'Soldiers deserve more'.

BRAVE squaddies from the North East are being forced to live in appalling conditions, including drinking and washing in dirty canal water, a mother has said.

Jeanne Speed, of Wooler, Northumberland, has spoken of her disgust at the conditions her son Gary and his battalion are forced to work in.

Stationed on the front line in wartorn Helmand Province in Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the soldier told his mother how the men have had to rely on a dirty canal for drinking water, bathing and toilet facilities.

Forced to live in remote Forward Operation Bases sometimes for weeks at a time, the soldiers must also survive without electricity, bringing living conditions down to the most basic imaginable.

The soldiers beg for food parcels to be sent from home to boost their synthetic ration packs, and Mrs Speed has sent 16 of these to her son in less than six months.

And when Fusilier Speed, 22, returned home for leave in the summer she was shocked to discover he had lost nearly two stone in weight.

Mrs Speed, a full-time carer, said: "If people knew the conditions the soldiers are under out there, it's appalling. Having to use a canal for drinking and ablutions is not right. I know they are fighting a war, but you'd think they'd have bottled water."

The MoD last night insisted: "Soldiers are properly equipped to go out to Afghanistan and have gone through rigorous pre-deployment training to prepare them for what they may face on operations."

A spokeswoman said soldiers had access to water in Forward Operating Bases either through drill holes, or a water purification system.

She added: "FOBs are by their very nature remote and austere but soldiers are trained and equipped for the environment. There is an ongoing programme to upgrade the FOBs."

CAPTION(S):

BASIC LIVING: Jeanne Speed, above left, is disgusted by the conditions her son Gary, above, is forced to live in