A north Shropshire soldier fighting in Afghanistan has sent back the first in a series of planned reports detailing experiences of daily life in the war-torn country.

Colour Sergeant Davey Smyth, of the Royal Irish Regiment based at Clive Barracks in Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, arrived in the country on March 19 as part of the first main body of Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) 3.

Colour Sergeant Smyth travelled with the team to the Bastion camp at Kajaki Dam, where they were given refresher training before getting to work.

He said: “When our briefings were over, we moved to the OMLT headquarters in Camp Shorabak, a small camp which has all the necessities for a comfortable life.

“With this training package finished we were able to get into our new role, the mentoring of Afghan National Army (ANA) Kandak - a Kandak is an Afghan battalion.”

The British troops have been helping to train their Afghan counterparts to adjust to using new weaponry, such as the American M16 rifle instead of the older Russian made AK47.

They have also been helping to teach the soldiers signalling techniques and how to operate to set procedures.

Colour Sergeant Smyth said: “The sense of achievement at the end of the day makes it all worthwhile, knowing that in some little way you have contributed to making the ANA soldier deploying on operations that little more knowledgeable and capable of carrying out his duties to a better standard.

“Some of the OMLT have deployed forward to the most northerly location with the ANA already on operations to the Kajaki dam. This is a location forever on the news as a lifeline for the Helmand province, as it supplies most of the electricity in the area.

“The Kajaki team are out fighting on a daily basis with the Taliban, ensuring the electricity is delivered.”

By Andy Rogers