Find out what it's like to be a war reporter in Afghanistan

The first UK journalist has been killed reporting on the war in Afghanistan. Rupert Hamer, the Sunday Mirror's defence correspondent, died after the vehicle he was in was hit by a roadside bomb.

Mirror photographer Phil Coburn was wounded in the attack that also killed a US Marine and injured five other soldiers.

Newsbeat's US reporter Sima Kotecha was reporting from Afghanistan in December 2009. She looks back at her time embedded with US Marines.

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Climbing into an MRAP armoured vehicle surrounded by US Marines, it's hard not to feel safe.

Their hulls are V-shaped to deflect any blast from underneath the vehicle. Then there's the sheer physical presence of the Marines themselves: big guys, well armed, aggressive fighting men.

But in a modern war there's no such thing as safety.

Rupert Hamer was killed by a bomb in Nawa in southern Helmand

Journalists covering the war in Afghanistan have few choices. They either stay in the safety of well protected main bases or take the much riskier option of going with the soldiers to report the front line for their readers, listeners or viewers.

That was the choice Rupert Hamer of the Sunday Mirror made when he went on patrol with the US Marines.

A roadside bomb claimed his life and seriously injured his photographer Philip Coburn. He has become the first British journalist killed reporting the war there.

A few weeks ago I was on a similar patrol with the US Marines and the moment you roll out of the gates of the base danger stalks you.

The Taliban has become skilled at concealing IEDs - or Improvised Explosive Devices - and these homemade roadside bombs are hard to detect and devastating in their impact.

The vehicles can never provide complete protection against bombs

They won't win a conventional firefight or battle with US or UK forces, so the roadside bomb has become their most deadly and effective weapon.

Every bump in the road can have you nervously wondering if you've hit one - and the bravado of the US Marines you're with masks a greater fear - that no matter how well armoured your vehicle, a really big bomb can still "take you out" .