One happy Brit Family

My husband and THREE sons are off to Iraq - but I wouldn't have it any other way

Not only will her husband Danny, a 45-year-old major in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglican Regiment, leave to fight on the frontline in Iraq, her three grown-up sons will be there, too, in what is believed to be the largest family group in a single battle zone since World War II.

While the Mackness men, by their own admission completely "Army barmy", feel rather proud of this, it is a record Wendy would really prefer them not to hold because she worries about them so much.

For a devoted mother, it is a quadruple whammy to have the four men in her life - her entire immediate family - on the frontline.

And it is out of respect for their mother's already shredded nerves that Major Mackness has issued his sons Adam, 24, Mark, 22, and Shane, 21, with a "don't tell Mum" directive about the dangers they will undoubtedly face in Basra. Daily Mail