The boiling vessel is ubiquitous in the British army. It’s a handy little device that runs off the battery of armoured vehicles and provides countless cups of tea and coffee and heats up boil-in-the-bag meals. Out of all the equipment the British have, this is probably the one piece that has impressed the Americans the most. And it is the one that has brought them closer to their allies in this war.

US Corporal Mike Kennard said: “I really like how people always seem to find time to make a brew, whether it is half an hour before we take out artillery positions or half an hour after we take in incoming artillery. Everyone sits around and has a brew and it takes some of the stress away.”

His boss, Captain Rick Mattoso, said: “When we called in a fire mission to blow something up, one of the guys in a Scimitar said ‘let’s sit down and have a brew’ in the middle of incoming artillery.”

The brews, say the Americans (delighted with this colloquial addition to their vocabulary, as well as other delights such as cheers, bird and scoff), seem to make the British teams tighter.

Cpl Kennard and Capt Mattoso are members of Anglico, the Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, an appropriate acronym since their primary function here in Iraq is to liaise with the British. The four Anglico boys attached to the Household Cavalry are reservists from California. One is an airline pilot, another a police officer in the Los Angeles sheriff’s office and there is a fireman and a student.

Their primary mission is to attach themselves to coalition forces to assist them in calling in US close air support and artillery. They work side by side with the Household Cavalry’s D Squadron, who operate in light armoured reconnaissance vehicles, and sit out with them in the field in soft-skinned Humvees, even under attack.

“The Household Cavalry are real professional and real easy to work with,” said Capt Mattoso, sitting in the now dried-out marshlands of southern Iraq. “They make our job easy because they are really good at getting a good eye on very distant targets with their optics and are able to see a lot further than us. They are also providing great armoured security for us.”

But it has not all been easy, not when one member of the regiment was killed and four were injured by two American A10 pilots in a friendly fire incident. Not when another was killed and one seriously injured in an accident.

“It was really hard for us when the guys died, we really felt it,” said Capt Mattoso. “I think I was more frustrated than anyone over the blue on blue [friendly fire] incident because of the aircraft element of this. I feel responsible for it, even though I wasn’t controlling that particular mission.”

But the difficult times have been leavened by the banter. HMI Barry Hurt says the British sense of humour kills him. “1 Para has a chicken and a monkey - men who run around in chicken and monkey suits. No one in command knows who it is.” [See footnote.]

Then there’s the radio traffic. The British say weird things like “roger so far” instead of break. And the hair. The Americans say they would never get away with having theirs so long. They might just think about joining the Household Cavalry.

• Note added 18 July 2019, after revival via twitter of a complaint from 2003 in which it was asserted that it was not a monkey but a gorilla. Given the passage of time, it was decided that proof either way would be elusive.