Veteran of the Day Brendan Nikolajew

“I joined the Army in 2008 as an RAA Gunner.
I was one of 7 Gunners selected as part of a 15 man contingency sent to England in February 2010 to train with the British Airborne Royal Horse Artillery for 7 months and deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan in the same year.
To be a Gunner and do this job in a war, was an experience very hard to explain sometimes. The men I fought beside and trained with prior to the deployment are brothers by choice and i’ll always have the highest of respect for each one of them. I'm glad I got the opportunity and i’d do it all again. We returned home in April 2011, 14 months in total away from home.”