I HATE mornings. But I get up at 7am and finish at 10pm.

There is no respite from the endless and infinite nature of chores juggled with work that pays. But as long as I stick to these hours I stay on top of it and can keep pushing forward.

If I relax for a second and let anything go, it has this enormous domino effect where it feels like the walls of Jericho are about to come tumbling down.

But meanwhile the children are receiving highlyanticipated postcards from Daddy in Canada.

Technology is amazing - he has wi-fi on the mock battlefields of Alberta and makes cards for the children on his phone.

There was one of the tent that he shares with 14 others, one of his bed, with mosquito net, and one with him carrying two mocked-up helicopters.

“I get up at 0600 hours,” he says. “And don’t get to sleep until about 2330 in the tent!

“The running is going ok, although I have not had a second to get out these last few days. I did get on a Bell 205 (Huey helicopter) flight across the prairie to meet and brief some troops, so that was nice, and we saw loads of elk and other wildlife out and about. I also heard a pack of coyotes howling last night - not so far away.

“We are in full exercise mode now and the war has begun, so fingers crossed it goes well! We did a Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) drill the other day which was on a huge scale model of the ex area (about 20m x 20m) and all the Battalion Commanding Officers and other senior officers walk and talk through the planned war game.

“Imagine our surprise when a gopher popped out of the ground, right in the middle of the model, and did its best 'pitch invader'

impression running over the model towards where about 40 of us were standing.

“It then stopped and looked at us, obviously wanting food, but we chased it away and the drill continued.”

Damn. He’s doing longer hours than me, which means he’ll win the ‘who is the tiredest quiz’ when he returns. He can have it. I am not getting up at 6am if I don’t absolutely have to.

l Writer and journalist Clare Macnaughton’s latest book is available on Amazon worldwide. A Modern Military Mother – Tales from the Domestic Frontline is an honest account of decade of being married to an RAF officer serving in the British military.

Follow Clare on twitter: @amodmilitarymum Blog: amodernmilitarymother.com