FOR MARINE Dan Russell (22), returning to RM Condor wasn’t just coming back to his home base, it was also coming home.

Arbroath born and bred—he attended Warddykes Primary School and Arbroath Academy before joining the Royal Marines—Dan was still at school the last time the men of 45 Commando were out in Afghanistan, and it was seeing their exploits on television and hearing about it from forces families in the town that persuaded him to join up.

“It just seemed like such a great job that I joined up on May 13, 2002,” he said, “and, after completing my training and being posted to 45 Commando, I found myself out in Iraq on Operation Telic in 2003 and 2005.

“I did a tour in Northern Ireland in 2004 and have also been to Norway and to various other points of the globe on fleet protection duties.”

Dan said that his latest tour in Afghanistan had been the toughest yet.

“I spent six weeks in the Gereshk area and then three months in Sangin where we saw a lot of action,” he said.

“I was a member of a two-man sniper team and we were engaged a lot with rockets and mortars. One of our tasks was to spot firing points and draw small arms fire so that these positions could be engaged, and we did see a lot of fighting.

“Most of the engagements lasted about two hours but we were involved in one firefight that lasted for 61/2 hours when we went out on patrol looking for the Taliban and ended up being ambushed.

“That was the engagement where we lost Dutchie (Jonathan) Holland—and although you obviously feel the loss deeply at the time, you don’t have time to grieve as such because you still have a job to do.

“It’s really only now that we are back that you have time to grieve properly.

“The lads who were close friends with Dutchie have been down to meet his parents and visit his grave, and that gives you a sense of closure.

“I think everyone is glad to be back now and I also think we have every right to feel a sense of pride and satisfaction at what we managed to achieve out there.

“Like everyone else I was delighted to hear about the huge amount of support shown by the people of Arbroath and the surrounding area while we were out in Afghanistan.

“My dad Tony was involved in a lot of the fund-raising efforts and my mum Sharon, who runs the Beach Hut beauty salon in the town, also did her bit while we were away.”

*Corporal Duncan Ferguson (27) from Montrose has been a member of 45 Commando since June 2003 but already—in addition to his just-ended tour of duty in Afghanistan—he has seen service in locations as diverse as Iraq, Sierra Leone, Norway, South Africa, the United States and “all over the Middle East.”

A former pupil of Craigo Primary School and Montrose Academy, Duncan was so keen to join the Royal Marines that he signed up at the age of 17— his parents Duncan and Cathy having to countersign his papers due to his age.

Of his experience in Helmand Province, Duncan said, “I was put in the same troop in Whisky Company as Dan (Russell), although he got moved about a bit more because of his job.

“I was a rifle company section commander and, from my point of view, my tour was pretty much divided into two separate halves.

“For the first three months I was based at Camp Bastion and was involved in Operation Slate where we were helping out protecting the people who were constructing vehicle checkpoints.

“To put it quite bluntly, we were malleted by the Taliban but the mortar teams were very good that day and we came out unscathed and did a cracking job.

“After that I got home for a short period of leave before going back to Camp Bastion and then on to the Sangin valley.

“The guys we took over from told us the whole area was like a time bomb waiting to go off, and they weren’t far wrong.

“Once we got settled in there it got to the stage where you could set your watch by the attacks.

“The first specific incident of note I can remember was on the evening of my 27th birthday when they got very close to our outer perimeter wall and were hitting us with small arms and rocket propelled grenades for what seemed like ages.

“They had what I would call a good night of it, but we gave as good as we got and eventually beat them back and they never got that close to the wall again.”

Duncan said that, while he firmly believed the Taliban had to be destroyed if Afghanistan was to have any hope of a peaceful and secure future, he could not help but admire and even respect those who had been trying so hard to kill him and his comrades.

“Handing over our areas of responsibilities to the new units was a bit hard because we feel we have achieved quite a lot in a relatively short time and you just hope that work will continue,” he said.

Of the support given by friends and families back in the UK, Duncan said, “My mother Cathy works at Rosemount Primary School and at Christmas and Easter some of the children made us cards and sent them out to the lads.

“That sort of thing means a whole lot to us as it’s a real connection with home and it’s something clean and colourful to brighten up the routine.”