A BRAVE St Albans soldier says he is looking forward to a second tour of duty in Afghanistan – before he has returned safely from his first.

Lieutenant Andrew Pilsworth, 25, a former St Albans School pupil, has been deployed in Helmand Province for nearly five months with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.

Yet, despite the constant danger and often hair-raising weather conditions, he says he is already thinking about his second tour of duty.

He said: “I look forward to getting home and seeing everyone but also have one eye on redeploying back to Helmand in the next couple of years.

“This is my first tour and I suppose I was a bit apprehensive about going out on the ground for the first time. But training has prepared me well.”

Lt Pilsworth, who commands a giant Mastiff armoured vehicle in support of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, is based at a camp between the fertile “green zone” and desert.

He added: “The troop and I have been very busy since we deployed, conducting a huge variety of tasks. The high tempo has meant that time has flown by and the months have passed as though they were weeks.

“One minute you can be transiting through a desert area and the next amongst farmers’ fields – it is quite odd.”

Lt Pilsworth will return in the coming weeks to his girlfriend, Claire, his parents and sister, Louise.

He added: “The support I have had from my family and Claire has been fantastic. My parents have been great with sending out morale-boosting parcels, and have supplied the boys and me with everything a man could need.”

The troop has also seen support in the form of packages from Veolia Water and Waitrose, where Andrew’s father and mother work respectively.