Soldiers' view of life on the frontline >videos
The Mail travelled to Helmand Province to spend time with the Light Dragoons regiment, which recruits heavily from Hull and the East Riding.
We joined convoys through the frontline, which are littered with roadside bombs, and were given rare access to soldiers on their six-month deployment.
They have spoken of their fight with a determined and skilled enemy during the fierce Afghan summer, with temperatures exceeding 50C.
And they have revealed their heartbreak at being separated from their loved ones in order to serve their country.
July was the bloodiest month for British forces in Afghanistan since the mission began eight years ago, with 22 soldiers killed and many more wounded in action.
The British death toll in the war-torn country since 2001is 196.
The East Yorkshire soldiers currently serving in Helmand Province include Lance Corporal Brett Mallinson, of Bilton, who has lost three colleagues, including his best friend, Lance Corporal Nigel Moffett.
He also missed the birth of his baby daughter, Lexi, when she was born 10 weeks premature.
L/Cpl Mallinson, 25, said: "Afghanistan is one big threat.
"Every second of the day you have to watch what you are doing.
"If you don't you are going home in a body bag."
L/Cpl Mallinson was able to spend two-and-a-half-weeks with his wife Louise and their child before he had to return to the war zone.
"I can't wait to get home and for us to spend some quality family time together," he said.
"It is always in the back of my mind. I am stepping very carefully."
For Corporal Paul Coupland, 39, a father of four, from Driffield, the reality of war struck home during a telephone conversation with his six-year-old his daughter Shannon.
She pleaded with him: "Don't get shot, Daddy."
Cpl Coupland is fighting alongside inexperienced soldiers the same age as his eldest son Clarke, 18.
He told us: "I know the children are really worried about me out here.
"When I talk to Shannon on the phone she always asks if I am okay. I think it affects her most.
"She understands more than I thought she would. It is surprising how much.
"If she sees something about the Light Dragoons on the telly she will ask if I have been shot."
* 'Daddy, please don't get shot': how the words of one Driffield soldier's little girl is foremost in his mind while patrolling in Afghanistan - see today's Mail.
* And see today's Mail to read reporter Kevin Shoesmith's diary from the frontline.
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