Page 128 - RSDG Year of 2022 CREST

136 EAGLE AND CARBINE
On the 14th November 2022 The Rt Hon James Heappey MP gave a speech in parliament and his announcement saw the end of patrolling for the UK LRRG in Mali. This was a bitter blow for the SCOTS DG Task Group who had come to the end of an arduous period of pre deployment training and who were already flying out to Mali. As The Task Group Logistics Officer, I had sent out a calling notice to the wider Regimental family and the good people of St Andrews and surrounding area asking for donations of old reading glasses. I was quickly inundated with generous donations from all over the UK and in particular the patients of the St Andrews Community Hospital. The glasses were collected so that the troops patrolling into the Saharan Desert could give them out to any Malian people who needed them. The cessation of patrolling meant this was going to be a hard task and a new method of distribution was sought.
The initial arrival of glasses via the post and drop offs in the local area provided a few hundred pairs which was fantastic but this soon gave way to around 800 pairs arriving and the stopping of the counting! The glasses were organised into types and strengths with the help of Mrs Lisa Anderson of Specsavers in St Andrews and boxed up ready for shipping to Mali, a task which she
must be commended for. On arrival in Mali the Task Group had a chance to complete a familiarisation patrol with the outgoing troops and a further 3 short range patrols in which dozens of glasses were dished out.
This was barely a scratch on the surface and in the background, we had made enquiries as to how to get them out to the population who needed them the most. A meeting with the German Army civil affairs team was held and Lt Marc Willemsen agreed to take the two large boxes of glasses and take them into Gao and the surrounding areas. These areas are where there are a lot of internally displaced people living in refugee camps. They agreed to distribute the glasses as per the reason they were collected and in doing so made Operation HELIOS an international endeavour. You will be glad to hear that at the time of writing this the German patrols are dishing out the glasses to people who without them, would probably never see an optician in their life. I am hugely grateful to all the people who helped, sorted or donated the glasses, you can rest assured that we have made a difference to people in Mali, thank you for making this possible.
Operation HELIOS
Maj WD ‘Dez’ O’Connor
Maj Dez O’Connor and Lt Marc Willemsen handover of glasses