Maltese soldier speaks of his experiences in Iraq

When Maurice Glynn received a large envelope with Her Majesty's stamp emblazoned on top four days before a scheduled visit to see his parents in Malta he knew exactly what it.

It was his call to go and serve in Iraq and without giving it a second thought he went to the Reserve Call Up Centre and undertook a medical test.

Sgt Glynn was completely aware of the implications on his wife and two children but, as he would say over and over again during an interview with The Times, "you just don't think about it. You have to go!"

He is one of a handful of Maltese who have served in Iraq.

Sipping coffee at his parents' house in Marsa, where he is on vacation, Sgt Glynn, 45, speaks in an accentuated tone of pride about the British forces with whom he served as a reservist.

"We have a job to do. You don't think of trouble or else you're finished. I never asked myself 'what am I doing here?' I always say 'the British forces offered me a good life' - and you don't turn away from that."

Sgt Glynn got his first taste of the military at an early age as he followed his father, Ernest, who had served in the Royal Air Force. He went on to study trade and engineering, eventually joining the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Ministry of Defence in Wales, where he now lives, after marrying a Welsh woman.

The military's call-up in June, 2003 came as no surprise for him after the army requested his services as a vehicle mechanical sergeant. "I'd been training for a long time, though I never trained for a desert environment. But my sense of adventure told me to go," he reminisced.

Though major combat in Iraq was over, Sgt Glynn was fully aware that the situation was getting rather messy as terrorist attacks by insurgents had become a daily routine. He kept reminding himself "it's not going to happen to me".

He packed his bags and flew to Basra in Iraq - to find himself enveloped in an inferno. Outside temperatures climbed to 50°C and the body gear would make the heat stress factor spiral to 70°C.

He was assigned to recover damaged or abandoned vehicles - wherever they might have been left. Though armed, Sgt Glynn's role in Iraq was as a peacekeeper and his weapons could be used only for self-defence.

His routes had to be carefully mapped out to ensure a safe passage, especially at night when warlords literally swarm the roads.

As expected, Sgt Glynn came face to face with danger on a number of occasions.

"I was once asked to go and retrieve an eight-wheeler on the border of Kuwait together with an 18-year old soldier. When we arrived we found a crowd of people standing in front of it. We sounded the horn and flashed the lights but suddenly more people appeared out of nowhere and started pelting us with stones, bottles... anything in sight.

"We had no choice but to just speed away - we walked away unscathed."

Another time, he was asked to retrieve a vehicle in Basra, a city dreaded by all allied soldiers because of its hostility. "I was on top of the vehicle trying to tie a rope when I heard the shrieking sound of bullets flying over my head. We had found ourselves in the middle of crossfire between two Iraqi groups. We ducked but we sure ran like hell."

In time of war, most people cannot differentiate between aid-workers and the military. Sgt Glynn saw a convoy providing fuel and water to the Iraqis being targeted and a doctor gunned down by insurgents for no apparent reason.

"Of course nervousness creeps in when you encounter such incidents but you just get on with your job. You never think of the danger. The sooner you get the job done, the earlier you're out of there. That's what you always have to remind yourself," Sgt Glynn pointed out.

Battling against unbearable temperatures and working around the clock, seven days a week, Sgt Glynn went on with his life, trying to catch up on reading, listening to his CDs or "escaping from the heat" during his free time.

Spending 14 hours trying to collect a tanker in notorious Alamara, for example, is a nightmare by anyone's standards.

The presence of the British troops stirred many conflicting emotions. One day a riot broke out outside one of the British camps. A group of Iraqis wanted the British out and ironically another faction was pleading with the soldiers to offer them a job.

Still, Sgt Glynn was taken in by the poverty around him and used his free time to get to know the Iraqis better. "Believe it or not, the Maltese language does get you along. Once they find out you can speak a bit of their language, you earn their trust."

Sgt Glynn befriended a former mechanic employed in Saddam Hussein's camp and they spent hours teaching each other their language. "The Iraqis are lovely people but you will always find a bad apple in the box."

With the help of the internet and a phonecard, Sgt Glynn kept in touch with his family. But still, despite the hardships, it never crossed his mind to throw in the towel. His family back home was obviously worried about the seemingly deteriorating situation in Iraq. His mother even offered to bail him out. He declined.

"You spend years of training and you just can't leave the army because it's become unpleasant. Of course, everyone's scared, but you just grind your teeth and get on with it."

In September 2003 he had two weeks leave to visit his family. It was not an easy vacation. The losses of the British forces were on the increase. Images on television, "often sensationalised", did little to comfort his family.

"This war is no different to Bosnia. I just hope that a democratic system is set up and everyone can go one's own way," Sgt Glynn said.

He returned to Iraq but before he knew it his term was up and on November 27 he packed his bags to rejoin his family in Wales in time for Christmas.

A year-and-a-half after the start of the Iraq conflict, Sgt Glynn still has no qualms about his call to duty.

Would he go back to Iraq if his services were re-quested?

"If I have to, yes, I will go back. There's no choice in the matter. You just don't think about it."