Corporal Marc Williams - Flight Operations Assistant RAF

My job in Afghanistan is to support the aircrews on their missions, by getting them the right maps, updating all the information on the areas they will be flying to and the frequencies they will need. Basically we do all the donkey work before they fly. But I would far rather be doing what I do than what they do - flying missions across Afghanistan.

I have been here three months already.

I was in Afghanistan before, in Kabul, but then I was working with Hercules crews which is my normal job back home.

I support all the helicopter crews, from Chinooks to Merlins, Seakings, Apaches and Lynx. There are three of us here in Camp Bastion doing the same job and one in Kandahar.

We have a really good shift pattern. We do one day on, then one night on, then a day off. And we get 24 hours between shifts, so I am certainly not complaining.

The heat was hard to handle at first but I have got used to it now, and the tents we work, right next to the helicopter pad, are airconditioned.

I was in Iraq in 2004 but this is so much more intense. The stakes are so much higher.

When you go to work every day you are never sure what the workload will be like. Sometimes it is deadly quiet. Other times it is manic. Sunday is our busiest day funnily enough as we get everything ready for the week ahead.

Working with helicopters rather than the Hercules is more complicated. The Hercules tend to fly from place to place, whereas helicopters can fly to three or four locations at once, and put down in fields or compounds.

There is no other job I would rather do than this one, unless I won a million on the lottery and then I would do nothing!

My job as a Corporal means I get to go on tour at least every two or three years. I have been to places as far afield as Belize and the Falklands and the US.

I don't get homesick any more. I ring my family once a week and let them know what I am up to, but otherwise I just keep my head down and do my job.

Photography: RAF/MOD/Crown Copyright 2010.