TERRITORIAL Army soldier David Young came under fire from machine guns, mortars, rockets and grenades during his seven-month tour of Afghanistan, but thankfully he returned home safely for Christmas.

The 22-year-old rifleman swapped his safe day job to serve in one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

Despite putting his life at risk on daily patrols, and having a vehicle he was in being blown up by a Taliban bomb, he is now thinking about joining the Army as a regular soldier.

The fines clerk for Bicester Magistrates’ Court was his section’s “Vallon man” – a soldier who walks in front of vehicles using a metal detector to search for IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

For him the worst experience was watching colleague Sapper Jordan Rossi die following an explosion in May.

The former Bicester Community College pupil was the section’s appointed medic and applied basic first aid until Sapper Rossi could be taken to hospital.

He said: “Your training just kicks in and I began trying to help him.

“You try not to think about it too much while you’re still out there. It’s not until you get home that you think about it.”

Rifleman Young serves in 7 Rifles, based at the Abingdon Territorial Army Centre, but volunteered to serve alongside regular soldiers in 2 Rifles when they were sent to Afghanistan. The regiment was based at Sangin, in Helmand province. During its tour, 13 soldiers from the regiment died.

Rifleman Young found one unexploded IED during his patrols. He said: “I got a high reading – what you pick up is a high level of metal – so I had a look.

“I couldn’t find anything at first but I kept looking. I found the explosive before I found the pressure pad.

“I found the pressure pad and then left it to the experts. One of the vehicles I was in was also blown up. We were supplying a base down the road and were doing it all in the dark through the night.

“As soon as it got light, they could see where we were and the Taliban set off an IED. We were lucky – only the vehicle was damaged. We were kept pretty busy.”

Life in camp was tough – the troops lived on rations and worked in temperatures of up to 50C.

Last month, RiflemanYoung, who followed both his parents David and Liz into the forces, was presented with his service medal at a ceremony in Belfast alongside colleagues from 2 Rifles.

Mrs Young said she was “immensely proud” of her son.

She said: “While he was in Afghanistan, you tend to listen to the news more, but I think of all the troops that had been out before them. 2 Rifles endured some of the worst resistance and bloody battles from the Taliban.

“They tell you that no news is good news, but there is nothing like that phone call to say, ‘Hi Mum, just to let you know, I'm okay’.”