Waiting to hear from Afghanistan

Lance Corporal Kevin Hudson is due to return from Afghanistan in October

A mother from Sherborne has described her life as she waits for her son, Lance Corporal Kevin Hudson, to return from duty in Afghanistan.

Kevin serves with 2 Rifles, based in Northern Ireland.

Twelve of his fellow riflemen have been killed since the regiment was posted to Afghanistan, in April 2009.

Sharron Hudson has been explaining how helpless she feels when things happen in Afghanistan and she is unable comfort her son.

She said: "Kev [recently] left a message on my answerphone saying, "Mum, I've lost one of my boys", and I couldn't do anything.

"I can't phone him back and talk to him. I have to wait for him to phone me.

"He phoned me back the next day and said, "It's awful Mum, because we're losing our mates.

"All I can do is listen to him and try and keep his spirits up which is incredibly hard when they see such awful things.

"We've lost lads [soldiers in 2 Rifles] that have gone to administer first aid and have been blown up themselves.

"They're heroes - all of them - and they're having an incredibly rough time."

"What if?"

Sharron explained that before Kevin went away the family had talked about what they would do if anything untoward should happen to him, during his posting.

My son's 21st birthday was in Afghanistan. He didn't get the parcels I sent him Sharron Hudson, mother of Lance Corporal Kevin Hudson

Sharron said: "We talked about his funeral plans - what he'd want me to do, where he wanted to be buried.

"He actually said to me when he left for Afghanistan, "If I lose my limbs, Mum, I don't want to live.

"When he came back on leave, he was joking about coming home [after his posting] on these "fantastic" wheels and his mate was going to have springs - springy legs.

"I said, "Kev that's no way to be talking", and he said, "No Mum, it's alright, this is how we deal with things.

"I replied, "But Kev when you went out there you said, you wouldn't want to live", and he said, "If I can face the Taliban, I can face anything in my life", and his whole attitude had changed - amazing!"

21st birthday in Afghanistan

Kevin (right) at home with his brother Callum

Sharron finds it difficult not being able to spend time with her son, particularly on special occasions.

She said: "It's strange - you have them as babies and you make plans for them as they get older, imagining what they're going to be doing and reaching their milestones [ages] like 21.

"My son's 21st [birthday] was in Afghanistan, like many other lads.

"[It's] not how I imagined him spending it - he didn't get the parcels I sent him.

"But the Afghan army did give him a watermelon, which didn't go down too well because it upset their stomachs rather a lot."

The "waiting game"

Kevin is expected to return home in late October 2009, and until then Sharron is playing a "waiting game".

She said: "I get up in the morning and I think thank God we've made it through the night.

"I go to bed at night and think, we've made it through the day.

"It's another 24 hours to cross off, another day - a day closer to them coming home.

"I get up in the morning and look out of my window to see if there are any cars sitting there waiting - somebody to come and tell me that something's happened."

Support network

Sharron has a support network of other mothers whose sons are also serving in Afghanistan.

They're our boys, they're people that my son trained with, and now we have 12 empty rooms Sharron Hudson, mother of Lance Corporal Kevin Hudson

She said: "We all met through support groups and we've all become quite a close group.

"We all talk and we all wait for the news, and we're honest and open with each other.

"I don't say to any of the mums, "Your son will be all right, everything will be fine", because we don't know that."

"Soul destroying"

In July 2009, Sharron went to Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire to honour the eight soldiers who were killed in a single 24-hour period in Afghanistan, as their bodies passed through the town near RAF Lyneham.

Five of the soldiers served in Kevin's regiment.

Sharron said: "It's something that will stay with me forever - so much grief, in such a small place.

"There were so many young people who were absolutely distraught because they'd lost their friends, and families of soldiers that had been killed previously.

"It broke my heart.

"[It was] absolutely soul destroying to see coffin, after coffin, after coffin coming past you.

"And they're our boys, they're people that my son trained with, and now we have 12 empty rooms [one for each of the soldiers that has died from 2 Rifles regiment since their posting in Afghanistan, in April 2009].

"I just hope there's no more.

"I don't know that I could go to Wooton Bassett again."