An army fuel tanker driver said country music helped him while on a 1,400 kilometer (2,250km) trip to Romania as part of a major Nato training exercise.
Around 2,500 British personnel, along with hundreds of vehicles, are traveling across Europe by land, air and sea to take part in the Steadfast Dart.
L/Cpl Lee Moulton, 30, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, said: “I’ve deployed in a few countries and this road trip is something different.”
Steadfast Dart takes place just before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Most of the exercises will take place in Romania, which borders the war-torn country.
The vehicles went to Romania by sea, land and rail, to test Nato’s ability to deploy under pressure, said Col Jim Beere, deputy chief of staff of the 1st (UK) Div before leaving. [PA Media]
L/Cpl Moulton, who is based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, described the trip as “a long drive”, with country music helping to keep him going.
“Nothing unusual has happened, but driving in the UK is different,” he said.
The operation is the first major deployment of Nato’s Allied Reaction Force, which replaced the Nato Response Force last year, and aims to test Nato’s ability to deploy under pressure.
British soldiers arrived at the Hungarian military base in Szentes on Tuesday morning and their vehicles were inspected and prepared for the exercise in Romania.
“Working with the Hungarians and other soldiers has been really good,” said L/Cpl Moulton.
“There was a language barrier, but you find that wherever you go, even if you go on vacation you will find that language barrier, but you always find a way.”
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, were deployed on the mission.
The two soldiers, who are part of the 7th Light Mechanized Brigade – known as The Desert Rats – will form a large battle group, supported by other UK forces and representatives from other NATO countries.
About 730 vehicles, including Foxhound patrol and Jackal high mobility platform vehicles, Mastiff armored personnel carriers, as well as fuel tankers and forklift trucks, left Marchwood in Hampshire last week.
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