VBS TV: Afghanistan in the UK Part 5 of 5

'We travel to Wootton Bassett, in Swindon, originally made famous by the British comedy show The Office. These days its main claim to fame is as one of the first places the Army repatriates its dead soldiers onto British soil, due to its close proximity to RAF Lyneham airbase. Relatives and friends of the slain young people regularly line the streets as funeral corteges with coffins draped in British flags trundle down the high street. Whoever is head of the Swindon Tourism Board certainly has an interesting job.

After talking to the landlady of the local Conservative club, we travel back to STANTA to meet up with B Company once again. We talk to the young medic team and learn more about their motivations for putting their lives at risk every day. We also revisit brain-damaged Afghan vet Richard Dare who describes in vivid detail how combat shock manifests itself; in his case at a steak dinner on holiday in Ibiza. Then we wave goodbye to 2 Para, until we catch up with them again next year when we join them in Helmand.

Punk points: the main song we used for this film is “Visions Of War” by Discharge.'