Episode 1

Captain Tom Barnes is leading British troops in Afghanistan. Two boys are growing up there, sharing a prized bike and flying kites, before finding themselves separated once the soldiers appear in the countryside.

On all sides of this conflict, people are about to be caught up in the violence - from the man who trains one boy to fight the infidel invaders to Barnes' family waiting for him to return home.

We see them not as they see themselves, but as all the objects surrounding them do - shoes and combat boots, wheelchairs and wheelbarrows, a bag of fertiliser, an exploding IED and the medical implements that are subsequently employed.

Anatomy of a Soldier is based on the author's experience of being in a war zone and his journey of survival against all the odds.

Written by Harry Parker
Read by Paul Bazely

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.