The Afghan Diaries

How did your Afghan diaries on Youtube come about?

I had no experience beforehand of filmmaking, and I had never even held a video camera, if I'm being perfectly honest. I'd like to think I'm a little bit of an expert about it now. I received two discs before I was deployed to Afghanistan, and that was it. I was given this videocamera, and it was saying, "Away you go," so I was left to my own devices. It was something that I've enjoyed very much, and I'd love to do it again.

How difficult was it to balance the filming with your military duties?

At times it was very easy because it was the excitement of almost being a reporter on the front line, but actually serving with the unit. You felt like you had won over Sky News presenters who would come out on a patrol. Sometimes it was really difficult. I had deadlines to meet, obviously. I had to get videos online, do a daily account. Some days the last thing on my mind was to pick up a video camera and see how I was feeling. But they were probably the most emotional and best videos that I've ever done to be perfectly honest so sometimes it was very easy and sometimes it was very difficult.

Have you received any fan mail?

Yeah, quite a bit of fan mail. It's rather embarrassing but it's all good fun. I don't like to think of myself as someone who should receive fan mail. At the end of the day I'm a Royal Air Force regiment gunner doing a gunner's job. But I suppose I've done a little bit out of the ordinary and people are keen to know more about the organization. So I just like to try and do my best to promote the RAF regiment as a whole.