Troops from the region are chasing down the Taliban in one of Afghanistan's most lawless provinces. Andrew Hitchon joins them.

'I HAD got back in the wagon and set off when I heard a mortar go off. It landed where my wagon had been parked. It was five seconds after we set off. That was a bit nerve-racking."

That's how Trooper Simon Grimston describes a fairly close call while on a Mobile Operations Group (MOG) mission in Afghanistan's war-torn Helmand province - quite a contrast to life in Gateforth, near Selby, North Yorkshire - where he lived until his mid-teens.

Trooper Grimston is now a member of B Squadron, the Light Dragoons, who recruit in the North-East and Yorkshire, and whose mission is described informally as "driving into the desert, chasing the Taliban".

More formally, Captain Michael Reed says the Light Dragoons, operating out of the main British base at Camp Bastion, provide reconnaissance and also support the infantry as part of Task Force Helmand.

They use light armoured vehicles, often referred to as "wagons", including the Scimitar, which can travel at a top speed of about 50mph and carries a 30mm cannon and a machine gun.

Capt Reed, from County Durham, says heat and humidity pose particular problems. Temperatures of about 120 degrees F can rise to more than 140 degrees in the driver's seat. But a new climate control unit and heat-resistant paint can cut the temperature by 15 to 20 degrees.

One of those drivers is Trooper Jono Smiles, 19, from Hartburn, near Stockton. He has been in Afghanistan for three-and-half months, and been on five MOGs, in Scimitars and Spartans.

MOGs can last anything from two weeks to a month, he says. If they're in mortar range of the enemy they dig holes to sleep in, otherwise they sleep between the "wagons" at night.

He estimates he has had "contact with the opposition" about three times on each MOG.

"When we go out, we aim to find and observe the enemy, or find and destroy the enemy, depending on what mission we are doing.

"There have been times when we have just been travelling along and we have come under mortar and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fire. Quite often we are the ones to engage first."

He describes the Taliban as professional. "They have been fighting wars for years and years, against us and the Russians." Some are forced to fight for them, others choose to fight.

"You don't know who's who. When you go to talk to elders in villages, you don't know if they are lying to you when they say there are no Taliban, or trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Next thing you know, they are shelling you with mortars.

"There have been times when the village elders have said they don't want us there - there are no Taliban, there's no reason for us to be there. We are pulling out, and someone will open up on us with a machine gun."

But he adds: "Some of them are genuinely happy to see us, because they feel there is a bit more protection."

How did he feel when he first experienced "contact" with the enemy? "You are very, very scared the first time it happens. The first time you hear an explosion, maybe two or three feet away from your wagon, you get really scared.

"It's true that you do get used to it."

He says his group have been lucky so far, with no one seriously hurt. "Vehicles have been hit by RPGs. My vehicle was hit by sniper and machine gun fire. A mortar got a bit close. The extra blast armour is very good stuff."

But Trooper Smiles has no doubts about what he's doing here, preferring to be "out with the lads" to being stuck in camp. "Some of the stuff the Taliban do to their own people makes you think we have got to get rid of them," he adds.

Lance Corporal Robert Deary, aged 25, from Murton, County Durham, has been busy getting kit to his colleagues "on the ground", but he had to jump on a helicopter to replace one of them earlier this year. He went on "hearts and minds" visits to local villages, and says British troops get a mixed reception.

"In some cases it was quite difficult to talk to locals, because some didn't like the fact you were there. You might have progress with one bloke, but his neighbour may have other views," he says.