Fullbore Friday

You laugh because you can't cry or scream - you're a professional Soldier.

Corporal Adam Tucker said Cpt Head had been called to Padaka after a suspicious wire was seen protruding from the ground. She attached a device to the bomb and extracted all the components from the ground remotely using a wire and hook.

As they were being laid out in the sunshine to be photographed for intelligence purposes she stepped on a pressure pad designed to set off the second bomb on the other side of the alley.

"That's when I heard a small pop as the second device partially detonated,” he said.

"There were no injuries. She was not even thrown to the floor. There was small bit of dust around her feet.

"Obviously, it shook her up. She retired to a safe distance and had a Condor moment. She had a few cigarettes and made light of it.

"I asked her if she was happy to continue and being a stubborn Yorkshire woman she was."

The third bomb, a five kilogram device of ammonium nitrate and aluminium detonated just as Cpl Tucker noticed that Cpt Head, from Huddersfield, was in danger.

The blast blew off both her legs, her right arm and fingers on her left hand. Despite protective body armour and a helmet she sustained severe brain injury.

Cpl Tucker and colleagues raced down the alley, applied field dressings and called for a helicopter. Cpt Head was taken to the field hospital at Camp Bastion, before being flown to the Queen Elizabeth military hospital in Birmingham, where she died on April 19 last year surrounded by her family.

Read it all. Of note, her parents were just two years older than I am. That's all I have to say.

Rest in peace Captain Head. We'll see you on the other side.