DEDICATED war veteran returns home from Iraq for Christmas after clearing explosive devices left behind by ISIS.

Dave Parker, a former British Soldier returned  to his hometown of Bracknell this week, after spending 9 months in Iraq.

Mr Parker has been working as an Operations Quality Assurance Officer since March 2018 clearing explosive devices in one of Iraq’s major cities, Mosul.

Dave said: “A lot of the explosives left are picked up by children who come across this stuff which injure them quite badly and even kill them.

“When ISIS left, they planted lots of explosive devices and damaged a lot of the infrastructure that people need to live including electricity, water, government buildings, police buildings and schools.”

More than 5.8 million people lost their homes, schools and hospitals between 2014 and 2017. The conflict resulted in explosive hazards being left lying around.

Since Dave and his team started work 3.9m people have returned home and the government, along with Dave are working to facilitate the safe return of the remaining 1.8m people.

Dave added: “We accomplish something, and you can look at the reports and say today we have cleared this area and today a school is now safe for children to go back to an education system.”

Mr Parker works alongside the UN Mine Action Service and UK aide support who believe the clearance of hazardous explosives is the first step before any reconstruction work can happen.

Penny Mordaunt International Development Secretary said: "UK aid is a world leader in demining. This amazing lifesaving work is made possible by people like Dave and his team.”

Dave added: “We assist the people of Iraq to be able to help themselves, so we are giving them a capacity, so they will be able to do this themselves and make their own country safe.”

He will be home for Christmas for three weeks and will be enjoying spending time with his partner Rachel.

Dave said: “It’s amazing to be back home and I am really happy. It’s quite stressful out there and it’s nice to have time to unwind.

“It felt nice to get back to normality and you have to walk the dog and cook food, everything that everyone else takes for granted I generally don’t do in Iraq.”

His partner Rachel Robinson added: “We were counting down the days until you got back and on Christmas Eve we will be having a movie night.”

Dave will be returning to Iraq to continue the work in the New Year on Sunday, January 6.