Army Santa

Meet Corporal Andy Salisbury. He's twenty-eight, married, with two children: Mollie, four, and Neve, two. But this Christmas, like the last, Andy won't be at home.

Andy's an army chef, working for the Royal Logistics Corps. Right now, he's getting ready to help troops in Afghanistan experience a touch of the traditional home comforts of Christmas. Tomorrow he'll be making Christmas dinner for five thousand troops at Camp Bastion. With his colleagues across Helmand, Andy will be preparing some fifteen thousand mince pies, and three tonnes each of turkey and gammon.

Recently, Cpl Salisbury was interviewed by a local newspaper from his home town in Devon. He said: "Normally I'd be playing with my kids, and treating them by buying too many Christmas presents. I think what I'll miss most is that we've recently bought a house, and this would've been our first family Christmas there."

Unless you've served in the armed forces it's simply impossible to appreciate what our soldiers in Afganistan go through on a daily basis, let alone at Christmas. Let's take just a minute to hold them in our thoughts.