Afghanistan

I don't know about security but there are quite a few people round here who have worked in Afghanistan. One of the women who has just arrived has spent the last couple of years there and she's fine! She said she was hungry.... veeeeeeeery hungry... but not unsafe.

Do you know what region he is going to? I can ask her what it's like if you want?

One of my friends has just finished a series of tours with the paratroopers in Afghanistan. He is serving with the UK army and has just returned to the UK, where he is going to do some other stuff for a while.

He is only 21 and I have constantly worried about him. To be honest, some of the companies serving over there have had a lot of deaths, but luckily his has escaped that. I have refused to read his emails because he has detailed some pretty horrific things which would only worry me more!

Having said that, I think at times he was quite bored, and doing secuirty missions were often completely uneventful.

Is your brother serving with the NZ Army? I think they tend to be a lot more safety conscious that the British Army. Where abouts in Afghanistan is he going?

Joshierocks - my hubby was over there for 6 months (with the NZ army though) based in Bamian Province, but also went to Kabul and up north as well.

It really depends on the area. Where the kiwis are based (Bamian) the Afghani's love them. Basically the closer to the border with Pakistan you get, the worse it is.

I'm really not sure what the environment is like there but is apparently a lot better than when DH went over in 2004. There are a lot of scary things over there (won't share as not allowed to) but also an amazing experience. The things that DH has seen that a lot of us will never have the opportunity to is just incredible.

The only advice I would give to your brother is he needs to realise that he is basically going as a civilian and does not have the support network that military personnel have over there. You are a lot safer attached to the military (other than the yanks as noone likes them at all) than you are with a security company.

They are generally pretty well looked after from what I understand though. Much better than Iraq (and a hell of a lot safer). DH said he would consider doing security in Afghan but not Iraq.

The biggest danger is the Taliban (obviously!) who *sometimes* see any white person as the enemy. But the cases of individuals being killed or injured is nowhere near as high from what I understand (don't quote me on that) as say the American military.

Your brother really needs to do research on where he will be based, where embassies are and how he (or someone else) can contact you in the case of an injury or if he really just needs to talk.

Anyway, it's so hard not to worry I know, I used to be up till 3am watching the BBC news for updates which worried me even more because we got half reports on the stuff that was happening and it was only until DH was back and could tell me the full story (phones are tapped so can't talk about it over there) that I relaxed a bit.

Hey ladies, thanks so much for your replies. He's not in the army anymore - he was for 11 years, did a couple of tours to Timor and just missed out on being accepted to the SAS after doing their full induction, so he's probably more experienced than most, and has a lot of skills etc etc.

He's training in the UK, and then heads over to Afghanistan. He won't know til after his training exactly where he's going - depends on what they deem his strengths to be as to what kind of work he'll actually do, and where he'll go.