The last of the British troops have headed home from Afghanistan.
Monday Part 1:
Tuesday Part 2:
Wednesday Part 3:
Thursday Part 4:
Friday Part 5:
Star Radio's Ruth Aiken reports:
All this week Star Radio is asking if the sacrifice was worth it and what is the legacy being left behind.
Over 400 British troops lost their lives during the 13-year conflict and thousands were injured.
Our reporter Ruth Aiken travelled to Camp Bastion to spend time with Leeming-based 34 Squadron RAF Regiment and the medical teams, who have saved thousands of lives.
Flight Lieutenant and Quick Reaction Force Commander Chris Scott told Star Radio what he thinks the legacy will be.
The 26-year-old said: "I hope that we have left the Afghanistan people with a secure and stable nation so that they can move on and develop their country into what they want it to be.
"At the end of the day the legacy that they create for themselves is up to them.
"We have just provided the foundations for that and we are very proud of the fact that we have been able to be a small part of that operation, however it is now up to them to make of it what they will."
Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman has spoken of her immense respect, admiration and gratitude for our armed forces.
"I think everybody admires all the troops who have been out in Aghanistan and I think they did achieve a lot," she said.
"I think the situation is much stable than it was. It was the case that Afghanistan was the home of lots of international terrorism and I think that risk has really been pushed back and there has been good developments for its people. For children and girls in particular, going to school.
"It is all about building a more stable and properous country for the future, and if the country is more stable and people are more rooted or more tied into their democratic institutions, then hopefully they will be less inclined to get carried away by some of the extremists.
"I think eveybody just feels immense respect and gratitude to the troops and their families, and I think it's really important we stick to our pledge of making sure that those people do get priority in the health service and housing because obviously they have made huge sacrifices for us."
Once a bustling military base, Camp Bastion was comparable to a town the size of Reading. There were fast food restaurants, local traders and three churches, but it slowly became more of a ghost town. Compounds that were once filled with tents or military vehicles lay empty and there were fewer men and women walking around in uniform.
Clearing the camp is the biggest logistical operation undertaken since World War Two. At the peak of the Afghan conflict there were 10,000 British personnel there, with 20,000 US marines, Danes, Estonians and other nationalities at 180 bases and checkpoints.
Now its runway – at one point the fifth busiest UK-operated airstrip – is expected to handle commercial flights. In recent months, hundreds of military vehicles and shipping containers with kit have been brought back to the UK.
Corporal Phillip Shenton, a Gunner and Commander on Operation Herrick 20, told Star Radio how the wind-down was affecting him.
"The majority of the casualties will be injured maybe through ID blasts," the 32-year-old said.
"As the the tour is winding down, the injuries are not as much at the moment and it is mainly IDs they are finding.
"Bastion has always been like a main hub, back when Herrick was in it's prime, a lot of the FOBs and PBs had a lot less.
"So knowing that they had a lot less, anything was a luxury, whether there was cold cans of Coke at the NAAFI or there is a little bit of internet, these are all luxuries and are nice to have.
"If they go, then they go and we will just deal with that."
Star Radio has been lucky enough to be given access to Camp Bastion's 34 Field Hospital. It has become the best in the world at dealing with wounded soldiers on the battlefield with 98 per cent of patients there surviving injuries.
Private Ben Bainbridge was ambushed while on patrol with the Yorkshire Regiment in Helmand province in 2010. He was initially assessed as a double amputee but after eight operations the 19-year-old was able to walk around his home on crutches.
Lieutenant Colonal Mike Davison, who is from Durham, is the emergency department consultant at the 34 Field Hospital.
"How this differs from the NHS is maybe in an ordinary trauma centre they will see one or two major traumas a day, maximum," he said.
"But here, we can see 30 or 40 per day and they don't come in ones or twos, they come in fives or sixes.
"So from my point of view, I go through a period of running a normal AD department then I have 15 minutes notice to get five trauma teams ready and running five traumas at the same time, so that can be quite intense."
Here in the North East, James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough has adopted some of the 34 Field Hospital's techniques and procedures for trauma care.
Even though the camp has now closed, the life-saving treatment provided by the UK medical group will not be forgotten and no matter where in the world our armed forces serve in the future, the lessons learned in Afghanistan will ensure they will receive the best possible medical support.
Our medical teams have worked hard to pass their skills and training on to their Afghanistan counterparts. Lieutenant Colonal Jaish Mahan is the Commanding Officer of the UK Medical Group out in Camp Bastion.
"We have been hugely impressed with what they [the Afghanistan people] have actually achieved over this period of time," he said.
"It has been a UK led mentoring mission over the last year or so and they have opened their own trauma facility, which is NATO funded, and they are seeing most of their own patients, which is fantastic.
"I am confident they have an enduring capacity, something that we can be very proud of as a nation in terms of what we are leaving as a legacy.
"It has been a huge privilege to be part of this medical group and it is incredible what has been achieved.
"We do stand on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before us and it is a privilege for us to be here in this final chapter."
The first British soldiers arrived in Afghanistan in October 2001, a month after the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington. The first British soldiers were sent to Helmand in 2006.
So what will be the lasting legacy of British forces after eight years in Helmand and was it worth it?
The families and loved ones of those killed in the conflict reflect on the huge sacrifices made.
Around 140,000 British troops - many of them from the North East - served in the war.
Among those killed in action was Private John King from Darlington.
John died in an explosion in December 2011 while on foot patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province in December 2011.
He was 19-years-old.
Speaking last month, Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, says Afghanistan is more stable but still has some way to go.
"Afghanistan is now a safer, more prosperous and democratic place than when we started," he said.
"We have not elimiated the insurgency there, there are Taliban still there but what we have done through their sacrifice is given Afghanistant the best possible chance of a safer future."
Most of the soldiers we spoke to believe they have made a difference.
Last week, hundreds of people lined the streets of Bedale to welcome home our sevicemen and women from Afghanistan. The 34 Squadron RAF Regiment parade included music by the Band of the RAF College, a hawk jet fly-past and a medal presentation.
It marks the end of a seven month tour which the squadron provided force protection during the draw-down of Camp Bastion.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain should be "incredibly proud" of the sacrifices our troops have made.
