Mackinnon Eldridge and Tyler Smith grew up in Bermuda watching war movies together — and now the two young men are fulfilling long-held ambitions to serve in the military.

L/Cpl Eldridge, a US Marine, is likely to be deployed to Afghanistan in the near future, while AB Specialist Seaman Smith thinks his Royal Navy ship, HMS Cornwall, could be sent to the region to help troops.

The 21-year-olds from Paget met at the age of eight at Gilbert Institute and remain best friends, even though they are now stationed thousands of miles apart.

L/Cpl Eldridge, who chose the Marines because his father is American, is based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. AB Smith, who opted for the Royal Navy as his mother is British, is based in Plymouth.

The pair was reunited when they were both home on leave last week and they spoke to The Royal Gazette about the career choices that have enabled them to travel the world and experience excitement on the high seas, including close encounters with pirates.

L/Cpl Eldridge was on his first deployment on the USS Ashland in April in the Gulf of Aden as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit when the ship was fired at by Somali pirates who mistook it for a merchant vessel.

The pirates' skiff was wrecked and one of them was killed by US Navy personnel returning fire; six others are being dealt with in the US courts.

Former Bermuda Institute student L/Cpl Eldridge said he was asleep in his bunk when the pirates struck at dawn.

"We heard the Bushmaster chain guns going off," he said. "We didn't know what was going on. We were told it was pirates attacking so we went back to sleep." He later saw the pirates being medically checked on deck.

"We could see the burning skiff, going down and sinking," he added. "But that particular day it was pretty quiet for us. The only people who had any real involvement were the people doing the medical checks, the men who pulled the trigger and the Marines guarding the detainees. Everyone was just spot on with the job they had to do."

He said the Marines were "not too bothered" about pirates. "Really, it was like more of a joke for us, seeing as they must have confused the ship for a merchant vessel."

AB Smith has spent eight months chasing Somali pirates in the Gulf as part of a Nato force. "We're basically there to protect the merchant vessels," he explained. "We discourage piracy and, if it happens, we go and protect."

The former Spice Valley and CedarBridge Academy student was a boatswain's mate and general purpose machine gun operator and was recently made a coxswain, driving Pacific 24 boats loaded with Royal Marines.

His job was to look out for suspicious skiffs and dhows (larger boats) and board them to search for weapons if necessary.

"I was involved in every single boarding that we did in the Gulf," he said of his eight-month deployment. "There was an incident where we found a skiff trying to board a merchant vessel.

"We had a helicopter chasing him. He kept running and we couldn't stop him, he was doing about 25 to 30 knots. Our little boats were in the water at the time — I was on one of them. I'm not scared because I'm with ten Royal Marines who are armed up to the teeth.

"Knowing that you are protected at all times with the helicopter in the air, I know it's highly unlikely that something will happen."

Most pirates throw their weapons overboard when they realise that they've been spotted and claim to be fishing vessels, according to AB Smith.

"There is a lot of human trafficking, where there are 30 people in one boat," he said. "One time, we saw people's heads bobbing up and the people trafficking them were hitting them.

"We couldn't do anything because they were getting violent and threatening the lives of the people on there. We reported it to the Somalian coast guard."

He expects to do more anti-piracy work on HMS Cornwall, as well as being involved in protecting oilfields in the Gulf from Iranians as part of Operation Telic.

Fifteen British Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall were captured — and later released — by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 2007 in a diplomatic incident that made international headlines.

"There is always this threat of anything," said AB Smith, who must complete four years in the Navy. "It's a fact that you are always out in this hostile environment. Everyone on the ship has to be weapons trained. But you trust your shipmate, your buddy. You have his back and he has yours."

His deployment saw him visit 14 different places, including Dubai, Kenya, the Seychelles, Bahrain and Gibraltar. In Salalah, in Oman, he rode camels.

"We would be at sea for a maximum five weeks and then we have two days off and then back out to sea for another month. We are working 20-hour days for weeks on end. It's pretty hard sometimes.

"But working for the services out in England is probably one of the best things you can do. That's why I encourage any Bermudian to do it. You can always come home in the summer."

L/Cpl Eldridge feels the same about the Marines and has signed up for six years active service. "I wanted to do humanitarian aid and that was the first mission I went on — to Haiti," he said.

"It was a lot of devastation and the people were very nice but it was a little frustrating to see. You are very limited in what you are able to do."

The Marine — who will wed American fiancee Joan Whieldon, 22, in the spring — has already been to Spain, Cuba and Djibouti and trained with the French Foreign Legion. He scored so highly on his entry test that instead of entering the Marines as a rifleman, he was made a LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle) crewman.

He said he was happy to go to Afghanistan, where the war began in 2001. "I think most people who join the Marine Corps go in with the hope of seeing some action. You train so much.

"Honestly, you really don't worry about [the danger] that much. You know your job so well and everybody else knows their job."

Both men were Regiment cadets as boys and AB Smith is now released from his national service because he is in the Royal Navy. L/Cpl Eldridge's conscription is deferred while he is a Marine.

The pair has a jokey rivalry going about the fact that they chose to serve different countries — but they keep in regular contact, even though it's not always easy.

"On my ship, you can't use Facebook or Hotmail," said AB Smith. "It's to do with terrorism. They can pinpoint where you are. Once you go on land or you are alongside [land] you can go and use the Internet. I'll Facebook him to say: 'Is everything all right?'."