A US governor dropped in on a Barnsley TA soldier on exercise in South Dakota to inspect his work on a community building project.
Territorial Amy Sergeant Derran Howe is one of 46 soldiers from the UK, Denmark and United States taking part in the build at Custer State Park.
Sgt Howe, 42, is working of series of construction projects to develop the surrounding area of the park including building a new costume house for the Black Hills Playhouse which performs to audiences of more than 35,000.
South Dakota governor, Dennis Daugaard, dropped in to see how the project was getting on and met Sgt Howe, who is a foreman for Pickfords in civilian life.
"It's fantastic working on projects like this," said Derran, who lives with his wife Vicki in Barnsley.
"I wish we could do more like it in Britain as it really gives you a sense of purpose to be working on something that is going to last and will benefit others.
"I've spoken to a few of the locals and they really appreciate us being here - you can see by the way they are with you that it means a lot to them.
"The job I'm doing on the build at the moment is not something I've done before – I'm edging the windows – but it's not that hard, and I want to do it right so I don't let the site manager down and obviously leave a good impression about our work."
