AN Ilkley soldier is playing a key role in a battle with a difference in Iraq - trying to combat the smuggling of weapons and bomb-making equipment across the border.

Trooper Danny Jackson, 21, is with the Queen's Royal Lancers (QRL) in southern Iraq. Deployed in the eastern border region of Maysaan Province, Tpr Jackson is helping to patrol 175 kilometres of the Iran/Iraq border.

A formation reconnaissance unit, who re-roled from being a Challenger Two tank regiment less than two years ago, the QRL have learned their field craft quickly. And they've had to, arriving in Iraq in November just at the start of what was a particularly harsh winter in the eastern desert region.

The regiment has a headquarters element and two Sabre Squadrons, with Scimitar combat vehicle reconnaissance (tracked) and Weapons Mounted Installation Kit (WMIK) vehicles deployed forward in the desert.

These small manoeuvrable armoured tracked vehicles and heavily armed mobile Land Rovers are supported by command and logistical elements permanently living in the desert. The vehicles are equipped with general purpose machine guns and 30mm canons, providing the regiment with plenty of firepower.

Tpr Jackson is a recce soldier whose role involves carrying out border patrols along the Iraq/Iran border. Living out in the field for long periods - the soldiers will typically spend three weeks out at any one time - poses a number of challenges: "It's a challenging environment to operate in," he said. "We've had the winter weather, lots of rain and now we're coming into summer so it's going to be very hot, very soon!

"I'm helping conduct border patrols, working with the Iraqi authorities to stop the smuggling of weapons and bomb-making equipment from being brought across the border.

"It's good working with the Iraqis. We're teaching them quite a lot of things and it seems to be working well. It's very important that we get them up to speed so that they can take over and look after the security of their country.

"It's different out here to what I've done before, a real challenge, and we don't get the chance to do this kind of soldiering very often."

Does Tpr Jackson, a former pupil of Ilkley Grammar School whose interests include boxing, has a message for his friends and family in Ilkley.

"I'm missing being able to go out with my girl friend, my family and friends, and just a normal life really."

Lt Col Richard Nixon-Eckersall is the QRL's Commanding Officer, responsible for ensuring that their mission is a success: "We work very closely with the DBE civilian police and the Iraqi Army, and I think those are our two strongest links," he continued. "We conduct joint patrols with both; there are some 28 forts along the Iraq/Iran border and we regularly visit those forts and operate with their officers, conducting patrols with them.

"We also work closely with 4 Brigade of the Iraqi Army 10th Division, who are based up here in Maysaan, with their headquarters in Al Amarah, and I certainly have a very good working relationship with their brigade commander, and at squadron level the soldiers work alongside each other.

"I'd like to think we're playing a significant role," he continued. "There is a strong belief that weapons and explosives, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) etc are being transported, or smuggled, across the border.

"The border itself is very long and very difficult to cover, the terrain varying from sand dunes in the north to the marshes in the south.

"Our role is to be a scouting force looking to interdict that illegal traffic and to prevent it from finding its way to places where it can be used against British soldiers or indeed the Iraqi population."

The daily routine for the battlegroup is tough, with the troops up at dawn and then working right through the day to maximise the daylight hours.

Winter conditions have seen temperatures down to minus ten at night; heavy rain can reduce the desert to a thick soup-like mud, making it nearly impossible at times for vehicles to move around. The nature of this kind of soldiering involves them moving every 48 to 72 hours.

The Army says that despite the obvious dangers for the troops of the Queen's Royal Lancers the progress they have made in recent months is testament not only to their field and soldiering skills, but also their desire to get the job done and leave Maysaan Province, and the rest of southern Iraq, a safer place.