A SERGEANT with the Royal Marines has just returned from the Middle East after taking part in an exercise with Allied Forces.

Andy Watson, 35, who grew up in Clitheroe, took part Exercise Bright Star in Egypt with marines from the USA, France, Italy and Egypt.

Andy was on HMS Fearless and Bright Star was a three-month exercise involving infantry and armoured desert fighting, amphibious assault landings and scuba-diving in the Red Sea.

The troops also visited the Pyramids, Sphinx and ancient port of Alexandria during their time off.

The exercise takes place every two years and involves a coalition force providing valuable training for army units to prepare them for possible deployment to desert areas.

It started with a series of company battle runs, with each marine troop practising their movement across vast expanses of desert and covering distances of up to 100km in their vehicles without rest.

Sgt Watson said: "Moving a company tactically through the desert towards a notional unfriendly and persistent enemy and attacking each strongly held position with live ammunition is no mean feat, bearing in mind the significant lack of vegetation and topographical features for cover.

"In addition, the troops had the extreme temperatures of the desert, coupled with the heat generated from the vehicles to deal with."

Bright Star culminated in a full demonstration to the Egyptian generals and senior British army personnel using the entire fleet assembled off the shore at El Alamein.

Andy is no stranger to overseas deployments, having visited Norway, Belize, Kuwait, Iraq and Malaysia.

He lives in Plymouth with wife Robin, 15-year-old son Matt and 13-year-old son Jaime. His parents, Fred and Marian, live in Clitheroe.

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