Journalist Brian Price is coming to terms with life back on civvy street – after spending time with the Marines in war-torn Yugoslavia.

The North Devon Journal reporter travelled to Kosovo with nine other journalists from other newspapers and television companies to report on local people involved in the peace keeping process.

For Brian, the four-day experience was unforgettable.

He said: “It was brilliant – a real eye opener. Before I went I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the whole thing was an amazing experience.

“When we first arrived in Yugoslavia, the area around the airport didn’t look too bad. There was a lot of building work going on but it didn’t look like a war zone.

“But when we travelled out into the villages, that’s when we saw the true extent of years of war. It was strange to see these people living in villages which had been razed to the ground. There was literally nothing there.”

Whilst the troops had an important job to do, they still had plenty of time for Brian.

He explained: “They were a really friendly lot. They were quite interested in what I was doing so it was a bit of a two way thing. I enjoyed working with them.”

With two days spent travelling to and from the Balkans, Brian only had two days to spend with the marines – but he still had a lot to do.

He said: “The team I was with was the Commando Logistics Regiment which involves a lot of vehicle repairs and maintenance work. It’s not the most exciting part of the peacekeeping force but they’re important cogs in the wheel.”

One of the most interesting things the troops did was the ambulance run.

Brian explained: “The majority of the people in Kosovo are ethnic Albanians so the Serbs living there tend to be in fear of retribution attacks.

“They tend to live in small pockets dotted around so when they had to have medical treatment, the medical squadron goes to pick them up. Then we would take them back to base under armed guard for treatment. That was quite interesting.”

He said he wouldn’t hesitate to repeat the experience: “If anyone else gets the chance to go and see the troops in action I would definitely recommend it. You don’t get a chance like this every day.”

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