PRIDE filled Kidderminster's Territorial Army headquarters when three of Wyre Forest's finest returned home from a six-month tour of duty in war-torn Iraq with tales of gunfire, bomb attacks and a measles epidemic.

Kidderminster-born and bred privates Ken Laga and Stephen Timmins and Stourport's Private Leigh Bowl returned to the Shrubbery from Basra on Thursday and were greeted by their joyful parents.

The three soldiers - who now intend to join the regular Army - were compulsorily deployed from the West Midlands Regiment on November 5 to carry out peacekeeping duties under the command of Kidderminster Lieutenant Martin Watson.

Their unit - the first to be sent to Iraq from the West Midlands - performed guard duties for a field hospital in southern Iraq and provided an escort service for ambulance and medical teams travelling into Basra.

It also provided an escort service for doctors and nurses vaccinating children against measles.

Pte Laga said he was delighted to be home but was looking forward to more military action in the future.

He explained the most difficult parts of the experience had been the heat and lack of sleep - sometimes having to stay awake 36 hours - but said the experience had not put him off military life.

Instead, the 21-year-old, who was hospitalised for three days with dehydration just days before the tour ended, said the posting had encouraged him to quit his civilian job as a postman and join the regular Army.

"I didn't have the confidence that I would be able to do it like the regulars before but I've learnt I can do now," he said.

"Being out there has made me more confident and I can speak for all the lads when I say that."

He added: "There were times when we went more than 24 hours without sleep - we were like the walking dead a lot of the time - one day we would be on guard, then on escort duty or on stand down."

Nineteen-year-old Pte Bowl, who worked in the Co-op store in Stourport before he went to Iraq, added: "I am glad to be back - that's for sure.

"Iraq is a completely different country and way of life - like waking up to the sound of gunfire in the morning.

"Sometimes, when we were out in Basra, it got a bit hairy. Once we got stuck in a traffic jam and there was gunfire going off. It was market day and we got trapped and had to stay still for five minutes. The police had no control over anything so it was just chaos."

The former Stourport High School pupil added the tour - his first mobilisation after two years in the TA - had encouraged him to become a full-time soldier.

"Most people are quite friendly towards the British forces out there because we've helped them in the past as well as now," he said.

"When we went out into the community helping with the jabs, the kids would come up to us and we would give them sweets.They were really friendly."

He added: "Being at a hospital we had lots of casualties coming in and saw what had happened to a lot of people but we we were in quite a safe area.

"I just want to relax now and get back to normal."

The privates, whoall spent Christmas in Iraq, were driven to Kidderminster after flying into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and being de-mobilised.

The Shrubbery's permanent staff administrative officer, Captain Robin Attwood, said their plans to join the regular Army created a "win-win situation".

He added: "We don't want to lose them but the experiences they had in Iraq will stand them in good stead in the real Army. Our loss is certainly going to be the Army's gain."