Helmand

A glimpse into life on the front line in Afghanistan told through the diaries of the British Marines

During their tour of Afghanistan in 2008, a number of soldiers kept personal diaries of their experiences, and now, for the first time, Osprey Publishing has collected them together to provide a gripping first-hand account of life in the front line in modern warfare. Although these soldiers were on the same tour, they all encountered different experiences, and so while the time frame is the same, their perspectives are inevitably different. Included here are the diaries of Lt John Thornton, who sadly lost his life just two weeks before the end of the tour, a Padre, a CO, a 2IC, and a member of Lt Thornton's section. The diary of Lt Thornton's brother, Ian, who returned from Helmand in 2012, provides an example of the war four years later and provides further context to the original tour diaries.


With an introduction that pulls the diaries together and puts them in context, this book provides a chance to look at what changes when the men and women come home, and what they learned from the tour.