It’s official – Cheryl Cole is fighting with our troops in Afghanistan.

I know because I saw her in the paper dressed in full combat gear. And it was a secret night-time flight, no one knew about (except photographers from the Sun, Star, Mail, Express and Daily Mirror and they’re really good at keeping secrets).

She must be in a war zone under fire as she’s wearing a helmet and full camouflage gear which is pretty brave of her considering all those IEDs.

I suspect she’s been drafted in by the SAS as she was carrying an assault rifle. Either that or she was looking for Trashley. Maybe she’ll flush out the Taliban by miming one of her songs? A couple of verses of I Don’t Need A Parachute and they’d blow themselves up.

Cheryl’s faded from our consciousness since being fired from American X Factor and the British version is doing very well without her so it was very brave of her to join the army on this dangerous mission.

I, for one, salute her and know she will show great courage under fire. I’m sure Cheryl wanted to do this quietly without any personal fuss or recognition but her plans were (as usual) ruined by the tabloid press. No way was this a cheap publicity stunt.