The Hour

To celebrate Father’s Day, The Hour has put together a compilation of messages from the brave soldiers serving in Afghanistan who have sent their dads love and best wishes on this special day. One such soldier is Highlander Graeme Carolan.

The 21-year-old Territorial Army soldier dropped out of law school in Aberdeen to pursue his dream of becoming an army officer and is currently on a tour of Afghanistan trying to gain enough experience to get into Sandhurst.

Graeme’s parents Gary and Christine Carolan were shocked by his decision and are all too aware of the danger he faces in the war zone on a daily basis. Gary told The Hour:

“Graeme had left his wee part time job in Argos and had joined the local Officer’s Training Corps (OTC) that’s affiliated to the university. He seemed to be having quite a lot of fun with them and loving the great outdoors, and I think overall when he experienced everything that the army do he kind of changed his mind from finishing his degree and continuing a degree with the army.”

The OTC’s main job is to identify and select officer candidates and they identified potential in Graeme. The tour of Afghanistan will help to propel the young soldier forward in the officer recruitment process.

Gary and Christine don’t get the chance to speak to Graeme too often due to the soldiers having limited access to the one satellite phone available at the army base.

To surprise the family and to give Gary a nice treat for Father’s Day, The Hour arranged for Graeme to speak to his mum, dad and sister Louise live on the show from Afghanistan and he had a special message for them:

“Hi dad, Happy Father’s Day. I can’t be with you today but I want you to know that I love you and I’m thinking about you. I’ll make up for lost time when I get back and we’ll go for a pint. Who knows, I might even buy the first round.

“Also hello to mum, Louise, Claire and all the family. I love you all and I’ll see you soon.”