I've lost my legs and arm but I'm still just a normal bloke

The plight of soldiers who have suffered horrific injuries in Afghanistan is being revealed for the first time.

Two who were flown back to Britain after being maimed have been given permission to tell their stories.

Lance Corporal Tom Neathway, 25, and Ranger Andy Allen, 19, were caught by improvised explosive devices, which have left 216 others dead and 265 seriously injured.

L-Cpl Neathway, of the Parachute Regiment, was on routine patrol in Kajaki when the device exploded with the force of a "full-on rugby tackle". He has had his left arm and his legs amputated. His story, and that of Ranger Allen, is being told in a BBC1 documentary to be screened on Wednesday night.

L-Cpl Neathway said: "I went to move into a position where there's a hole in the wall which you can fire through and there was a sandbag in front of it. I just remember moving the sandbag, the explosion happened. It's like getting rugby-tackled - your legs just went straight from underneath you.

"I asked the bloke next to me to help me up. He was a bit in shock and I realised I lost my legs, realised my arm was hanging off, pulled my medic over, he tourniqueted me up, put me on the back of the quad bike.

"But I didn't feel pain whatsoever - apart from when my arm was hanging off the side of the quad bike, and I was like, 'Get my bloody arm back on my quad.'"

L-Cpl Neathway, from Worcester, told how when he came out of sedation and understood the extent of his injuries he was "gutted for 10 minutes - but there's nothing you can do, so I just focused on getting up as soon as possible". He said his parents found it a "hell of a lot worse than I have, but seeing how I've reacted they can't be down in the dumps whatsoever".

In the documentary, Wounded, he is seen pleading with medics, six months after the explosion in July last year, to give him permission to fly to Cyprus to visit his regiment.

"I wanna see the blokes, just like show the blokes that I'm all right, I'm just getting on with it," he said.

"I think I should be going to end my Afghan tour and [carry on] into what I do next. If I didn't lose my limbs I'd be out there with them anyway, so, why can't they send me out there now? I'm still me even though I've lost my legs and arm."

He agreed to be filmed to give the public an insight into how those with life-changing injuries can rebuild their lives. The film shows the crucial role played by the Headley Court Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey in treating maimed soldiers.

L-Cpl Neathway went on: "You hear about the men getting killed, which should be shown, but it's only recently you've started to hear about guys with injuries like mine and what we go through.

"I'm in my own house, I drive my own car, I've got a girlfriend and I'm back at work - if you didn't know, you'd think I was just a normal everyday bloke."

L-Cpl Neathway now works in administration for the parachute school at RAF Brize Norton and has been sailing, fishing and water-skiing. He is learning to walk unaided on prosthetic legs in time to attend the medal ceremony at his regiment's homecoming.

The programme begins as Ranger Allen, of the Royal Irish Regiment, is blown up on 14 July last year. He loses both his legs, his face is severely burned, and his eyesight is damaged.

Ranger Allen, whose girlfriend Natalie was six months' pregnant at the time of the explosion, tells how his recovery was hampered by the damage to his sight and admits to the camera that he is scared and reluctant to get on with his rehabilitation. It took eight months before his family were able to welcome him home to Belfast.

A cataract operation has given him enough sight to see baby son Carter. At one point he was uncertain that his vision would return. He told the documentary: "When you get up in the morning you need to just say to yourself I'm going to the gym, I need to get myself motivated for it.

"I was thinking to myself, 'Belfast, get home, see all my mates and your sister and kid brother. Just be with Natalie, get the child in my arms.' Things like that just puts a smile on my face, just remembering what I've got back home." He has now moved in to a bungalow with Natalie and Carter, and raised £10,000 for charity by helping to pull a Land Rover.

The Ministry of Defence has previously been criticised for failing to give sufficient information about the plight of the injured, but the BBC's filmmaker, Sara Hardy, praised the decision to allow the camera crew in and paid tribute to the soldiers she and her team encountered. "This was incredible access from the Ministry of Defence and the NHS. But for the soldiers and their families to allow the crew to film at such devastating times in their lives took amazing bravery."

The number of British service personnel killed or wounded in the eight-year Afghanistan conflict has risen above 1,000. Fighting intensified in the run-up to last month's now-disputed presidential elections.

Wounded will be shown on BBC1 on Wednesday in two parts, from 9pm and 10.35pm.