Nicky Coward celebrated his 21st birthday with a solitary can of beer and a Burger King meal.

Not exactly pushing the boat out - but not bad considering he was in the middle of the Iraqi desert.

Now that he is back at home following his service in the Gulf, his family are going to make sure he marks the occasion properly before he returns to his army base in Germany. He is pictured with mum Karen Webster.

Nicky, who is with the 12th Royal Artillery, was among the first wave of troops across the Iraqi border when allied hostilities against Saddam Hussein's regime started in March.

"We were briefed a couple of days before about the timing," he said.

"It was weird just waiting. The camp in Kuwait where we were was hit by an anti-ship missile and that was when the reality of what it was all about kicked in." Nicky, from Bingley, was first stationed at the Iraqi port of Umm Qsar and spent two days in the desert heat building a camp which eventually housed 8,000 prisoners of war.

During his time in Umm Qsar he slept in the open under the desert sky and admits it was often hard to take on the amount of fluid the soaring temperatures demanded because the water was 'as warm as it would be for tea'.

On April 28 his regiment moved to the southern city of Basra to guard an oil refinery.

Conditions were better but he witnessed the widespread looting and destruction which accompanied the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We had accommodation there - beds, duvets and fridges. But there was a lot of looting. One day you'd go out and a building would be there, the next you'd go back and it would just be a shell.

"We did get a mixed reaction but most people agreed with us being there."

The most difficult part was the month during hostilities when he had no way of communicating with his family.

"When we could use the phones again, we let people who were married and with children use them first," he said.