The next tour

My brother has been in the British Army for 7-8 years now. During his time in the army he has spent a year and a half in Iraq during the earlier stages of the controversial invasion (on 3 seperate 6 month stints). It was about 1 year after joining the army he was deployed for his first tour and his time there was noticeably a life changing one for him. The stuff that he went through was very obvious yet i got the impression the support he got wasn't quite sufficient enough to keep his mind at rest for when he had is much deserved time off on arrival back to the UK. Thankfully over the years he has "manned up" and taken alot on the chin to become the solider he is today.

As my brother is based in England and often has training around various parts of the UK it is not often i get the opportunity to see him. He was up visiting our parents for the week and i had arranged to get some time off work so i could make the trip up north to see him. I was particularly keen on seeing him because at the end of September my brother makes his first tour of Afghanistan for at least 6 months.

Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of negative press and alot of unfortunate deaths in Afghanistan in recent times for British soldiers, so i am slightly more concerned for his safety this time around than i had been for his tours of Iraq. He has two wonderful children and a loving wife to come home too, so hopefully it won't be too long before i get to see him again.


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As a side note, i have been very inactive on Blipfoto in recent times. I have however back blipped and on last Saturdays (7th) blip i explain how i intend on being a bit more active. Check them out and let me know what you think. Thanks!