Today marks the second week of my eldest son's transfer from the relative saftey of camp Bastion in Afghanistan to Kajacki (appologies for the spelling - Dyslexia/ Dyspraxia is a curse !). When he rang and broke the news I was needless to say concerned, I had cacooned myself in the relatively safe bubble of "If he is in the main base he will be safer!"...Please note the word safe will appear a lot in this journal entry *chuckle*.
I know everyone loves their children and all children are precious,but for me Nigel is a son in a 100,000,000. He, like his siblings has had a tough upbringing, with a father who suffers from alcahol dependancy and verbally violent mood swings. His rise from this situation is astounding and something of which I am extremley proud. At school he suffered from his struggle with Dyspraxia; a condition which i have also struggled with all my life, and was a shy quiet child who was unmercilessly bullied, not only at home by his father but also at school by his peers. At 16 he had made a concious decision that he wanted to be a paramedic, and having been made aware he would not be able to do this untill he was 21 he made the decision that he would try to enter the armed forces as a medic, he went to colledge for a year and then made his first attempt, he was however unsuccessfull; many would have given up, but not Nigel. He got himself a job working in our local Matalan and tried again (all this time helping on his meger wages to support his brother and sister).Just before his 18th Birthday he made his second attempt and was accepted. I was so proud then and even more so after several set backs and a back squadding; many phone calls where he wanted to give up but still kept his faith. He finally passed out of basic training at Winchester almost four years ago. He has been stationd in Germany for a little over 2 years now and has recently been posted to Afghanistan. Through out his time in the army he has continued to support me and his siblings in a way I have never heard another parent say their child would or could. I am Proud to have such an amazing man for a son, he is just my Angel, my devestaion if anything were to happen to him would be limitless, (yes I know this would be true for any parent, my brother lost a child aged just 18 months I have seen the havock losing a child causes)but for me Nigel is a shining light in a dark world that is all to full of hatred and evil.
He remains to me my hero and I pray every day for his safe returne to us.