He loved the excitement and drama of Band of Brothers on television and now will be experiencing it for real on the frontline in Afghanistan.

Ollie Wilkes is among 500 troops from the Queen’s Royal Hussars, many of whom are from the West Midlands, set to start a six-month tour of duty in trouble-torn Helmand Province later this year.

The 22-year-old Trooper from Stourbridge, who first served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers after joining the army in 2007 before moving to the Queen’s Royal Hussars (QRH) in October 2009, said: “I had wanted to be a soldier since watching war series and films on TV and at the cinema.

“My favourite was Band of Brothers about a US company and the friendship of its men during the Second World War.

“It looked cool, and it has turned out to be even better in real life.

“Serving in the Army shows that you are not made of glass. It is exciting, there is great camaraderie, and you feel you have done something different at the end of each day. This will be my first tour of this kind, and I am trying to be optimistic. It will be an experience, and I am determined not to overdramatise it in my own mind.”

His mother Camille, whose father Roger Hopkins served as a Royal Marine Commando, said: “I am worried sick about Ollie going to Afghanistan but I am also very proud and will support him in anything he wants to do. He has wanted to go into the Army since he was a lad and has always loved everything about it. I had to buy him two copies of the Band of Brothers box set because he lost one of them.

“He loves his job and is constantly talking about how much he enjoys it.”

Trooper Wilkes, a former pupil of The Grange in Stourbridge, is a trained Challenger tank driver but since there are no British tanks in Afghanistan, he will be in control of an armoured Warthog that runs on rubber tracks carrying troops across the varied terrain of Helmand Province that ranges from desert areas to the Green Zone alongside the Helmand River.

Lee Hinkley, 25, from Hamstead, Great Barr, who went to Dartmouth High School, West Bromwich, is another Trooper going on his first frontline tour with the QRH in the autumn when he will be on foot patrol with the infantry.

He said: “This is a change of role from working with tanks and has involved a lot of extra physical fitness training like picking up and flipping huge tyres for two miles and quick marching with a 65 kilogram pack on your back for miles on end.

“I am excited and looking forward to the experience of going out on foot patrol but do wonder every now and again how I will react the first time I engage with the enemy.

“I just hope that I react in the way that I have been trained to do and not hit the deck and start flapping, but I am sure it will work out fine.”

His stepfather Peter Ashall, 60, spent 30 years with West Midlands Fire Service and five years in the RAF. His mother Susan said: It is easier for Peter because he has served in the military but I was not keen on him joining the army. I will be nervous as a kitten every time the phone rings until he is back home safe and sound.”

The QRH will have 130 men in Warthog Squadron and a similar number of infantry in C Company in Afghanistan.

More of its troopers will be in the training and advisory team working with the Afghan army and police, and another element will be based in Lashgar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province.