Soldiers from Gloucestershire-based 1Rifles are serving a six-month tour in the notorious Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Gloucestershire Echo reporter Emily Cleland goes on patrol with the Territorial Army

I was about to head out on patrol with the Territorial Army when I was asked if I had ever had any weapons’ training.

Slightly alarmed, I decided to ignore the couple of times I had a go on my brother’s air rifle and replied ‘no’.

My fear levels rose further when I was asked to give my blood group – the dangerous nature of what I was doing hit me once again.

Having been in Afghanistan for five days I had grown accustomed to the ‘background’ noise of gun fire and explosions.

But these questions gave me a sharp jolt back to reality.

This was a war zone and things like blood groups and weapons’ training are important.

I jumped into the back of the armoured personnel carrier and once again found myself hoping for the best as I headed out on patrol with Corunna Company 6 Rifles, who have 17 Gloucestershire men among their line-up.

As we made our way out of the relative safety of the camp, I got my first ground-eye view of the  Afghanistan desert. Sticking my head out of the top of the truck I was confronted with an expanse of brown, gritty sand crisscrossed with dirt tracks and tarmac roads.

Persistent rainfall in the preceding days meant the  surface was now verging on a quagmire.

The job of Corunna Company is to provide security for Camp Bastion – the main base in Helmand Province for more than 6,000 troops. The TA soldiers patrol the surrounding area 24 hours a day, every day. They search the expanse of desert for anything which could provide a threat to the camp. The troops also provide ground-based security for incoming and outgoing flights. They had already avoided a potential disaster by discovering a rocket.

Lieutenant Tom Williams, from Bristol, told me: “We found a 107 Chinese rocket prepared ready to fire pointing at Bastion. It could potentially have done a lot of damage.”

An explosives team had duly been called to carry out a controlled explosion.

On this patrol no rockets were found but I did get firsthand experience of other vital work the company does – searching vehicles for weapons, explosives, mobile phones or any information which can be used for intelligence.

The soldiers hailed down two white minibuses  full of Afghans making their way through the desert to a wedding, apparently.

I jumped out of the truck and went up to the first minibus. I was pretty wary – as one of the risks they face here is suicide car bombers. I noticed there were lots of women and children packed into the vehicle as I approached, so I hoped for the best.

Cpl Mark Nairn, from Matson Gloucester, asked the men to get out of the bus and searched it. He explained what he was doing with a translator travelling with the patrol.

The 31-year-old told me: “We talk to the elders or leader of the group and establish what they are doing, where they are coming from, where they are going and why. Sometimes we are just trying to get intelligence – such as if they have left an area where something bad is happening, like enemy forces moving in.”

The patrol also went to search an abandoned Bedouin village.

It was an eerie place made up of six  4ft-high mud huts. There was evidence people and animals had been there some time ago –  a discarded hat and sheep droppings lay on the ground. The soldiers diligently looked around for any evidence of suspicious activity – there was none this time.

I learned the place was nicknamed Star Wars village due to its resemblance to Luke Skywalker’s home on Tatooine. Once again I was struck by how resilient the British sense of humour is.

Considering the risky situations troops in Afghanistan face day-in day-out, whether regular or TA, the morale is incredibly high. I guess that’s what keeps them going in the harshest of environments.