Brits pitch in at animal shelter
EL CENTRO — Google says the distance from Naval Air Facility El Centro to London, England, is 5,424 miles. Granted, not everyone from the United Kingdom lives in London, but if you happen to be a member of the British Army and you’ve been assigned to train here, you’re definitely a long way from home.
That’s the case for some 250 members of the British Army Air Corps who arrived at NAFEC in September and will be training in the region until late November. Ten of the soldiers turned up Saturday morning at the Humane Society of Imperial County, 1575 W. Pico Ave., to pitch in for a few hours at the shelter.
The upside of that was they got to play with dogs for a while, as one of their duties was to make sure the animals were exercised in a fenced-in yard. The less glamorous side of their assignment was they had to clean up the yard after the dogs, too.
But that was OK, too, according to Capt. Steve Lewis. Most of the soldiers have pets of their own back home and were happy for the opportunity to interact with dogs a bit while overseas.
Lewis said other groups of British soldiers have been participating various community service activities since arriving in the Valley. These have included helping feed the homeless and speaking at a local school.
“We like to repay El Centro for its hospitality while we’re here,” he said.
Lewis, a 10-year veteran, said the training the attack helicopter force troops are undergoing while in the desert Southwest include desert survival and environmental training, practice landing in dusty conditions, mountain flying, and aerial gunnery.
“It was a great day today meeting the hardworking team at the Humane Society who do so much for abandoned and unwanted pets in Imperial Valley,” Lewis said in a follow-up email. “We were glad to be able to help out today as a way of saying thank you to the El Centro community. The community has been so welcoming to the British Attack Helicopter Force during our deployment to NAF El Centro.”