Page 11 - Bugle Issue 19 Spring 2022

1 RIFLES
Ops Company
A composite Operations Company drawn from across 1 RIFLES, but mostly from C Company, deployed as the front-line patrol element of the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus. Daily, our patrols walk or drive the ceasefire lines at each edge of the buffer zone where time froze nearly 50 years ago when the fighting stopped between the Turkish North and the Greek Cypriot South.
With a 24-hour footprint on the ground, the Riflemen (often a patrol is made up of just two junior Riflemen) have the responsibility of monitoring and reporting any increase in activity or build-up in defences. Both of which contravene the UN mandate agreed by both sides at the end of the conflict. Spread into three areas of responsibility, the company
is flanked by Argentinians to our west and Slovakians to our east; both of whom we interact with on a weekly basis.
Along the ceasefire lines, armed stag positions are erected by both sides to monitor and ensure there is no “move forward” from the other side into the BZ. Whilst patrols are not armed, our permanent presence acts as a deterrent to each side. In the more rural areas of the sector, patrols may encounter anything from dog walkers or game hunters who use the untouched landscape to escape the
city that it verges. No truer was this than for Corporal Ben Johnston and Rifleman Ronnie Kilpatrick when their patrol came across a lost tourist who stranded his car in the mud after
a storm the night before. In rare occurrences, weapons have been pointed or cocked at our Riflemen from hunters as well as soldiers, claiming they could be “illegal migrants” looking to cross the BZ. In the case of Rifleman Calum Semons, his calm composure resulted in a peaceful resolution.
Ops Coy night patrols in the Centre AO
MFR UNPA Cross Sector public order demonstration
Whilst patrols are not armed, our permanent presence acts as a deterrent to each side
3 Pl practice Helicopter drills with the UN Flight
RIFLES The Bugle 11