‘It’s like my son is with me on SAS challenge’
DAD’S TV MISSION FOR TRAGIC JAMES
THE dad of a soldier killed in Afghanistan is set to take on a gruelling SAS telly challenge in his honour.
Efrem Brynin has signed up to the new series of Channel 4’s hit show SAS: Who Dares Wins, which starts tomorrow.
In the series, four former SAS men put recruits through their paces in a challenge based on the tests they completed to join the regiment.
But for Efrem the show, filmed in the Ecuador jungle, is more than just about seeing whether he is tough enough to be the last man standing.
The 43-year-old lost son James, 22, a member of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force, when he was shot and killed in Afghanistan in 2013.
The heartbroken father says his son would have wanted to join the SAS if he was still alive, so he is taking on the TV challenge in his memory.
He told the Daily Star Sunday: “I’ve come to try to do things that I think he would have been interested in or perhaps would’ve even done himself during the course of his life.
“I think at some stage he probably would have put himself forward for selection for the SAS, so I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to give it a go’.
“I kind of feel like he’s always part of me or always with me. It kind of feels like – it sounds really stupid to say it – he could share the experience he never got to do himself.”
Efrem still struggles to come to terms with James’ death and often dreams he will one day walk through the front door.
He added: “My wife and I had James when I was 18, so he’s always been around. He’s always been part of my life from being a very young adult.
“Even now, because he was in the military and he was away such SUSAN HILL a lot, I still wouldn’t say that I have totally accepted that he will never come back home.
“I’ve still not accepted that some day there won’t be a knock on the door and it’ll be a big ruse.
“Obviously I know it won’t be, but that’s kind of the way it feels right now.
“What’s happened to James and to us, there’s nothing we can do. I mean there’s nothing worse for me than seeing my wife and my daughter upset, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It is what it is.
“But I have nothing but pride in James. It’s important to me that I do continue to talk about him and people do continue to remember not just him, but all the other guys and girls that have been killed.” SAS: Who Dares Wins returns tomorrow on Channel 4 at 9pm.