Byline: Laura Armstrong
FRANTIC Rachel Soare endured months of sleepless nights fearing for the safety of her husband Karl on the front brochure printing line in Afghanistan.
She bravely hid her heartache for the sake of son Christian, three, and two-year-old daughter Faith.
But as the death toll soared among UK troops fighting the Taliban, she struggled to come to terms with her terror - until a chance discovery on the internet.
It was a poetry forum produced by dozens of mums, wives, children and girlfriends of men serving with her sergeant hubby in 27 Squadron RAF Regiment.
Rachel, 35, said: "When I first saw the poems I didn't think it was for me.
"But one night I couldn't sleep so I gave it a try - and was surprised how much it helped. One of the toughest things about Karl being away was the separation, knowing I couldn't pick up a phone or send a text to say I missed him.
"I tried to get on with ordinary day-today stuff with the kids but then I'd put them to bed and the fear of him not coming back would be in my head. Those are the really tough moments."
Rachel was able to capture her torment in a poem called Happily Married Yet Living Alone. It reads:
How hard it was to say goodbye, I could not help myself but cry As I watched him walk away, How I wanted him to stay. Come on, you must be strong, Six months is not so long, Every day is one day more Closer to the end of tour.
The forum was launched last year after 27 Squadron left in July for a 200-day tour of duty 3,500 miles from home.
It started when Maggie Smart - whose son Ben is a corporal - saw a distressed wife's post on the squadron's website.
Maggie, of Carshalton, Surrey, had already written a verse inspired by Ben called Proud To Serve, so she posted it on the site to give the woman a lift.
She said: "Then someone else replied with another poem and then Prada Replica Handbags another.
"I wanted to give people a morale boost - but I never expected the idea would snowball in the way it did."
Within weeks, there were almost 60 poems, with more flooding in each day.
One was from 11-year-old Charlotte Clifford, who penned a verse for her sergeant dad Mo.
She said: "It wasn't really hard - I just wrote down all the things we do at home and the kind of things you normally put in letters.
"I put in lots of memories from Halloween and Christmas and it did make me feel better because I knew Dad would read it and be happy."
Charlotte's mum Jackie, of Thetford, Norfolk, also wrote a poem after Gail Wilson, 40 - whose husband Neil is a sergeant - persuaded her to have a go.
Jackie, 38, said: "During the day, when I was going to the shops or looking after the kids, I was fine because there was a routine to get on with.
"The worst times were when you're lying in bed at night just worrying.
"So one night at stupid o'clock I wrote down everything I was feeling.
"It was really nice to have a way of getting all of those emotions out."
And Gail, from Dover, said: "I've always found it hard to express emotion but I found writing poetry really he
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