"Rupert and I had many conversations about whether reporting from Afghanistan was worth the risk, especially for those of us who had families.

But Rupert was adamant. “You have to go, Sean,” he once told me when I expressed doubts. “You can’t report the war without going to the front line. You have to see it to write about it.” And he was, and is, right. There are many commentators who have criticised the role and strategy of the British military in Iraq and Afghanistan without ever having entered either war zone…

Rupert Hamer was in Helmand to report the war and to tell of the reality of life for soldiers in Helmand. Like the troops who die on the battlefield serving their country, Rupert also made the ultimate sacrifice for something in which he believed."