“Growing up fast”

Ben Anderson hits Helmand for the Daily Mail,

As a BBC foreign correspondent, I’ve visited most of the world’s war zones – Iraq, Gaza, Congo and many more – but nothing prepared me for what I found when I flew into Kandahar airport to join up with a unit of the First Battalion Grenadier Guards mid-way through their six month tour of duty. Nato forces may be making progress elsewhere in Afghanistan but the grinding relentlessness of the fighting British troops face in Helmand – normally conducted in the most searing, energy draining heat – was something I’d never seen before. link