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Scott
08-06-2010, 04:11 PM
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A BAND of brothers are risking their lives while serving on the frontline after they were all posted to Afghanistan.


Dad David Baldwin has spoken of his immense pride and fear after the third of his sons was sent to the war-torn country.

Now brothers Phillip, 25, Daniel, 23, and Matthew, 22, are serving in Afghanistan trying to make the country safer.

David, 52, who fully backs British troops' deployment, said: "The worst thing is putting the news on in the morning and hearing someone has been killed.

"At that point, before they've reached their next sentence, your heart drops and you're wishing it's someone else.


Bravest


"When the newsreader then says that the family have been informed, you can breathe again. How horrible is it to wish that on somebody else?

"But I'm the proudest dad in the world. They're men now, not boys.

"I am constantly worried for their safety but I know they are doing a job that they love and are making a difference."

All three soldiers worked in civilian jobs before embarking on military life. Phillip is a Lance Corporal in the Duke of Lancaster's 2nd Battalion. He has been in Camp Bastion for three weeks, patrolling the area and is due home in October.

Daniel is an acting corporal in the RAF, working in communications in Kandahar. Youngest son Matthew is a Royal Marine in 40 Commando, posted to Sangin.

David, of Blackburn, Lancs, added: "The lads ring me when they can. It's often a case of a phone being passed around a group, but it's always great to hear from them.

"Growing up they used to fall out like any brothers would do, but now they have an eerie sense of comradeship, not only as brothers, but as officers.

"They are very regimented and organised now. They have to be. It gets drilled into them all the time."

After leaving school at 16, Phillip became an apprentice engineer at Blackburn's Philip's components factory, but decided to enrol in the army aged 20, and has been based in Cyprus for the past two years. He recently became a physical training instructor and has boxed at bantamweight for the army.

Daniel, who has a 17-month-old son called Bradley with girlfriend Mary-Lynn, had numerous administrative jobs before joining the RAF three years ago. He is based at RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire. He was deployed to Afghanistan at the end of July and will return on December 15.

Matthew spent three months in Sangin, returning home for two weeks rest and relaxation, before heading back out for a further three months.

David, a council defacement enforcement officer, who has split from the boys' mum Shirley, said Matthew was the son he worried about most, as he is regularly shot at by the Taliban while on patrol, and once had a grenade thrown at him by a six-year-old child.

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Matthew's best friend, Marine Steven 'Birdie' Birdsall, was killed after being shot in the head as he passed parcels over a wall.

David said: "They'd just been on holiday to Mexico together, and I regularly ran Birdie home to Warrington. He was on a ladder, but was there too long and was picked off by a Taliban sniper.

"He fell at Matthew's feet. What does it do to a 22-year-old lad to see this?

"I asked him how he felt about it and he said they wouldn't think about it until the tour had finished and they were out.

"When Phillip was home I once asked him if he was ever frightened, but he said 'No, it's my job'.

"I just want my boys home safely."

MickDonalds
08-07-2010, 12:50 AM
That's awesome.

There's been all kinds of similar, routine stories in the US of families fighting in Iraq or A'stan together.

Just curious, does the UK have a "last surviving male" policy? The US CLAIMS it has a written policy that if you are the last male in your family, you are exempt from combat and are able to obtain an early discharge. They even make a commercial on Armed Forces Network tv, but it's complete horseshit. I'm the last surviving male in my family and I'm on my 3rd deployment. I know tons of male soldiers just like me who haven't been opted out.
I'm not complaining, I'm just remarking. Alot of civilians think that today is like the Civil War or World War II, where that sort of thing happened, but we're an all volunteer force.

drhods
08-07-2010, 05:52 AM
Congrats Dave, on having three great lads!!!!!! And well done guys, on keeping us all a bit safer.