Published: Wednesday, 27th January, 2010 4:02pm

Craig's new challenge is building bridges under fire!

by Jim Stark

Craig on duty in Afghanistan.

While seeking out a new challenge in life, 24 year old Cardenden Sapper Craig Mellon saw that the army ticked all the boxes for what he saw was a new direction in his life.

Despite having no family ties with the military, Craig joined the army in August 2006. Craig's expectation has lived up to the army's requirements and is thoroughly enjoying the role he is playing with the Royal Engineers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

"The satisfaction of improving the quality of life for the soldiers serving over here is particularly satisfying", explains the Fifer.

The engineers serving with Aldershot based 11 Light Brigade are spread far and wide across the badlands of southern Afghanistan, helping to make life better for not only the soldiers who serve there but for the local nationals also.

Craig was involved in the construction of a bridge which crossed a large river in the Nad-e Ali District.

He added, "The bridge has improved the quality of life for the locals in that area, it means they can get their livestock and produce to market a lot easier and in a shorter period of time.

"You get a real sense of pride after having completed a task like that one, when you know you have made a positive difference," said the former Lochgelly High School pupil.

Construction outside the walls of the camps obviously have the added danger of being open to attack from the Taleban, which means the engineers have the additional burden of working to a time frame.

"We managed to build an entire Check Point from scratch in three days. This allowed the Battlegroup and the Afghan Police to hold the ground in a well known Taleban stronghold by being able to dominate the ground from an elevated observation platform. Being shot at while building is definitely an interesting experience", he admitted.

In a recent incident the Cardenden man was forced to down tools when the bridge he was building came under attack from enemy fire.

The firefight started as the 24-year-old Sapper was laying the foundations for the bridge which would carry military vehicles into the area occupied by the insurgents on the other side of the canal

Sapper Mellon said, "One minute we were shoring up the verges of the canal to lay the new bridge, the next minute the enemy opened fire from a compound only 250 metres away. There were all sorts of gunfire and rockets coming in.

"We jumped into the ditch next to the canal to take cover. One of the guys was stuck in his digger! He drove it near a wall for extra cover, so he was all right.

"The Afghan National Army lads and our infantry guys opened up on the enemy straight away.

"We were stuck in the ditch for an hour, but then once the threat had passed we got on with the job. I did feel a bit nervous working afterwards but this is the job we have trained to do. It is not until I was back in the tent that I thought just how close it was."

Attacks such as these are levied at British and ISAF troops because they feel threatened by the progress that is being made. In many cases these gunmen are not from the area and therefore have no issue about attacking combined ISAF forces who are ultimately improving the freedom of movement for the locals.

"We put the bridge in place during the early hours of the following morning but clearly the enemy wanted another go. When the shots came in we all got down in the ditch again. Smoke was called in to provide us with cover and the digger that was fired on was used to actually scoop some of the men into a safe position.

"The end result was that the bridge was built and secure and nobody was hurt."

As Craig moves into the final third of the six month operational tour, he allows himself to think about life after Afghanistan and the 'normal' things in life, "Walking down the street, playing football, just chilling out really, these are the things I'm looking forward to".

He continued, "I plan to take my girlfriend away on a holiday after this and I'm looking forward to going for a beer with dad, brothers and friends".

Sapper Mellon is serving with Arno Troop, 10 Field Squadron (Air Support) attached to 28 Engineer Regiment Group, part of the Grenadier Guards Battle Group.

Craig's girlfriend Robyn Stewart is also from Cardenden and both her and his parents are really supportive and proud of the job Craig is doing.

He used to be a labourer in Edinburgh, but wanted to do something more interesting so joined the Army in September 2006. He is on his first operational tour.

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