Soldier describes 'hardest day'

12:06pm Tuesday 8th January 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

While most of us were with our families over the festive period, 600 soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment were serving in Iraq.

Among them was Leyland soldier Sergeant Philip Altree who has been back in Lancashire on a short visit with Commanding Officer Lt Col Gary Deakin. He spoke to the Citizen about life in Iraq.

Sgt Philip Altree says that being away from his wife Elaine and children Arron, 13, and Jennifer, 11, on Christmas Day was the hardest day of his 10-year army career.

The disappointment of being away from home was softened by the fact that his brother Andrew, a Lance Corporal, is also serving with the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (1LANCS).

He said: "It was hard being away from Elaine and the children. I was able to use the webcam at the base to see them and speak to them but it wasn't the same.

"We had a Christmas meal at the camp but it is difficult for soldiers. I guess I was luckier than most though because Andrew was there, but it is not something I would look forward to doing again."

The troops from 1LANCS have been in Iraq since November, and despite British Forces handing over power to the Iraqis last month, the former St Mary's High School pupil says that dangers to troops are still evident.

He said: "It has made no real difference to us because we still have to patrol and there are still insurgents wanting to harm us.

"We have rocket attacks on a daily basis and although we have early tracking devices, the insurgents have got wise to it and are now lowering the trajectory of the rockets meaning we cannot detect them.

"We have plenty of training, and using the drills and skills we have we are able to keep ourselves safe and deal with the danger."

Danger is something that Sgt Altree has become accustomed to during his time in the Army.

As a new recruit on his first tour in Northern Ireland during the troubles, he was stationed in Omagh and was actually in an electrical shop just minutes before a car bomb ripped through the town in 1998.

Sgt Altree said: "I had gone into town with Elaine to get some new things for the house we were staying in and actually walked past the car. We got back to the base and a few minutes later I heard a massive explosion and the shop where I was 30 minutes earlier was destroyed.

"I was new to the Army so it was a bit of a shock especially because we were told that there was little chance of trouble in Omagh."

Sgt Altree and 1LANCS are due to return to their base in Germany in April, six weeks early.