Page 53 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

Falkland Islands Roulement Infantry Company
In early August the main body of B Company, 2 RIFLES landed at Mount Pleasant Airfield to take over the duties of the Roulement Infantry Company (RIC) from the outgoing Toms of A Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment. Augmented by detachments from the Mortar and Machine Gun Platoons, the Riflemen of B Company set about getting to grips with their new duties at the end of the earth. As part of a standing military presence maintained on the Falkland Islands to deter foreign aggression, the RIC provides the Infantry element of a joint force consisting of a RAF Typhoon squadron, a Royal Artillery Rapier Battery, and the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Clyde. During its three-month deployment, the RIC operates on a fortnightly rotation: carrying out reassurance patrols among the more far-flung settlements on the Falkland Islands, conducting platoon training and live firing ranges, and providing a platoon on standby as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF).
Isolated, austere and sparsely populated though they might be, the Riflemen of B Company soon discovered that there was much to appreciate about the Falkland Islands. Mount Pleasant Complex (MPC) itself offered a significant amount of diversion, with a gym complete with swimming pool, squash courts and climbing wall, a cinema, a bowling alley, a fully stocked library, a cafe and two pubs available outside working hours. However, the true freedom of the Falkland Islands lay in the training opportu- nities they held. While QRF duties – which included providing two vehicle check points to ensure no unauthorised stragglers from the weekly flight from Chile accidentally or maliciously entered MPC – might appear somewhat mundane to Riflemen who had only recently returned from Operation SHADER, patrolling and live fire ranges were another matter.
Being dispatched on reassurance and intelli-
gence gathering patrols to various settlements on the islands was a new experience for most of the Riflemen in B Company. The Section Commanders, granted hitherto unprecedented freedom to operate for days with minimal oversight from their chain of command at sometimes hundreds of kilometres from MPC, revelled in their new challenge. RIC patrols are traditionally hosted by a Falkland Islander family, and the locals made the Riflemen more than welcome putting them up in barns or their houses and providing them with food and much needed warm brews.
Platoon ranges came with different challenges but also provided ample opportunity for the Riflemen to hone their live fire skills. As artillery, strafing runs and exploding vehicles were simulated, Typhoon pilots provided fly-bys overhead while the luckier Riflemen had the opportunity to fire Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAW) at vehicle hulks. These skills were to come in handy during Exercise CAPE SWORD, the culmination of the RIC’s time in the Falkland Islands, where the men of B Company trod in the footsteps of 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment during the Falklands Campaign, digging in on the summit of Mount Sussex amid the very shell-scrapes of Lieutenant Colonel H Jones’ men at the start of an arduous five day exercise which culminated in a company live fire attack by day and night. Overall, FIRIC was an opportunity to test ourselves amid some of the most austere and forbidding weather and terrain on the planet, and the Riflemen embraced it in full; they emerged fit, professional, resilient and self-confident, and above all, possessed of an esprit de corps to rival any in the Army.
Lieutenant Tom Lagana B Company
ISOLATED, AUSTERE AND SPARSELY POPULATED THOUGH THEY MIGHT BE, THE RIFLEMEN OF B COMPANY SOON DISCOVERED THAT
THERE WAS MUCH TO APPRECIATE ABOUT THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
B Company marching back from Onion ranges
THE RIFLES
SECOND BATTALION 51