Backing the News Letter's campaign for a parade through Belfast, Sergeant Major Caleb Smith said that such formal recognition would be a welcome boost to troops after serving in the soaring heat.

"Homecoming parades are very emotional," he said. "You are on a natural comedown from coming back. You are in the area of the country you would call your home."

Sergeant Major Smith has taken part in three parades in England, where he has been based for 20 years in the Royal Anglians. He has completed numerous overseas postings including two previous tours of Afghanistan.
The most recent was in Bury St Edmunds, a recruiting area for the Royal Anglians, and the other two were in Guildford, Surrey (where the regiment is based) and Norwich, where he enlisted.

Speaking from Camp Bastion, where he has been attached to 1st Battalion Royal Irish since they began a six-month tour in March, Sergeant Major Smith said he liked the combination of friendliness and professionalism in the Royal Irish.

"It would be historic if the Royal Irish could get the recognition of a homecoming parade," he said.

Sergeant Major Smith is currently helping the Royal Irish soldiers mentor the fledgling Afghan National Army, but unlike him, the Royal Irish soldiers have never experienced a parade.

"To march through the streets where you grew up and to know that your family and friends are there as you walk past – it does get to you," he said.

"Everyone is very nervous before the band starts but once you set off the nerves have gone and you feel full of pride."

Each one of the parades he took part in was "mobbed", Sergeant Major Smith said, with kerbside crowds up to six people deep.

The occasion boosts morale he said.

"The soldiers are out there helping people in another country so it is a boost to know that they have the support of their fellow countrymen."

The need for recognition for the risks and sacrifices of soldiers was given greater resonance yesterday by the news that another British soldier had been killed in Afghanistan.