Last updated 14:52, Friday, 27 June 2008

WEST Cumbrian soldiers spent five weeks in the jungles of Central America recently. More than 600 men of the 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, known as 2 LANCS, were deployed on exercise Tropical Storm in Belize.

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opportunities: Lance Cpl Karl Stables

Under the guidance of British Army instructors and Belizean military experts, they have been gaining a unique insight to the art of jungle soldiering.

Kingsman Mel Stephenson, 26, of Westfield, Workington, has been in the Army for two years and serves with 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, 1 LANCS. In January he returned early from a tour of duty in Iraq. He was able to join up with 2 LANCS on attachment so that he could experience the training.

The former Southfield School pupil spent several years working as a block paver before deciding to join the Army.

He said: “I was just bored really and there’s quite a tradition of people in West Cumbria joining the Army. I had a lot of mates who were in and they said it was great and that they loved it. So I decided to join.”

Speaking about the tour in Iraq, which began in November 2007, he said: “It was my first operational tour. I was at the contingency operating base. We were out of the city and no longer going into Basra. Our main duties were training the Iraqi Army and security of the base. It’s hard to explain what Iraq is like – a totally different culture, getting used to the heat when you first arrive, being bombed every night.”

Speaking from the Belize City airport camp, Kingsman Stephenson said: “We learned about jungle warfare, adapting our tactics to a totally different terrain. We normally train in urban areas, so this was different.”

The jungle warfare specialists have taught classes ranging from finding food, water and making fires, to evacuating casualties after being ambushed by enemy forces. The soldiers also tried to avoid the dangerous wild inhabitants of the Yalbac jungle, such as coral snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, pumas and tarantulas.

Kingsman Nathan Lowman, 19, of Cockermouth, has served in the Army since leaving Cockermouth School. He is the son of Caroline and has two younger brothers, Jake and Tom.

He said: “My uncle was in the Army and my granddad – I liked the idea of everything about the Army, seeing different places around the world.”

Kingsman Lowman served an operational tour of duty with 2 LANCS when they deployed to Basra, a tour which ended in June 2007. He said: “It was scary times and full on. We rarely had any down time. It was good to do the job. We have all now got the experience to take forward.

“This was my first time in Belize and it was pretty amazing to be out in the middle of the jungle. We learned new skills, different to conventional warfare in that we are really trying to avoid the enemy rather than attack them. They said to us before we came out to the jungle that we would probably not see much wildlife – but on our first day we saw snakes, tarantulas, scorpions and monkeys.”

Lance Corporal Karl Stables, 21, of Workington, joined the Army from Stainburn School and has served two tours in Iraq, said: “I had always wanted to join the Army. I was a cadet before I joined up and my dad is corporal in the Territorial Army, so I knew what sort of opportunities the Army had to offer.

“Being in Belize was a totally different experience. It is a hard environment to work in, but if you can work out there you can work anywhere.”