A NORTH-EAST soldier has been battling a variety of vicious animals to make sure he and his fellow troops have access to clean drinking water.
Former Mearns Academy student Sapper Craig Hamilton, 21, is on a training operation in Kenya where his job is to get water for all 500 troops from a river populated by crocodiles and routinely used by hippos, elephants and leopards.
The six-week exercise, in central Laikipia, aims to help the soldiers adjust to the harsh climate they can expect when they are posted to Afghanistan next year.
Sapper Hamilton, who serves with the German-based 32 Engineer Regiment and is currently attached to the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, said: “While here I constructed the showers, toilets and fences, but by far the best job is water purification.
“We pump the water at the source, clean it then transport it to the camp.
“It’s a big job but it is essential that all the soldiers have plenty of water – especially in these hot conditions.”
Sapper Hamilton, who joined the Army in 2004 and has served in Iraq, Poland, Austria and Cyprus, added: “We have to be sure that the water is clean, especially with all the animals that we have seen drinking it.
“I saw a crocodile the other day which was a bit scary.
“The heat has made our job here a bit tough. It’s absolutely stifling, but you do get used to it.
“I’m really enjoying it here, especially the fishing.”
The exercise is expected to end in mid-November.