HOW do you celebrate returning from a challenging six-month tour of Afghanistan?
By getting down on one knee to propose to your partner, amid cheers from your fellow soldiers, before chomping down on a gut-busting double Big Mac.
At least that is how Lance Sergeant Laurie Challenger, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, marked his return to Britain in October.
The 29-year-old, from Rhondda, was one of about 350 soldiers from the battalion, based at Hounslow Cavalry Barracks, who marched up Hounslow High Street, led by a 60-piece regimental band, on Tuesday.
The returning heroes, who had spent six months training Afghan police in the notorious Helmand province, were applauded along the route by families and well-wishers.
Lance Sergeant Challenger told the Chronicle how McDonald’s was the thing he had missed most while he was away, after, of course, his now fiancee Alex Humphreys and sons Logan, six, and Callum, seven.
“I popped the question to Alex almost as soon as I was off the plane,” he said. “It was quite nerve-wracking because all my team were bugging me about it on the way back, but there was a big cheer from them when she said yes.
“I then went to McDonald’s for what’s called a Charlie burger, which basically consists of one Big Mac inside another,” he said.
Three soldiers from the battalion, and two more who were serving with them, never returned from the tour alive.
All five died at the hands of the Afghan security forces they were training, as part of Operation Herrick.
Sergeant Challenger said the added threat from inside the camp made it the most ‘challenging’ of his four tours of duty.
"On my last tour in Afghanistan the only threat we faced came from outside the camp, but this time there was a threat from inside as well, which made it very challenging," he told the Chronicle. "However, I feel we took them (the Afghan police) a step forward from when we arrived in terms of their training.
"We also made some very good friends out there, which made it even harder when one of them turned around and there was a ‘green on blue’ incident."
After parading up the High Street, including an ‘eyes right’ at the war memorial by the Holy Trinity Church, the battalion headed into Lampton Park, where they observed a minute’s silence in memory of fallen comrades.
They then filed into Lampton Park Conference Centre for a special reception.
Sergeants David Scarf and Kalisito Vuevueika, who completed their sixth tour in Afghanistan, said: “It means a lot to soldiers to be supported by the public and it’s nice to get a welcome like this.
“We’ve lost soldiers in previous tours and on this one, so whenever we form up like this a thought goes out to them and their families.”
Mark Power, whose son Jamie celebrated his 21st birthday on tour in Afghanistan, was among many relatives gathered to welcome the troops.
"A lot of the public don’t really understand what the families go through,” he told the Chronicle. "It’s torture knowing you can have a knock at the door at any time of the day or night to tell you something’s happened to your son.
“But I gave up my two sons to serve in the Army and we’re proud of every breath they take.”
Hounslow Council leader Jagdish Sharma said: “It’s a great privilege to welcome back the Welsh Guards.
“Hounslow has a long and vibrant historical link to the cavalry barracks and we consider its occupants to be part of the family of the borough.”
