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had good WIFI and welfare facilities, and with the market and Bazaar there was not much you could not get. The cookhouse was better than ours back in Cyprus, with a lot
of options which helped stave off boredom. Overall, it was something completely new to me and a good experience.
Cpl Clampitt
A normal day would see me get up at 0700 and go to scoff. Then go on to the office, to see if there had been any short notice tasks. I would then make sure that the patrols going out are ready and briefed. Once
they are on task, I would start the plan for the next day by putting names to task for upcoming patrols. In the afternoon I would often take some of my section out on an assurance patrol to the Entry Checkpoints for the Green Zone. The evenings gave a good opportunity to do some phys or play some football against another nation.
The deployment was a great success, providing increased support to Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT’s Train, Advise & Assist mission. The Christmas break will be some well-earned respite and family time for those who deployed on what was quite a memorable tour.
HQ Company
OC HQ Company – Maj Denis Spoors
WO2 Leach and Pte Cudworth provide guardian angel support to a NATO advisor
Over the last 12 months the lives of the personnel within HQ Coy have been dominated by inspections, training,
deployments and readiness for future missions. We have continued to provide the high quality of support and sustainment
that the Battalion are now accustomed to and this I credit to all Support Personnel who have shown a sense of commitment and dedication to our cause. This year
has seen all departments continuously committed to multiple tasks and trawls,
in fact we have seen our SP detached as far away as Belize, Kenya and Cyprus to name but a few. Our focus has been to successfully Arms Plot from Chester to Cyprus and this entailed countless hours in preparing the barracks, vehicles and stores for handover to 1 LANCS, additional to this the Welfare Office had to prepare over 150 families for an overseas move, no easy task considering some family dynamics and the administrational complexities.
Support to training continued and we had soldiers supporting Ex WESSEX STORM and an OTX in Lithuania, the soldiers were recovered as our advance party were flying out to Cyprus, to say we were cutting it fine would be an understatement. The pace of life hasn’t slowed down and HQ Coy have continued to support the Bn’s operational commitments in Cyprus. There has been sweeping changes to our battle rhythm, the most noticeable being PT at 0630hrs, to say this was a shock to the system would
CAST putting BHQs planning to the test
THE MERCIAN EAGLE