Twenty-six-year-old Senior Aircraftman (SAC) Carl had been serving with Wittering-based 3 Squadron RAF Regiment in Kandahar since February.

But last Sunday, Carl was flown back to base along with the rest of the 160-strong regiment and was greeted by proud mum Angela Moore and girlfriend Robyn Misson.

And the flight home – via Cyprus – was made all the more special as it was piloted by rock star Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Carl’s favourite band Iron Maiden, who leads a double life as a qualified pilot.

Carl, who has seen Maiden in concert five times, said: “We were in Cyrpus waiting to board the aircraft and the woman at the gate said something about Bruce Dickinson.

“No-one believed me, but he came on the announcer and it was unbelievable. He came out later and signed an autograph for me and I had a picture taken with him.”

Meeting his rock star hero was just the beginning of what was to be a whirlwind couple of days for Carl following half a year of hard work stationed on an airbase in Kandahar.

Carl flew out with the regiment on February 22 and his initial nerves on being on his first tour were lightened after a taking his first few patrols.

However, just over a month into the tour, the regiment were hit with the loss of two of Carl’s fellow airmen, SAC Gary Thompson (51) and SAC Graham Livingstone (23), who were killed by a roadside bomb in early April.

He said: “It was the first time I have lost someone and because the RAF regiment is so small and a very close knit unit, it was heartbreaking.

“The hardest part is the next day when you have to get back to work. We had a memorial service and lowered the flag mast for a day and the next day it’s back up.”

But roadside bombs weren’t the only threat to Carl and the regiment.

During one patrol, the front vehicle in his convoy drove over an old rocket left by the Russians, which exploded and catapulted the vehicle into the air. Luckily no-one was injured and it proved to be his first experience of many similar incidents.

He said: “About two months later we had a Squadron Leader who left and a new Leader took over.

“He was quite keen and wanted to come out on a patrol with us and he had his own vehicle out at the front, which hit an improvised explosion device (IED) roadside bomb.

“The vehicle flew about five metres and landed on a second bomb, but luckily that didn’t go off.”

The top cover soldier manning the machine gun, which was also Carl’s position in the convoy, was blown out of the vehicle by the explosion.

Although the soldier broke his back, Carl explained being blown from the vehicle probably saved his life and the soldier is now walking again.

Another key part of Carl’s mission in Afghanistan was improving the relations with the local people and he’s confident they did a good job.

He said: “You can’t have the Taliban in power out there and we did a good job.