She's 28 and joined Royal Artillery after captaining Fiji football team
Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce, did not know she was pregnant until the dramatic birth of her baby son at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.
Pearce, 28, a bombardier in the Royal Artillery was fighting the Taliban until she went into labour.
Lynette's friends said she was overjoyed about becoming a mother. Some of them are planning to visit her at the hospital where she was taken after being flown back to Britain.
The Ministry of Defence has not disclosed where Lynette and her baby are being treated but it is understood to be the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, from where a specialist team of paediatricians was scrambled to the war zone.
This week, messages saying 'welcome to motherhood' were pouring on to her Facebook site.
A friend who asked not to be named said: "Everyone is congratulating her and is really happy for Lynette. We are absolutely stunned at her amazing news. She can't believe it and neither can we. Her life is going to totally change.
"I can't wait to see her. She is getting a lot of support from all her friends and family in Britain and in her regiment. She loves the army and was very keen to fight in Afghanistan. She is determined and committed. Now I am sure she will put her son first."
Lynette is an avid user of Facebook and has more than 1200 friends from Britain and Fiji.
The birth stunned military chiefs and came just four days after the Taliban's deadly attack on Camp Bastion that was intended to kill Prince Harry. The brazen assault left five British airmen wounded and two US Marines dead.
After complaining of severe stomach pains, Lynette was rushed into a surgical theatre at Camp Bastion — the biggest British base in Helmand province — where the baby was delivered.
The paediatricians flew in to escort her back to the UK and Lynette is said to have coped well with the birth and the eight-hour flight home. She is expecting to welcome friends to her bedside in the next few days.
Lynette is originally from Fiji and is the daughter of a former policeman in the town of Nadi.
She is an excellent sportswoman and rose to become the captain of the country's women's football team from 2007 to 2009, before leaving Fiji last year to fulfil an ambition to serve with the Army.
Her football coach Kamal Swamy said: "She was always so enthusiastic and energetic. I was disappointed when I discovered she had left Fiji. I only found out when I tried to call her up for the 2011 South Pacific Games." Lynette excelled at football and according to an article in The Fiji Times in 2005 she was the heroine of her team the Nadi Jetsetters, where she was a striker, scoring many goals.
She captained the Fijian national team and played against Tonga and Australia.
Susan Rao, director of women's football in Fiji, whose daughter used to play football with Lynette added: "She was a great asset to our national team. I heard from my daughter that Lynette had a baby while she was serving in Afghanistan.
"My daughter showed me a Facebook page where friends of Lynette were posting congratulations on her baby.' After she came to Britain and completed her basic training, Lynette was given the rank of Gunner.
She was posted to Baker Barracks, near Havant, Hampshire after passing out.
The base is home to 12 and 47 Regiments, Royal Artillery. These units specialise in providing long range reconnaissance and aerial support to infantry soldiers in Afghanistan.
According to sources in Fiji, Lynette used to send money from her army wages to support friends who were hard up.
Lynette underwent rigorous physical testing before being passed fit to serve in the war zone — including a five-mile run, press-ups and sit-ups — but she did not receive a pregnancy test.
Earlier this year, before she deployed to Afghanistan, she apparently began putting on weight. This came as a surprise to her because she was training so hard.
A friend said: "At the time Lynette was really confused. A baby was growing inside her, that was why she was putting on weight, but Lynette had no idea at the time she was carrying her son.