MARK Banks has been watching the conflict in Iraq with mixed feelings.

Mark, from Kearsley, who took part in the first Gulf War, has old comrades out there and is worried for them and the young soldiers battling with the desert conditions as well as the enemy. Frank Elson reports

OF course I'm watching it, I want it to be over as soon as possible with the least amount of casualties possible," he said.

"But, on the other hand, I don't want it to be happening at all."

Mark always wanted to be a soldier: "I was in the cadets at school and it was all that I ever wanted to do.

"It wasn't a 'defend your country' thing, it was just a job that I felt I would be good at."

At the time of the Gulf War he was a Driver/Signalman with the 4th Armoured Brigade, 2nd Field Regiment and was among the first men over the border into Iraq.

"My job was to drive a Land Rover packed with signalling equipment and to aim for the artillery.

"I was armed although I never had to kill anyone.

"I did give orders for artillery fire that killed people though."

Much has been written in the media about the conditions out in the desert but Mark says that nothing can actually prepare you for it.

"The heat is very close to being unbearable," he said, "and you sweat all the time. We were issued with three litres of water a day and could get through that in a morning.

"Every metal part of the Land Rover was burning hot and the plastic seats caused even more sweat."

Sand and wind were something else to battle.

"It was always windy and the sand literally got everywhere. You ate sand and it got through every gap in your uniform and coated your body, sticking to the sweat, inside your clothes."

The land war lasted for just four days, after the massive bombing campaign which was supposed to soften up the enemy troops.

"I didn't sleep properly for the whole of the four days," said Mark, "you would grab something to eat when you could and catnap when you could, but once we were over the border we were in hostile territory and had to be vigilant at all times.

"I kept going on adrenaline, as did my mates. We were completely hyped up and just wanted to get it all over with.

"It was what we had trained for, what we were good at, but no training even came close to the actual conditions, but we were young, and fit and thought that we were invincible."

Unfortunately for Mark, although he came through the war unscathed, he has suffered since.

"We came home and I did a tour of Northern Ireland, but I was never really right afterwards and I left the army in 1996."

Mark believes that the physical and mental scars of his participation in the war will remain with him always, and worries that the people out there now will come back with the same.

Now a prison officer, he has not worked for the past year.

"I have clinical depression, short term memory loss and I tire very easily," he said. "The Government does not recognise this as Gulf War Syndrome and I do not believe that they have learned anything since.

Physically, he has suffered a recurring abscess at the back of his throat, chest infections, painful knees, breathlessness, loss of balance, recurring boils, numbness in one arm and a swollen stomach.

He claims that he and his colleagues were forced to take medication, pills for anthrax and injections, over a period of week when they should have been spread out over weeks.

"The Americans have accepted that their soldiers have suffered as a result, but for us it is still not accepted.

"They could have spent some of the billions that they are spending on the war on medical research.

"I worry that something inside me is killing me -- it is only the anger that keeps me going, that and my wife and kids."

Mark's wife, Christine, is a member of the national executive committee of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association which is constantly campaigning for both veterans and their families who have suffered since the last Gulf War.

Today, however, that is on hold.

"We have set up a 24-hour helpline which will be in operation as long as we can keep it going," said Christine.

"Anyone, mothers, wives, girlfriends, who are worried about the lads out there now, can ring.

"All I can say to them is that they have to be strong on the outside -- you can't be on the inside, no matter what anyone says -- and to keep on writing to your man out there."

Neither Mark nor Christine would comment on the rights or wrongs of the present conflict: "It's not for us to say, all we know is that there are British troops out there who need support now -- they need to know that the country is behind them -- and will need a lot of understanding and help when they get home." added Mark.

"War is not pleasant, it isn't supposed to be, those young men are doing the job they have been trained to do and we can only hope that each and every one of them comes home safely."

The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association 24 hour helpline: 01482 833812 Website www.NGVFA.COM/

Factfile: The First Gulf War

August 2 1990: At 2am local time Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, a small oil-rich country which Iraq had long claimed to be part of its territory.

Over the next months the United Nations Security Council imposed economic sanctions and passed resolutions telling Iraq to leave Kuwait. All were ignored.

An International Coalition was formed and troops from countries around the world began to move towards the area.

November 1990: The UN set Iraq a final deadline to leave Kuwait.

January 17 1991: US, British and other coalition planes launched the first air attack on Iraq

February 24: Allied forces launched a combined ground, air and sea assault on Iraq and Kuwait

February 27: President George Bush (Snr) announced that the Iraqi army had been overwhelmed and he declared a ceasefire

March 2: UN Sec Council passed a resolution establishing the terms of the ceasefire

March 3: Iraqi Army commanders accepted the terms of the ceasefire at a meeting with US military leaders in a tent at the captured Iraqi base of Safuran

During the six-week war coalition airplanes flew more than 116,000 sorties and dropped an estimated 85,000 tons of bombs

Casualties

THE coalition lost 240 men and had 776 wounded.

Iraqi casualties are estimated at around 10,000 dead.