Standing Tall

At about 0600 hours on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 while leading a patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Corporal Andy Reid, 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, was blown up by a Taliban improvised explosive device (IED). Airlifted back to the UK that evening to the specialist military wing of Selly Oak Hospital it was touch and go for a while. He had lost both legs, the left one above the knee, and his right arm. His left hand had the index finger almost completely removed. Yet he survived and on Remembrance Day 2009, less than a month after being blown up, was reunited with his patrol back in his home base in Warminster. From there he went on to have a pair of prosthetic limbs fitted at the Defence Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court. In 2010 he won the Sun Newspaper’s Military Award. In between times he has cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats, skydived, and made a number of appearances on behalf of service charities. In this book, Andy sets himself a simple aim: to tell his story. In fact he has not just one, but two stories to tell. The first is the story of Corporal Reid, Burma Company, 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment: Infantry Section Commander and then there is the story of Andy Reid, triple amputee skydiver, cyclist, and charity fund raiser, husband, and new father.