Troops set for homecoming parade
TWO days before his troops return home, Lt Col Andrew Cullen, commanding officer of the Royal Irish Regiment's 2nd Batallion, describes the heavy planning his troops are leaving behind and tell of their pride at the planned homecoming parades.
Sitting in my office in a rain swept Portadown, I feel at last a real sense of relief. My adjutant has just given me the good news that all members of Imjin Company 2 Royal Irish have handed over their duties in Camp Bastion in Helmand and are now sitting waiting for their flight out of Kandahar.
By the time this goes to press, they will be sitting on a beach in Cyprus in shorts and flip flops whilst savouring a cold beer – all soldiers on return from operations in Afghanistan or Iraq spend a period of what the Army calls 'decompression' prior to returning to the UK or Germany.
By the end of the week they will have returned to Northern Ireland to eagerly waiting wives, mothers and girlfriends.
For them, their six month tour of Helmand will have come to an end.
Journey to battle
The journey started in November of last year when more than 100 reservists from 2 Royal Irish were mobilised, brought together in England and undertook an intense period of training prior to deployment to one of the world's most dangerous places.
Teachers, fitters, electricians, computer engineers, taxi drivers, chefs, brickies, plumbers, drivers and many more found themselves preparing for six months as the Force Protection Company in Camp Bastion in Helmand.
The task ahead was historically given to Territorial Army soldiers; the threat to Bastion was lower than in the Green Zone and the tasks a little less demanding.
The reality was to prove somewhat different.
On arrival in Helmand, thanks to the considerable training the reservists conducted alongside their regular counterparts from 1 Royal Irish, their capability was considered to be much greater than those who had gone before.
They still provided protection patrols for Bastion, and the Immediate Response Teams that escorted the helicopters to pick up the injured, but this time they were charged with the huge task of mentoring Afghan army soldiers in one of the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in the Helmand valley.
Just three kilometres north of them was another FOB with soldiers from 2 Para in an area that saw much of the intense action that took place over the summer period.
For the first time ever, reservist soldiers found themselves alone in a hugely hostile area, fighting alongside the Afghan army, getting close and personal with the Taliban.
I received regular situation reports from the front line.
Gruesome task
Sitting in the comfort of my office I read of contacts with the Taliban in the Green Zone and days and nights of consistent probing attacks against them by the Taliban.
As part of the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLT), the reservists were responsible for developing and improving the capability of the Afghan National Army.
It was very rewarding, as the situation reports (opposite page) show, but engagement with the Taliban became an every day occurrence.
Back in Camp Bastion, all my soldiers rotated through the gruesome task of providing protection for the medical emergency teams that deployed in the helicopters to pick up casualties.
At times the medical teams were unable to attend to all the injured; as such, our reservists were often administering life-saving first aid to the injured in the back of helicopters in the rush to get back to the field hospital.
Sadly, some of my soldiers had Afghan and British soldiers alike die as they made desperate attempts to keep them alive. Speaking to them when I visited in July, they all said they found the work horrific but rewarding – there were no shirkers from the task.
After the heat and demands of Helmand, returning to work after a spell of leave will be in itself a challenge for most. But they will be better for the experience; confident, full of team spirit and self-sacrifice – their employers will be better off too.
But before they do return to normality, there is just enough time for us to indulge in a touch of “a job well done”.
Homecoming parades
No one will be unaware of the planned homecoming parades – they have been surrounded by a degree of controversy
For my soldiers, and those of our regular battalion, it will be a time of immense pride as they march through streets in Ballymena, Larne and Belfast.
They will not be thinking of any political message they may be sending, or indeed whether their deployment to Afghanistan was morally right – though I suspect the Afghans they have left behind would echo the support of those cheering them on.
For them their heads will be held high in recognition of the efforts and sacrifice that they and their fellow comrades have made over the last six months, sacrifices that I believe we should all at least acknowledge, if not vigorously applaud.
This time last year, I was quoted saying that my reservist soldiers were “ordinary people about to do extraordinary things”.
Little did I know how extraordinary and demanding their tour would be.
Whilst they carried out the traditional tasks in Bastion, their tour has been characterised by adverse conditions, particularly demanding tasks and a willingness by every one of them to step up to the challenge.
After their return and well deserved leave, they will reintegrate into the rest of my battalion.
Their experience and new-found wealth of confidence will give an extra boost to an already professional and enthusiastic organisation, an organisation that is already getting itself ready to do the same again in two years’ time.
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Weather for Belfast
Monday 13 February 2012
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Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
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