Page 90 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

B Company - Security Force Operation Shader 3.5
B Company returned from Canada on a massive high. The Company had excelled in North America, impressing our Canadian hosts at every turn. The Company had been expecting a quiet period on returned to the UK, but were informed, just prior to returning, that the plan had changed. Colonel Chuckles stood before the Company and told the men that a quiet return to barrack life was not on the cards. Instead, the Battalion would be forming the vanguard of a new and emerging deployment for the British Army in Iraq on Operation SHADER 3.5.
On hearing the word “Iraq”, many of the old and bold in the Company immediately thought that the
Battalion would be going back to Basra. A natural reaction of course, after all, the Regiment’s proud and arguably unparalleled history in Iraq’s southern region was what most of the Iraq veterans could readily associate with. However, Col Chuckles went on to brief the men about Al Asad Airforce Base (AAAB), an Iraqi Air Station that sat deep in the Al Anbar region of Northern Iraq.
Al Asad’s strategic importance, being the closest air station to the Da’esh front line, was unques- tionable. B Coy’s task was to secure it and ensure that it remained secure in order to allow the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), backed by a United States Marine Corp (USMC) Task Force, to operate in the Area of Operations (AOR) with impunity. The Company knew that Da’esh had attacked the base on a number of occasions in the past; Suicide bombers, indirect re and ground attacks had all taken place before our arrival and remained a constant threat. The B Company men would have to be constantly at their best if they were to ensure that Da’esh could not get the better of them. The Company knew that the task ahead of them was going to be dif cult. After all, AAAB was as big as Heathrow Airport. In order to provide the necessary security bubble, a USMC Company minus its headquarters, a Platoon
of 101st Airborne soldiers, a Platoon of Danish Royal Guardsman and a K-9 dog section would all be task organised under B Company once we’d arrived in theatre.
After a hasty MRX, and the arrival of the Company’s Iraq visas, the men of B Coy headed to RAF Brize Norton for an onward journey to Al Anbar. After a short stopover in Cyprus, the Company arrived touching down in Al Asad in the middle of a dark but warm night. The camp seemed desolate, quiet and unimpressive, with the exception of two gargantuan observation balloons
The BPC have time for a kick about with their ISF partners
SUICIDE BOMBERS, INDIRECT FIRE AND GROUND ATTACKS HAD ALL TAKEN PLACE BEFORE OUR ARRIVAL AND REMAINED A CONSTANT THREAT
Al Anbar, vast, unrelenting, and desolate
88 FOURTH BATTALION
THE RIFLES