Page 38 - Mercian Eagle 2014

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THE MERCIAN EAGLE
Soldiers on Operation TOSCA were visited by the cast of The Inbetweeners in November. The morale boosting visit saw James Buckley, Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, who play Jay, Will and Simon in the show, provided with a taste of life in the Regiment. Troops on the six month peacekeeping UN tour put the actors through their paces with riot training and boxing.
Operation TOSCA
In October soldiers from 2 and 4 MERCIAN deployed to Cyprus to undertake a six- month United Nations peacekeeping mission.
The British contribution to the United Nations Forces in Cyprus is known as Operation TOSCA.
62 soldiers from the Regiment’s reserve unit have joined 213 personnel from the 2nd Battalion in patrolling the Buffer Zone known as the ‘Green Line,’ and keeping a watchful
eye over the opposing Greek and Turkish Forces who have been at a stalemate since 1974. They will be there until April 2015.
Whilst deployed, the soldiers will be wearing their United Nations blue beret having finished a three-month training programme to prepare them for the mission. The training, under the watchful eye of UN assessors, included public order training for the worst-case scenario should they need to de-escalate tensions.
The Colonel of The Regiment, Brigadier Andrew Williams OBE visited soldiers in Cyprus in December. Brigadier Williams was greeted by an honour guard of soldiers in UN Blue berets and Private Derby XXXB, who has been conscripted in to the battalion for the duration of the tour.
2MERCIAN