Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers. London, England (VBS.TV) -- In April this year I embedded with the elite soldiers of the 2nd Battalion British Parachute Regiment at their training facility in Thetford, United Kingdom. We went there to film the British army's much-talked-about, multimillion pound "replica Afghanistan village." The focus of the piece was to be on the younger members of the battalion. Some of them are as young as 18 and only months away from their first visit to Helmand province in September 2010. The majority of British casualties are all recorded in that area.
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VBS embeds with esteemed, aggressive British army unit
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Troops described as "hardest men in the world," "most brutal" soldiers in army
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Training facility in English countryside modeled after Afghan village
I remember it was in Helmand 2006 that @placeholder became very hairy indeed.