AFTER going from serving coffees to training on the plains of California, a Worcestershire soldier is enjoying his challenging new role.

2nd Lieutenant Dominic Reese, who once worked as a barista in Caffé Nero, has just returned from a training camp based at Nacimiento training area, Camp Roberts, California, a location used by the US Army’s National Guard for training.

The 23-year-old, from Defford, near Pershore, is a troop commander who oversees soldiers operating the Desert Hawk III, a mini-unmanned aerial vehicle the army uses to survey dangerous areas from high in the sky to keep troops safe.

He serves with 217 Battery Royal Artillery, which has recently come under the command of 104 Regiment Royal Artillery, the Army’s only reserve unit to operate this type of equipment.

He said: “I studied sports science at Bangor University and attended a University Officer Training Corps, which I really enjoyed be-cause there were a lot of outdoor activities to both.

“Then I went to work for a year in retail, in Millets as a sales assistant, to fund myself through university, and realised I missed it (the military). The Desert Hawk is a tactical surveillance system and has been used extensively on operations to ensure safe routes for patrols, pick up on any suspicious activity that may pose a danger and help deploy support for troops in need of assistance.

Soldiers have been able to practise piloting and launching the aircraft in favourable weather conditions in order to gain the necessary competency and currency licences needed to deploy on operations.