There were cheers and smiles in Helmand Province at the weekend when David Beckham paid a surprise goodwill visit to UK and US troops in Camp Bastion.

He met with hundreds of soldiers and gave away signed England shirts and memorabilia. He was, he said, ‘overwhelmed’ by the stories of courage he heard.

His first stop was Camp Bastion’s state-of-the-art hospital where he met Forces medics and injured personnel. He also met two Afghan children being treated in intensive care.

Squadron Leader Sarah Charters, an NHS nurse from Southampton who runs the emergency unit at the hospital, told the England star about the life-saving work her team carries out.

She said: “A visit like this means a lot to everyone here. It is an absolute honour to work in an environment like this where I know I am helping to save lives and David’s visit reminds everyone at home of what we actually do here.”

Next stop was the Equipment Support Battalion (ESB) where Becks took part in an impromptu Q&A session. One soldier asked him when in his life he had been most scared. Beckham said: “The birth of my children; but it’s nothing compared to what you are doing here. I have enormous respect for you and I know everyone at home has as well.”

David visited the helicopter landing site where he was shown the controls of an Apache helicopter by Captain Scott ‘Scottie’ Hewitt. Scottie said: It’s nice to know that other people are thinking of us. He is such an iconic figure and to make that effort to come and see us out here means a lot more than he will probably ever realise.” 

He also visited troops from 40 Commando Royal Marines, the Brigade Reconnaissance Force, 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment, 1st Battalion Scots Guards and the 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, who presented him with a traditional Kukri dagger.

David said: “The morale here is incredible. They are so focused, you can actually see it in their eyes. These are the bravest people I have ever met and it’s a privilege to be here. They are putting their lives on the line for us and we owe them a great debt.”

Rallying the 'dogs of war'

On Sunday Beckham rallied British troops to support England’s 2018 World Cup Bid at Camp Bastion.

Beckham then went on to meet the ‘dogs of war’ at the Theatre Military Working Dogs HQ and was ‘attacked’ by a German Shepherd called Brit.

The footballer dressed up in a well-padded suit with a baseball type helmet, taunted the dog until she was leaping and barking and then made a short run.

The dog was released from its leash by Corporal Peter Reynolds and plunged its teeth into Becks's well-padded back. The football superstar was no worse the wear for his encounter.

Beckham was told that 51 dogs, based at Camp Bastion, including German shepherds, spaniels, labradors and Belgian shepherds all played a vital part in the war effort by searching for explosives, carrying out vehicle searches and acting as guard dogs.

He saw a Belgian shepherd called Titch put through her paces in training searching for Improvised Explosive Devices.

Beckham also visited the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) HQ where he was shown how unmanned aircraft, drones, patrolled the skies capturing real-time film of possible enemy movement on the ground.