Soldier back from Iraq to wed sweetheart on her birthday.

A NEWLY-wed couple are looking forward to an exotic honeymoon after their marriage took place against all the odds.

Kidderminster Territorial Army Lieutenant Martin Watson and bride-to-be Joann Brooks feared their big day would be scuppered when he was called up for the Iraq war.

But the TA took the unprecedented step of allowing him to leave Basra three weeks before the end of his six-month tour of duty so that he could marry his sweetheart on April 16 - her 26th birthday.

The platoon commander was responsible for a TA unit of 37 men who carried out guard duties at a hospital in southern Iraq and provided protection for medical teams leaving the hospital,

The couple had named their day last year but their plans were thrown into doubt when Martin found out he had been compulsorily mobilised while on a TA course last October.

He had just two weeks at home before he left and also had to travel to Salisbury to sit his captaincy exams in that time.

His new wife said: "It was devastating when we found out - there were a few tears and a lot of emotions but you can't really do much about it.

"We had already booked the reception and church - because we got engaged on June 25 on holiday and set the date within a couple of weeks of coming home - but we had to buy his wedding ring quick sharp before he went away."

She added: "There was a time around Christmas that we didn't know whether he was going to be able to come home for the wedding - so we had months where things were hanging in the balance and over Christmas and New Year it was not very nice."

The call-up, which was broken to Martin just two weeks before he was due to fly to Basra, looked likely to halt their plans for almost four months but the loving couple kept their fingers crossed and hoped for the best.

Now, after tying the knot as planned they are preparing to jet off to the Maldives for their honeymoon.

"I was assured by my boss that it shouldn't be a problem in February but, up until that point, we were going on a wing and a prayer," said 35-year-old Martin, a risk manager from Kidderminster.

"Basically, Joann organised the wedding from start to finish so my only input was at the end of an e-mail saying 'oh yes' or 'I like the sound of that', because we had booked the church and reception venue before I went but that was about it."

After welcoming three of his men back to the Kidderminster TA headquarters, The Shrubbery, on Thursday, Martin told the Shuttle/Times and News: "Ordinarily, you're not allowed to use your leave within the first six or last six weeks of the tour but they let me because I was getting married - but it was still all on a knife edge really.

"Ironically, just as I was about to leave, it all started to kick off over there and it was one of those double-edged swords because I wanted to come back and get married but I was leaving all my men in the lap of the gods."

He added: "The thing that sticks in my mind most about being over there is that the place stinks - there is no sanitation and just burning rubbish is in the streets.

"The first thing I did when I was back was go in my back garden and roll on the grass on my back, smelling the grass."

The newlywed, who has been in the TA for 10 years, said: "I don't know about fearing for my life but there were a few hair-raising moments.

"We would arrive at a destination and tell them (control point) what route we had taken and it used to happen on a fairly routine basis that a bomb had gone off moments after we had gone past a particular location."