British Soldier Lynette Pearce Who Had Baby Son In Camp Bastion Flown Home From Afghanistan

Fiji Footballer, Now Front Line Mum

The British servicewoman who gave birth on the front line while serving in Afghanistan is back in the UK with her baby son.

Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce was rushed to the base's infirmary with stomach pains on Tuesday.

The baby's birth is thought to have been five weeks premature and born in Camp Bastion's £10 million field hospital, with the MoD earlier confirming "a specialist paediatric retrieval team" was sent to provide care on the flight home.

Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce, the soldier who gave birth on the front line

The Military of Defence has not confirmed where the new mother and baby are, but it is believed they are in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The 28-year-old servicewoman, who serves with the Royal Artillery, is reported to have left her home country of Fiji last year to fulfil her dream of serving in the British Army.

The keen sportswoman, who captained her national team, is the daughter of a former policeman in the Fijian town of Nadi.

She had reportedly passed every fitness test while pregnant and completed all training, including a gruelling eight-mile march with a 25lb backpack.

Pearce's friends told the Mail on Sunday she was "overjoyed about becoming a mother" but did not know the identity of the father, which they said Pearce would be likely to keep "private"

The birth came just four days after the Taliban’s deadly attack on Camp Bastion, targeted at Prince Harry.

Scroll down for more pictures of Prince Harry at Camp Bastion

The solider is understood to have been unaware of her pregnancy and was five months into her tour of duty when she gave birth

Her former football coach Kamal Swamy told the MoS: ‘She was always so enthusiastic and energetic. I was disappointed when I discovered she had left Fiji. I only found out when I tried to call her up for the 2011 South Pacific Games.’

But a friend told the MoS that the soldier had been "confused" about putting on weight, despite passing the fitness tests.

"A baby was growing inside her, that was why she was putting on weight, but Lynette had no idea at the time she was carrying her son.

"It was distressing for her that these changes were happening because she is really sporty.

"She works out a lot and takes pride in her ability to beat male and female soldiers who are much bigger than her. The weight gain went on for a while. Then Lynette went to Afghanistan and we did not hear any more for a while.

"Now it all makes sense and everyone is so relieved."

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that on September 18 a UK servicewoman serving in Afghanistan gave birth at the hospital at Camp Bastion to a baby boy.

"It is not military policy to allow servicewomen to deploy on operations if they are pregnant. In this instance the MoD was unaware of her pregnancy."

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