EVERY soldier's death in action brings back painful memories for Pat Long.
However, the killing of James Oakland by a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan hit home harder than most because he was in the same unit as her late son Paul Long.
Both corporals in the 156 Provost Company of the Royal Military Police (RMP), they were kil
led in different wars, six years apart.
Cpl Long, 24, was among six Redcaps, also including South Shields-born Cpl Simon Miller, 21, to die at the hands of a 400-strong Iraqi mob in Al Majar al-Kabir in 2003.
Cpl Oakland, 26, from Manchester, died after being mortally wounded by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol in the Gereshk region of Helmand Province last Thursday.
He is the first military policeman from his company to die in Iraq or Afghanistan since Cpls Long, Miller and their colleagues six years ago.
Mrs Long, of Hebburn, said: "Hearing of another soldier being killed is just part of living now. You expect it to happen.
"It stung a little bit when I found out Cpl Oakland was from 156 Provost Company. He may have known Paul.
"My heart goes out to his family. The hurt and the pain never goes, but it does get easier to cope with as time goes on."
Cpl Oakland joined the Army in January 2002 and passed out into the Intelligence Corps, transferring to the RMP in 2003.
His first posting was to 156 Provost Company in Colchester, where he conducted general policing duties.
From there, he moved on to Kosovo and Beirut, before being deployed to Afghanistan.
He is survived by parents Steve and Christine, brother Daniel, now in his final term at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and long-term girlfriend Lauren Bowyer.
He was the 222nd British soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2001.
