22 NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2011
Commandos
step closer to deploying to A There was also the whiff of food demonstrating the depth of training difficulties faced in making that
The fighting formation, spearheaded by 42 Cdo and 45 Cdo, as well as support units from the Army’s 7th Armoured Brigade, had come together at Copehill Down village near Warminster for Exercise Pashtun Jaguar, with all three Services also chipping in with aircraft. It was the first time
that the next task Force Helmand, led by HQ 3 Cdo Brigade, came together to put the lessons of 18 months of training into practice. As Navy News went to press,
THERE was a whiff of optimis as the Royal Marines of 3 C
the first elements of Herrick 14 were preparing to fly out to theatre, paving the way to the formal handover from 16 Air Assault Brigade. At the heart of the day’s proceedings
was a meeting or shura with the leaders of a village in Afghanistan. The assembled onlookers, including
national and local TV reporters, were briefed on what they were about to see, as well as the conditions which the Royals will face when they return to the Middle East. As the observers tried to thaw out, senior officers talked of temperatures of 50°C over the summer – their audience would have settled for 50ºF as the mercury rested just above zero and a bitter east wind whipped off Salisbury Plain.
brief and eye-catching. An RAF Tornado screamed overhead
The military ‘dynamic display’ was
and Army Apache gunships prowled the perimeters of the ‘village’ – a collection of Germanic-looking houses standing in for Afghanistan as easily as they have done for the Balkans and other flashpoints around the world. With air cover established, a Junglie Sea King led in a Chinook, and a combined patrol of RN sailors and Afghan National Army hopped out and made ready to move off.
An RAF Hercules dropped supplies by parachute – one option is for foot patrols to be sustained in the field by drops from such aircraft, allowing them greater time with the locals.
Then the troops are told of suspicious activity in the village, which is made up of various buildings of vaguely central European appearance and which are used to train troops in the art of FIBUA (Fighting In Built-Up Areas, otherwise known as FISHing, or Fighting In Someone’s House). As commandos watch carefully, two
Royals from J Coy, 42 Cdo, settle down to the shura, in a draughty barn, the smoke and steam from cooking pots wafting into their dimly-lit huddle. The roles of Afghan villagers are
played by... Afghans, who help create a realistic patina to proceedings. The dynamic display by this time had
turned into something of a show, with various Army units demonstrating their skills and equipment. The Royals will head to Afghanistan
● This page, from top: A Royal Navy Junglie Sea King drops a patrol from on Salisbury Plain; members of the patrol move into Copehill Down village; gather for a shura while a woman minds a cooking pot; a Jackal fi re support v in Copehill Down village. Opposite page, from top: a Royal Navy Sea King in an RAF Chinook to drop a patrol on the outskirts of Copehill Down villag Gell, training for his fi rst deployment to Afghanistan; a member of the patrol w carefully through the village
Pictures: LA (Phot) Dave Gallagher, FRPU(E); SSgt Ian Houlding, Royal Graeme Main, So
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