One Day To Go
Dave Warren Rifleman
RIFLEMEN will leave for war-torn Afghanistan in the early hours of tomorrow morning (October 1).
Territorial Army solider Dave Warren, a 34-year-old printer from Woodford, said he could hardly wait.
The father-of-one has said the hardest part was saying goodbye to his 11-year-old son, but he is now itching to go.
“It has been the longest training in history,” he told the Recorder just hours before boarding a C17 military aircraft from RAF base Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The regular army trains for about two-and-a-half to three weeks before going out – we have been training for three-and-a half months.
“I was a little nervous, but we have got a good bunch of blokes and we are all gagging to get on with the job.”
The soldiers have been through medical, driving, cultural awareness and extensive weapons training since June and spent two weeks in Macedonia acclimatising to conditions similar to those they will face in Afghanistan.