Huddersfield soldier Tom Sykes clears mines in Kenya

Jun 23 2009 By Neil Atkinson

It’s a hard job lasting for four weeks and starting at 6.30am.

An Army spokesman said: "However uncomfortable the process though, the exercise does produce tangible results.

"The teams cleared 89 UXO’s within the first two weeks and nearly 2,000 items of scrap from spent munitions.

"Just one 105mm high explosive projectile, the most common shell used by the British Army at the moment, is powerful enough to blow a two metre wide by half a metre deep crater".

Tom, whose parents Lisa and Gordon live in Huddersfield, said: "The exercise is going really well and my baseline found a lot of UXO’s at the start.

"It just depends which features were used the most during the Infantry exercises."

Tom, a former Almondbury High School student, also runs the camp bar.

"It’s really important to the locals though as with less dangers there will hopefully be less injuries.

"In my role as the barman I am also learning a bit of the local language from the guys who work in the stores I get supplies from, so am getting better rates to stock our bar.

"It’s just little essentials like phone cards, fizzy drinks, cordial and cigarettes and lighters, but it’s good to be able to interact with the Kenyan Army guys who run the stores."

Tom joined the Army in 2006.