From fighter to fitter

Window fitter Jamie Cockburn has no fear of getting flak at work after facing rockets and mortars on the front line in Iraq.

The 25-year-old returned to his regular job for the first time in almost two years this week following two tours of duty in the war-torn country.

An eye injury forced Jamie to cut short his first trip into battle and so he immediately signed up for another. "I thought he was mad," confessed girlfriend Sam Bradney, aged 21, at their Wednesfield home yesterday.

But the Territorial Army soldier insisted his double life made perfect sense. "I get the best of both worlds," he explained. Jamie came under fire for the first time on the road to Basra while protecting a supply convoy and recalled: "Suddenly the street lights went out and the shooting started.

"Rocket-propelled grenades were hurtling towards us and one of the Warriors hit an improvised explosive device. There were men on roofs and hanging out of windows firing at us.

"Everything went into slow motion for the first five or six seconds and I thought 'this is the end' and then something clicks and you turn into a proper soldier. You remember all the training and start doing things automatically.

"I could see the tails of the RPGs light up after they had been fired and ducked as they whizzed past. You are told a bullet is close when you hear it crack and I heard a lot of cracking that night but miraculously the convoy managed to pass through.

"My mother, sister and girlfriend were terrified when I first told them I had volunteered for Iraq but were very supportive once they realised my mind was made up."

The former Wednesfield High pupil and Wolverhampton College student was encouraged to join the TA by friends at 19 and is a member of 210 battery, 106 Regiment The Royal Artillery (Volunteers) at Fallings Park.

The Gunner joined Douglas Commerical Installations in Cannock as a commercial architectual glazier soon afterwards and the company have supported his involvement with the army.

His first Iraq tour started in October 2006 and he was sent to Camp Charlie at Basra Airport at the end of November 2007. He saved enough money for the deposit on a new house while in Iraq and moves in with Sam next week.