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ISLE OF WIGHT RESERVIST LEAVES HIS MARK IN IRAQ
 Private Matthew Symmans in front of his mural at the entrance to Allenby Lines.
Private Matthew Symmans, 21, from the Isle of Wight, has just completed a stunning mural denoting the tour of duty undertaken by his unit, adding it to a line of earlier artwork left by other units.
Anyone walking into Allenby Lines at Basrah Air Station in south west Iraq, is greeted by many different murals depicting units who have been based there. Some are now quite old, but others, created more recently, add to a timeless footprint in the sand where units have been deployed over the last few years.
Creating these masterpieces does not come easy, even in the most comfortable of surroundings. Nevertheless, hunched under a waterproof sheet, Private Symmans cleans his brushes, mixes just the right amount of paint and begins the next Royal Rifle Volunteers mural.
Matthew has been a soldier in the Territorial Army for over 3 years and currently serves with ‘C’ Company of the Royal Rifle Volunteers. He explained how the task came his way:
“When I was mobilized back in March this year, I had a bit of spare time on my hands and got into sketching. That is where I got the nickname 'Sketch'.
“When I got over into Iraq my name was mentioned in a Company meeting and I was then given the project”.
A keen artist since he was at school, he found that this mural, painted on a concrete blast wall, has presented several challenges. Despite these, the result is a stunning 2 metre x 1 metre mural that shows three soldiers kneeling in the desert after dismounting from a patrol vehicle.
Matthew, who went to Carisbrooke High School, Newport, was deployed to Iraq as part of the British effort to assist the Iraqi government as it strives for self-reliance. His parents on the Isle of Wight, David and Jane Symmans, along with his sister Sophie, eagerly await his return later this month.
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