Will's back from Afghanistan

It appears as if the vast array of responsibilities which fellow Darlington blogger Nick Wallis has to juggle with have finally caught up with him. It is exactly one month since his last serious post. Hopefully we haven't seen the last of him and he'll be back after the Euro elections. This is my first post for over a week: I do also get a blogging block (or a real life) from time to time.

But no politics today, just the good news that my 21 year old, Marine Barker, is back from the front line in Afghanistan in one piece: albeit a considerably bulkier and browner piece than when he flew out there six months ago. Carrying huge water bottles and thousands of rounds of ammunition on long patrols out into no man's land has given Will a physique like Arnie's. Will has had a few close shaves and, sadly, fewer Marine Commandos flew back this weekend than flew out all those months ago.

We now have his medal ceremony to look forward to in May. Will gets the best part of three months off before he begins more training, which he thinks will be in explosives warfare. He's also talking about applying for the Marines Special Forces. They're the real hard cases, God help us!