HOW many young men get to drive around with pin-up girls Lucy Pinder and Michelle Marsh in the back seat?

Not that it is an everyday occurrence, but for Fordingbridge lad Toby Pople, it is one of the perks of the job and proof that dreams can come true in the modern army.

The girls were in Bosnia, where L/Cpl Pople is currently based with the Eufor peacekeeping forces, as part of a Combined Services Entertainment visit to help raise troop morale and were assigned the boss's personal chauffeur to help get their show on the road.

The 20-year-old army lance corporal is more often to be found transporting the commander of the British Forces in Bosnia (Brigadier CMG (Marc) Elcomb, who coincidentally, is shortly to retire and take up a new post as chapter clerk at Salisbury Cathedral), but was not unhappy with the change of passengers.

Toby comes from a military background so his choice of career is unsurprising.

"I grew up in Bovington while my Dad was in the army," he says.

"From there on, I couldn't wait to join up."

Toby went to Burgate School, in Fordingbridge, where his family still lives his father works at Elliotts Builders Merchants and his mother is a ward clerk at Salisbury District Hospital.

At 16, Toby joined the Royal Dragoon Guards having briefly flirted with the electrical trade after school.

Since then, he has travelled to Germany (where he is normally based), Canada, Iraq and Bosnia and experienced good times and bad, including coming under fire in Basra.

"I'd rate among my best experiences two weeks climbing and kayaking in the Rockies," he says.

Acting as the Brigadier's personal driver is a far cry from Toby's usual form of army transport a Challenger 2 tank and decidedly less cramped.

The Challenger has one major advantage.

"It's easy to drive," says Toby, "because to control it, all you have is two sticks, a brake and an accelerator."

L/Cpl Pople had to complete a six-week course in driving and maintenance before getting behind the "wheel" for real, but the sensation when you take the controls is worth it, he says.

"It feels awesome," he reports.

"You're the king of the road."