Page 92 - Bugle Autumn 2014

B Company – Perimeter Defence Company
B Company assumed responsibilities as Bastion’s Perimeter Defence Company on 4 June 2014. The Company is attached to 7 Force Protection Wing, RAF Regiment, and is responsible for the defence of half of the British element of the perimeter. This sees the Riflemen of the company man several of the perimeter’s watch-towers and gates, as well as patrol within the near section of the AO that adjoins the perimeter. Whilst a task requiring considerable patience and personal discipline, the company is on good form.
Life in the towers is rustic. It is something akin to the Golf Towers of South Armagh, just smaller, hotter and covered in dust. Each tower is reasonably well kitted out with a gym, solar shower, fridge, TV and a just adequately air-conditioned tent. The patrols element has been interesting as well. Fortunately on the Brit side of Bastion there are some villages, rather than just desert for miles on end, so the Riflemen have been enjoying building a rapport with the locals; as well as patrolling in the same space they spend most of their time observing.
One highlight of the tour so far has been the company’s fitness competitions. First the 10 minute ergo. LCpl Fraser (REME) held the day, achieving a distance of over 2900m, much to CSjt Edwards’s disappointment
– he had spent a
month training for
the event. And the
current competition
– over-arm pull ups
Cpl Stott scans his arcs
– is focusing the Op MASSIVE campaign nicely. The target to beat at the moment
is 25, achieved by Cfn Nixon. Another highlight was our Salamanca Day Dinner, which was held at Bastion’s South Gate. Fortuitously the 22 July fell in between two R&R windows, so almost half the company
(whilst we are heavily committed to fixed posts) managed to attend. Steak was served under cam-nets and Lt Lister gave us
all a flavour of the hard fighting that our forebears endured.
The company is due to endure right until the end of Op HERRICK 20 – whenever that will be. At that point the quality of life will have changed dramatically: fresh food will be exchanged for rat-packs; mattresses for thermo-rests; tents for ponchos; gyms for press-ups; and computers for TAMs. It will be a privilege to be representing The Regiment in the last days of the campaign out here; we expect those days to be the most interesting of all.
Sjt Turaga meets the local village elder
90 FIFTH BATTALION
THE RIFLES
Life in the towers is rustic. It is something akin to the Golf Towers of South Armagh, just smaller, hotter and covered in dust.