IRAQ CRISIS: SHIRLEY Collier, of Malmesbury, is showing her support for the troops in Iraq by displaying a controversial sticker in her car.

The sticker reads "I am supporting our boys in Iraq. Are you?"

Mrs Collier said whether people support the war or not they should be thinking about the troops and their families.

Her son-in-law Joe Clothier, 39, is currently fighting in the Royal Artillery in Iraq and she believes that he may be in the centre of the action in Basra.

Mr Clothier's regiment is based in Detmold, Germany, where his wife Lyn, 37, and two children are currently living.

"It is terribly upsetting and demoralising for the wives and children of the troops to see all these people making all this fuss against the war," said Mrs Collier.

"These men are putting their lives on the line for us, the least we can do is support them, regardless of our political views."

"The families out in Germany are very isolated and it is very difficult for them to get on with their daily lives.

"They can phone their family but it is not the same as getting a hug from their grandmother when they are feeling upset," she said.

Her grandchildren, Sam, ten, and Will, eight, attend Sir John Mogg military school at the base in Germany.

"It is hard for them because they are in a military situation all the time," Mrs Collier said. "They had a bad day last week at the outset.

"It hit Sam hard because he thinks about the consequences and is not gung-ho about it like some of the other children.

He knows that there is the possibility that his dad might not come back."

Mrs Clothier also has the added worry of how her daughter Lottie, 12, is coping back in England.

Lottie goes to school in the Malmesbury area and wanted to go home to see her mum as soon as the war broke out.

"She was upset and she realises what is going on. She is going to Germany for the Easter holidays so she can be with her mum and brothers," said Mrs Collier.

"We have been through this before but this is the first time he is in an actual war situation.

I don't know if it is worse to know what is going on or not. But I have to watch the news and find out what is happening."

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