ONE of the last places you would expect to hear a Cumbrian twang is the local barber's in war-torn Iraq but according to one serving South Lakeland soldier, t'locals are beginning to pick up quite an accent, reports Ellie Hargreaves.

Sergeant Steve Bowman took time out from his patrols on the bomb-blasted streets of Basrah this week to describe some of the touching moments that distract from the daily scenes of devastation.

On his six-month tour-of-duty with the 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Border Regiment, the recently-deployed Kendal man revealed the "horrendous" conditions that locals are forced to live in, but he insisted that life in Iraq was slowly returning to normal.

"Life in Basrah is hard to describe. There's quite a bit of structural damage but the Iraqi people are slowly getting back on their feet. Most people are living in squalor though, the living conditions and the state of the streets is horrendous.

"You see the children picking through the rubbish and they come up to you and ask for water or a bit of chocolate. The rivers and waterways are full of litter and the smell is unbelievable, yet you see the kids swimming in the water just a little way downstream."

Sgt Bowman, who turns 34 on Christmas Day, has served in war zones including Bosnia and Belize during his 15-year stint in the army but maintained that his latest posting was the worst.

On Monday, the city was the scene of a car-bomb attack that is thought to have claimed more than 20 lives but Sgt Bowman confirmed no one in the KORBR had been injured.

"There was a bit of excitement when we were told because it's the last chance to do this before the KORBR are amalgamated.

"As it got closer to us leaving, I think feelings changed quite a lot though.

"I don't think Basrah is what anyone was expecting. The state of the country is terrible."

Along with the 12 other men in his multiple', Sgt Bowman spends three days on guard duty before patrolling for the next three days, in sweltering heat, assisting the local Iraqi police service.

"We go around the police stations and try to ascertain what sort of a state they are in. Most of the time they co-operate reasonably well. A lot of the buildings and equip-ment are not as good as they'd like them to be so we try to help out by providing better facilities.

"We get an interpreter who goes out on the streets with us and we generally are greeted with a smile especially from the children. I played dominoes with a couple of blokes the other day.

Accommodation for Sgt Bowman is tight. He and his colleagues sleep in a giant fridge in the basement of a former hotel that the regiment, and others, have taken over.

"It's a bit of a tight squeeze, there's no air conditioning and no windows. We're more or less settled in now though. Morale is quite good and that makes such a difference - being able to laugh lightens the mood."

"Locally employed civilians do our cleaning and cooking and they're even picking up on the Cumbrian twang.

"We make an effort to learn some of their language too because being able to say hello' when you meet people on the streets makes a total difference."

Sgt Bowman will return home for two weeks in January.

Until then, email is the way of communicating with friends and family and Christmas will be like any other day with one of the lads dressing as Santa if they are lucky.

"I'm missing seeing everyone and I miss my partner, Kerry, and son, Josh, a hell of a lot. I'm looking forward to a hot bath and sitting on a proper toilet."

Sgt Bowman is also posted The Westmorland Gazette each week. "I look forward to getting it I like to see how badly Kendal are doing in the rugby!" he laughed.