WHILE all around was death and destruction, one former soldier took solace in writing poems.

When David Osano, 28, was posted to Afghanistan with a counter IED taskforce, he was given his first “wake-up call” within weeks when a comrade from the 33 Engineer Regiment was blown up by a Taliban bomb and lost two limbs.

He also recalls weekly vigil parades where Camp Bastion would come to a standstill to pay respect to the war dead before their bodies were flown home.

To help him deal with all his emotions, he did what he always has and turned to writing to keep his sanity.

And now father-of-three Mr Osano, of Market End Way, Bicester, has produced a book of his poems, called The Last Words, to raise cash to support his former comrades who have lost limbs.

He said: “I have always written, but Afghanistan gave me a purpose to write, to pass the time.

“People did a lot of things to keep going, played card games, wrote home, read. For me it was writing. Writing took me out of Afghanistan and gave me a bit of sanity from everything that was going on.

“I wrote poems from other people’s experiences, but I was putting myself in their shoes.”

He said his unit saw a number of deaths and soldiers who lost limbs in explosions and that was why proceeds from his book would be donated to Help For Heroes.

Mr Osano, who left the Army in May this year after five years’ service and now works in customer services for HSBC in Bicester, said: “Everyone see the people we have lost, but no one hears about all these people (coming home) without limbs and how life changing it will be.

“Yes they can still achieve, but from what they used to do, they have lost it. These people would have done anything for you.

“Help for Heroes try to make sure they give these soldiers opportunities to do what they used to do in life.

“Last January I was training in the snow in Salisbury Plain, by March I was in Afghanistan and weeks in I was saying goodbye to someone going home.”

Originally from Kenya, Mr Osano came to the UK to study business, but when that didn’t work out he joined the Army, also serving in Iraq. His job in Afghanistan was to ensure his colleagues who cleared IEDs had the right equipment when they needed it.

Included in the book are poems to his family, his children and comrades. During his time in Afghanistan Mr Osano’s friends knew if anything happened to him, the poems should be delivered to his family.

Copies of the book cost £9.99 and are available from Amazon.co.uk or davidosanobooks.com