SOLDIERS who risked their lives in the heat and dust of Afghanistan have shared their stories.

Members of 23 Pioneer Regiment received Operation Service Medals for their tours of duty in Helmand Province on Saturday.

After parading through Bicester town centre, they described coping with Taliban attacks and the toll the tours on their families waiting anxiously at home for their safe return.

In the soldiers’ last six-month deployment, the regiment’s Mastiff armoured vehicles were rocked by 15 roadside bombs.

Private Todd Hanson, 19, whose five-week-old son Keiron was born just weeks after he returned home, said: “You know you’re in the best vehicles out there, so even when it gets a bit scary, you know you’re safe.

“By the time you know you’ve been hit it’s already happened.

“You can feel it lift up into the air and crash back down, but by that time you know you’ve just been blown up. It is nerve-wracking.”

His girlfriend Sian Whiting, 19, said: “I did worry about him when he was out there. I was pregnant at the time, so it can be very hard.

“But he’s made us all proud, and Keiron will definitely be proud of his dad when he grows up. He’s a real daddy’s boy.”

Private Jason Wharf, 23, had only been in Afghanistan for three weeks when his girlfriend Jennifer Collins, 26, went into labour 10 weeks early.

He said: “By the time I got back to Britain, I had missed out on the birth.

“I only saw Zachary in hospital, so couldn’t really get to know him before I had to go back two weeks later.

“He was in the incubator so I couldn’t hold him. You worry that you’re missing out on him growing up.

“Coming back five months later was brilliant.

“I’ve been back for six weeks and we’ve finally started to get to know each other.”

The family of Corporal David Batterham, 24, whose Mastiff was hit by a roadside bomb two weeks before the end of his tour, were also out in force to cheer their hero.

Wife Rebecca, 23, who has looked after Reagan, six, Jazzmin, three, and six-month-old Vincent while their dad has been away, said: “It can be stressful.

“I don’t watch TV news or listen to the radio.

“If it comes on, I turn it off.

“It’s not nice to see someone’s been killed over there.

“We’re just all really proud.”