It’s a far cry from studying platypus on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River to Army Reserve training in the jungles of Malaysia, but a Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer is about to get a taste of what her environmental science (Honours) student has been experiencing in his training with the Army Reserve. Senior lecturer in veterinary microbiology, Dr Joanne Connolly, from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, will leave on Monday 15 December to spend five days with Rifle Company Butterworth, near Penang in northern Malaysia, at the invitation of the Defence Reserves Support.  Dr Connolly, who researches disease in platypus, will experience life as a soldier in the field, including weapons handling and finding food from the jungle, to gain insight into the Army Reserve. It’s an activity Dr Connolly didn’t know was on the horizon when she became Mr Tom Claridge’s supervisor for his Honours degree.  However, the academic is excited and a bit nervous about the challenge. “We’ve roughed it in streams late at night netting the nocturnal platypus across the Murrumbidgee catchment as part of the current research project, but this will certainly be a bit different. Tom has to write his thesis when he gets back from his three months service, so I’ll gently remind him about that when I see him in Malaysia,” Dr Connolly said.