I was blown up in Afghanistan in 2009. I had to have a leg amputated – and had the operation done while wearing a musical cockerel posing pouch. Black humour is what gets squaddies through dodgy times, so I loved seeing one of the characters in this comedy about a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan being awarded the "jockstrap of destiny". I've never heard of that, nor a "filthiest bastard" award. But I have heard of "regimental showers". That's when a grotbag – a guy who never washes – gets given a shower with a firehose and a huge brush. As for racing pubic lice, I've never seen that either. But I have seen squaddies race spiders, scorpions and even poisonous snakes.

So even though it's a comedy, I found this show true to life – and I did two tours in Afghanistan, in a unit just like this one. I was a number two, in charge of making sure the commander had all the equipment he needed, just like the character Towerblock. People who aren't in the military might think comedy isn't the best way to show what war is like. I disagree, and most soldiers I know think Bluestone 42 is spot-on, too.

This isn't a serious exploration of bomb disposal, though, like The Hurt Locker. That's a good thing: I'd take Bluestone 42 over The Hurt Locker any day. And the action is pretty accurate. There's a scene where one of the guys tries to save an Afghan man from driving over a mine, but he can't get the car's handbrake to work. You do get things going wrong like that. I remember one guy accidentally let off a flare, a massive smoke-rocket, while my boss was defusing a device.

I've never seen an attractive female priest, like the one they have in the show, but she does remind me of the average "tour princess". That's a woman who's maybe a six or seven back in the UK – but when she's out on tour, where there are so few other women around, she becomes an eight or nine. As I say, squaddie humour is pretty dark: you can find yourself in the middle of a firefight and end up laughing your head off.

• Daniel Whittingham works with the bomb disposal charity The Felix Fund Bluestone 42 is on BBC3 on Thursdays.