BETWEEN them they have spent more than a decade in some of the toughest places on earth.

Ash Carter and Oliver Tuson have served their country on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan – and their fitness was key to their survival.

Now the war veterans have a new battle.

They have turned their hands to helping Daily Echo readers fight the flab as part of a 12-week health and fitness programme over the summer.

Each week they will provide us with nutritional advice and an exercise programme that will help couch potatoes become fighting fit.

It comes after the pair launched their own military fitness companies, On Form Personal Training (OFPT) and Oliver Tuson Personal Trainer (OTPT).

Together they have helped hundreds of people get in shape.

Ash founded OFPT during his last year in the army where he served on the front line in Afghanistan with the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment, known as the Tigers.

The 28-year-old from Locks Heath spent seven months camping at a small check point where the closest thing they had to a toilet was a plastic bag or a hole in the ground and a shower was a bottle of water.

Every day Ash and his regiment would face constant enemy gunfire as they worked with organisations to keep the Taliban out of the region.

Throughout all of this it was vital to keep themselves in peak physical condition.

But Ash said that when he joined the military he had to force himself to enjoy fitness and changed his mindset so that he could cope with everything his role in the army threw at him.

The dad, whose second child is due next week, said: “When I was in training I always hated exercise but I just changed the way I thought about it and that changed the whole experience and all the horrible challenges in the military became more and more enjoyable.

Now I just love fitness.

“I wanted to make it more enjoyable for everyone. I feel like everyone can enjoy it.”

Ash met Oliver when the pair worked together at a car wash in Hedge End 10 years ago.

The 32-year-old from Whiteley had just left the Royal Marines Commandos after serving for five years –- including spending 10 months in Iraq.

The dad-of-two made it through some of the toughest military training there is including intensive assault courses, endurance tests and a mammoth 30-mile run across Dartmoor carrying 50lb of kit.

After returning to civilian life he went back to his former job as a personal trainer, launching his own firm.

The friends stayed in touch during the six years Ash was with the Tigers and now their fitness companies work together to help people across Hampshire.

The pair work with people on a one-to-one basis or as part of their own military-style boot camps across Hampshire.

They also offer a beginners’ boot camp where people take part in a variety of exercises twice a week which gets harder during the five-week course. They are also given advice and exercises to do at home to help them progress.

More than 60 people have completed the beginners’ course during the last three months, losing an average of 20cm each around their hips, waist and tummy.

Ash said: “I just don’t think there’s enough quality trainers out there that give good information.

“We started this to help more people with real information, which is what we wanted to column.

"It’s just to help as many people as possible and to spread our work even further.

"We’re trying to help as many people as we can learn how to get healthy and fit the right way.

“By 2020 60 per cent of the UK’s population will be over weight. Something as easy as this 10 to 15-minute workout would be enough to help people get fit as well as portion control.

“High intensity interval training takes 12 minutes and that would keep you fit and lean.”

But he says for people to get the most out of fitness they need to change their mindset –- which is something he focusses on during his sessions.

He said: “We just love fitness. In the military, if you don’t enjoy fitness it’s not a nice place.

"It’s just the mindset to love it and that’s what we’re trying to spread. Just by changing your mindset it makes it so much better.

“If you can improve someone’s mindset they will do it for the long term. Mindset is a third of it.

"We try to encourage people to think of it in a better way rather than as a chore. Then you find a sustainable way of doing it.

“I’ve had some people say they don’t like losing weight until they come to our boot camp, then 99 per cent of them say how much they enjoy it once they’ve learnedt to do it properly.”

Now Ash and Oliver are challenging readers to take on their 12-week fitness programme geared at the average person who wants to lose weight and tone up.

New tips, tricks, short workouts and nutritional information will be printed in the Daily EchoDaily Echo each week including a recipe to try at home.