He served for 18 months on the Mozambique-Zambian border seeing active service against both ZIPRA & ZANLA fighters attacking farms in the Sipolilo-Umvukwes area, before returning to England to enrol at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, Surrey.
After leaving the Guards, and having recovered from a serious car accident, in 1983, at the age of 21, Gunston decided to become a war photojournalist.
Gunston made several trips into war-torn Afghanistan through the 1980s, covering the war between the occupying Soviet forces aligned to the Communist Afghan government, and mujahidin resistance groups.
Including a clandestine mission into Kabul [1988] to meet Afghan Army Generals who wanted to work with Haq following the Soviet withdrawal.
More recently, David Loyn's 2006 'Frontline: The True Story of the British Mavericks Who Changed the Face of War Reporting.'
Following the 9/11 attacks, Gunston was asked to join Abdul Haq in Rome who was then meeting with the late Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah.