Family pay tribute to soldier killed in Afghanistan

Corporal Sean Reeve was killed with three colleagues after the vehicle they were travelling in was blown up by a roadside bomb on Tuesday.

Speaking exclusively to The Argus, his family said the 28-year-old SAS reservist, from Patcham, Brighton, was an inspiration to them.

And they told how the SAS reservist had worked to build relationships with Afghan children by getting them school supplies sent over from Sussex.

They said: "Sean was the youngest child of three children. He was single with no children and spent most of his formative years in Brighton, where he returned as often as he could and which he looked upon as his home and favourite place. He went to school at Cardinal Newman School in Brighton and was a graduate of the University of Sussex with a degree in Bio-Chemistry & Management and a Masters Degree in Technology Innovation Management. He worked as a business consultant for Atkins.

"Sean was a young man who was loved and respected by everyone who knew him. He was popular, not because he told jokes and entertained people, but because he was intelligent, loyal and loving. He was also truly honest, both in his dealings with others and to himself. He thought things out, worked out what had to be done and how best to do it. And then he went and did it.

"Sean had been a part time soldier in the Territorial Army (TA) for some ten years. He had no illusions that he was being asked to do a dangerous job in a dangerous place. He could have avoided going to Afghanistan had he not been the character he was. Everything he did was done with total commitment, whether as a schoolboy, a student and graduate, in his everyday working life, in the TA and in his personal relationships.

"When he fished off the beach at Shoreham or at the marina in Brighton he had to be dragged home. He walked the South Downs for pleasure and for charity and he partied there with his friends, come rain or shine. The Downs were the backdrop to his life, always there over his shoulder.

"Sean spent the first ten years of his life living in garrison towns in England, Germany and Northern Ireland before the family moved to Brighton, but he never gave any indication that he wanted to join the regular Army and he never had any ambitions within the TA. What he joined for and lived for was to experience life itself. He didn't go to Afghanistan seeking glory or medals.

"What he had was a hunger for different experiences. He soaked up every second, whether it was work experience or learning bricklaying and working on building sites for extra cash. The TA had given him many of his life experiences and he felt very strongly that he owed the TA a debt. And Sean never left a debt unpaid.

"He said in a letter, 'I cannot possibly regret being part of an organisation that has given me so much by challenging me and taking me out of my comfort zone'. He had a strong sense of duty and while he would have laughed at overt patriotism he believed in what he was doing in Afghanistan. He had no enmity towards the people of Afghanistan who he liked and respected.

"Sean never discussed his work in Afghanistan or said where he was, but in his first letter home in January he said that despite their very real hardships the local people were friendly. He spoke of how the children would smile at the soldiers and give thumbs up signs and say thank you in English. He asked to be sent pens and pencils to give to the kids to use in the local school which had none. He said how lucky we all were to live in the UK.

"Was he perfect? No. In his work he probably didn't always suffer fools gladly and could get frustrated with those who took longer to see the things he somehow saw immediately, or who failed to learn lessons from their mistakes. But he was never malicious or unpleasant. He analyzed what went wrong and why and solved the problem at root cause, not blaming anyone but offering solutions. He had enormous willpower, occasionally to the point of stubbornness, and he pushed himself constantly, challenging himself physically and mentally.

"Was he as perfect as it is possible to humanly be? Yes. As a child we never had cause to get really angry with him. When he did do something wrong it was always from innocence or childish adventure. He was quiet and stoic, never making a fuss when he hurt himself. At school he was always the protector of the weaker or smaller children. He could draw and paint, cook and build. Mostly he just loved and was loved.

"Even in death he left his family the means to grieve as painlessly as possible. He left messages that make it so much easier for them to better understand who he was, why he did what he did and what his wishes were.

"He told his family and friends in his letters that he had learned from us. He was wrong, we all learned from him. And we will all continue to learn and to draw strength from his memory."

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