I just spoke with a friend of mine via email today. He's in the army and has been for about 10 years He's a Corporal with the Black Watch now and a sniper something which has been a running joke between us, he was the worst shot I'd even seen when we were both in the Air Cadets.

I don't hear from him often and I've not spoken to him face to face for a few years.

He not long back from Iraq and might be shipping out to Afganistan soon. He was telling me that he lost most of his squad in a suicide bomb attack and he only survived due to being called away a couple of minutes before they hit. Just after that his Warrior APC was hit by an IED and the driver killed in front of him. He said the warrior was blown 60 feet of the road and wrecked.

He used to be a quirky guy, silly funny, daft jokes etc. I can definitely read the change in him in the way he wrote.

He's not complaining about going to Afganistan, I think he's learned to shoot straight and he's looking to even things up.

We've got it pretty easy really.