Into battle: Soldiers forced to fight Kenya's unpredictable weather – with buckets
More than 800 soldiers from the Welsh Guards and Royal Regiment of Scotland are tackling Kenya's tough weather while on Exercise Haraka Storm.
In a video posted on the Welsh Guards Facebook page, Guardsmen are using wash buckets to clear muddy floodwater as it enters their tents, but they insist "morale stays high regardless".
The post shows the troops camping out under torrential rain with muddy streams ripping through the camp.
During Kenya's unpredictable season, the battle group has also tackled temperatures of 26°C as well as torrential downpours.
Posting on Facebook, the Welsh Guards said: "The weather out here has been unpredictable to say the least. One minute blazing heat, the next, torrential rain hammering the training areas. But it hasn't slowed anyone down.
"Our Guardsmen pushed on through the mud and the rain, keeping their focus sharp and their standards high. It's tough, it's demanding – and it's exactly what sharpens a fighting unit," they added.
The Guardsman started the exercise in Lolldaiga in Laikipia, Kenya, where they began their six-week exercise, as part of the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK), the British Army's largest contingent of soldiers in Africa.
The exercise sees the Guardsman conducting live-firing tactical training, developing their trench warfare skills, tabbing miles at night with full kit, and sharpening their edge in Kenya's terrain.
It aims to push the members of the light role battlegroup to their limits to enhance interoperability and lethality around the world.
Alongside them are the Welsh Guards G4 staff, medics, clerks, drivers, mechanics, safety staff, chefs, logisticians, signallers and pay staff. A Mortar Platoon are also on the exercise.
Guardsman and soldiers are also expected to run community engagement initiatives such as medical deployments and engineering projects.
The soldiers are based at Laikipia Air Base, where they conduct joint training with the Kenyan Defence Forces.
Recently, on an earlier exercise, Exercise Haraka Serpent, 90 medical reservists from 202 Multi-Role Medical Regiment delivered medical care to isolated tribal communities in Kenya's Laikipia and Samburu counties.
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