Page 43 - Bugle Issue 16 Autumn 2020

7RIFLES
KEEPING THE PEACE ON APHRODITE’S ISLAND:
OP TOSCA 32
For the 250 soldiers who came together for Op TOSCA 32, adaptability became a defining feature. 93% of the battlegroup were Army Reservists. We had to adapt to living and working as full-time soldiers, to the unique demands of peacekeeping in a foreign land, and – like everyone in the world – to COVID-19.
We relished the challenge. The battle- group’s soldiers came from a diverse range of backgrounds. The majority of us were from 7 RIFLES, but 5 FUSILIERS largely provided the soldiers of the Operations Company tasked with patrolling the Buffer Zone. The men and women walking the streets of Nicosia or driving through the open land to the city’s East and West were everything from accountants to electricians, builders to bankers, and managers to mechanics in their civilian lives.
For outside observers with no stake in the conflict, addressing the enduring effects of hostilities that broke out in the 1960s and ‘70s may seem somewhat otiose. Cyprus, however, is an island of deep and enduring sensitivities. The events of the past are still within living memory, not least because they are annually commemorated by both sides, for wholly divergent reasons.
Working in an international mission was fascinating. Everything from daily patrols to planned operations saw a host of nationalities work together, all wearing the blue beret.
We always endeavoured to put the abstract language of international cooperation into action. Such cooperation is one of the great benefits of any UN tour, for any soldier from any nation.
The events of the past are still within living memory
COVID-19 made it a tour like no other, but we also served at a time of rising tension in the Mediterranean: a deeply destabilizing development in the politics of the region. After recent years of de-escalation, the work of Britain’s largest single deployment of peace- keepers has rarely more necessary.
Lt James Wakeley
Visits and Media Officer
The 7 RIFLES Battlegroup forms-up for
pre-deployment training in the wind and rain of
Norfolk: a far cry from the Cypriot summer
2Lt Darren Burt
where temperatures regularly exceed 40 °C
surveys the Buffer Zone
RIFLES The Bugle 43