31/07/2009 10:39:15)
ALISTAI FIRSTLY YOUR BRAVE TO GO TO AFG WELL DONE.
ALL SERVICE PERSONEL ARE OUTSTANDING TO GO OUT AGAIN AND AGAIN.I AM AND MANY OTHER ARE JUST SO BRAVE. I SERVED WITH THE FUSILIERS FOR 22 YEARS I FOUND IF YOUR IN TROUBLE THEY HAVE YOUR BACK
ROUNDS COMING DOWN ALL A ROUND YOU. FUSILIERS CAN FIGHT AND BE VERY CARRING.