[Locke.]

At Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to present it's Medical Emergency Response Team (M.E.R.T) with a Pride of Britain award
Talking to wounded soldiers Lance Cpl Ramesh Gurung (left), aged 29, and Sgt Maj Tony Mason (right), aged 37.
Ant tries out an Apache helicopter for size
In the operating theatre
Watching an op
Sharing a joke with wounded soldier Lance Cpl Paul Ramsbottom
Talking to commanding officer Lt Col Jez Hair
Talking to wounded soldier Lance Cpl Ramesh Gurung, aged 29,
With Dauod, aged seven months, who was suffering with a broken leg
Sgt Liz Shillito accepts a Pride of Britain award on behalf of M.E.R.T.


ANT and Dec have been given a terrifying insight into the courage shown by our troops in Afghanistan – after they came under rocket attack themselves.

The petrified stars, in the war zone to present a Mirror Pride of Britain Award, had to dive for cover when the Taliban shelled Kandahar airport.

Ant, 32, said: “It was pretty hairy – not something I’d like to experience again.

“All the guys around us were pulling on body armour.

“We couldn’t believe how close we were to being hit. It shows what our troops go through every day.”

Dec, 33, said: “One minute everything was calm and the next the sirens were wailing.”

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly were waiting to catch a military flight when the Taliban attacked.

The rocket, fired from the mountains near the Nato airfield, narrowly missed dozens of planes and buildings.

Ant and Dec had spent a night under canvas with the troops at Kandahar following a visit to Britain’s Camp Bastion in Helmand Province.

They made the trip to Bastion to present a Mirror Pride of Britain award to the Medical Emergency Response Team, who risk their lives daily to rescue wounded colleagues.

Film of their visit will be a highlight of tomorrow night’s ceremony in London and will be shown on ITV on Wednesday.

The MERT team went into action minutes after Ant and Dec arrived at Bastion, the UK command centre for the war against the Taliban.

As news came through that 12 British troops and a soldier with the Afghan army had been wounded in a Taliban ambush, a MERT unit of doctors, nurses and paramedics boarded a helicopter and flew off.

Ant told the camera: “It’s terrifying to think a load of British soldiers are injured a few miles from where we are now.”

About 30 minutes later, the chopper returned with the wounded.

Three were critical and five seriously injured. The Afghan soldier had died.

The most badly injured were rushed straight into surgery. One had a leg wound, another had been shot in the head.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-20758844/

[ange7]

Ant and dec ? ... haven't the troops in Afghanistan suffered enough!

[Locke.]

Originally posted by ange7
Ant and dec ? ... haven't the troops in Afghanistan suffered enough!