THERE is no doubt the loss of military lives in Afghanistan is bringing home the horrors and human cost of war.

Hundreds of young lives have been lost and it has brought the realities of the tragic side of war to a much younger generation.

Many pals and close friends of young soldiers have had to come to terms with the grief of losing a mate.

It is difficult to comprehend that during the first and second world wars hundreds of thousands paid the ultimate sacrifice, but while the older generation remembered them, there were those too young possibly to realise what incredible sacrifices their grandfathers had made.

Since then there has been the Falklands conflict, Iraq and now Afghanistan and it is the latter that is clearly bringing the message to the forefront.