A CYCLE shop manager from Cradley Heath has swapped his office attire for desert combats in Afghanistan to ensure that vital supplies get to British troops.

Senior aircraftsman Jonathan Howes, 32, is a volunteer airman with the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, and is doing his bit to tackle the insurgency as part of a seven-man specialist logistics team at the massive multi-national base of Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.

Jonathan, who attended Pedmore Technology College, and his colleagues in the RAF’s Joint Movements Unit play a vital role in making sure that the RAF’s giant Hercules and C17 aircraft receive everything they need to keep Britain’s armed forces properly equipped as they battle extremist Taliban fighters in soaring temperatures and choking dust.

Jonathan’s team handles 350 tonnes of freight per week, including medical supplies for wounded troops. ammunition, mail from home and food and water while facing the constant risk of rocket and mortar attack.

“We work 13 hours per day, seven days per week, for up to four months. It’s all a bit different from the nine-to-five routine back home – though I won’t mind getting away from this heat,” he said.

For Jonathan,an old boy of the school when it was known as The Grange, his work is a far cry from his civilian job handling much smaller forms of transport.

Back in the UK, Jonathan works for Hawk Factory Cycle Stores as a relief manager covering nine stores in the Midlands.

This is his first operational tour since joining the RAAF four years ago but during his volunteer service he has been sent to the USA, Canada, Norway and the Czech Republic.