So, you know, clearly a tough tour.
And a lot of what people remember about
men who were killed in action.
And of course, that is right and proper
and commemorated and celebrated.
But of course,
I mean, there were those that were
I mean, there were some that were lightly
a burst eardrum, meant
you know, their career was over.
And there were a couple of.
There were two in particular of lads
the rocket strike on the 19th of July.
And thanks to the speed and the courage
them out, they lived,
But their bodies were shattered.
There was one young lad,
His shoulder had nearly
I mean, his arm was almost
And he had hundreds of bits of shrapnel
Hours of operations and.
And then months of rehabilitation,
with disability out of the service.
And I know he found that a struggle
And there was another
He'd given a year of his life at 52,
and serve his country.
And he was a really,
How he was doing three patrols a day in 50
helmet or his kit, I don't know.
But he did,
well over 100 bits
And, you know, at 52, you recover
And he's lived with
life, so it really took its
And then there was a psychological effect.
And there were some who have been haunted
Those who were there, those who pulled
their comrades out of the dead, comrades
out of the wreckage, not all in one piece.
there were others.
There was one lad who wasn't even there.
He shared a room with one of the
And had he been there at the time,
We'd have had four casualties
So in that respect, he was lucky.
But because he wasn't there, because he
The survivor guilt in him was so
He became suicidal,
He was eventually discharged
We did our level best to help him, but,
I mean, he's doing okay now,
his wounds were entirely mental
and, and his life had been saved
And yet his life was over for years.
David Hayden, who won a Military Cross for
his courage, his life was never the same.
There's a memory of the moment, but also
he found really hard, as anyone would,
with a Military Cross as he was before it.
And yet, of course,
He's had some struggles again.
He's back on his feet.
There was a young flying officer, police
who volunteered to be the effects
And that meant sifting through
killed and returning as much
But of course,
broken, bloodstained,
Send things back to a grieving family.
They're just going to add to the horror.
So she had this
things, these personal effects,
and boxing them up.
And she did it with such
She deserved more, much more credit
And yet I know she's struggled
When I talked to her about it years later,
So Basra 2007 left its mark in so many
I mean, I guess I'd add that
That is the reality of conflict.
You know, war is the worst thing.
There is nothing worse than it
for those caught up in it, for families
But if you volunteer to join
prepared to get yourself
And we did.
But that shouldn't obscure the fact
a lot of people living with the
still, whether that's
