SCARBOROUGH soldiers are preparing for a six-month deployment in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, just 18 months after they were last there training members of the Afghan National Army (ANA). The 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) have just completed a two-week training exercise – Wessex Warrior – on Salisbury Plain to prepare for the task. Evening News reporter IAN DUNCAN travelled to Wiltshire to observe the preparations and talk to the troops about how they felt about returning to the warzone.

IT MAY sound like a plot from a science fiction movie, but Scarborough soldiers have been using laser weapons as part of their training in the lead up to a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The Tactical Effects Simulation (TES) equipment, attached to the improved standard issue SA80 rifles – as well as machine guns used by the troops – is designed to give the soldiers a realistic idea of the extent of casualties in a battlefield situation.

Troops from 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) spent two weeks training on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire – and Exercise Wessex Warrior concluded with a gruelling six-hour battle to capture the town of Copehill Down.

Lt Col David Colthup, the battalion’s new commanding officer who took over in December, said the exercise had gone well and followed lower level training in Otterburn, Northumberland, in March.

“Of course there’s not so much you can replicate on Salisbury Plain,” he said. “It’s not based around Afghanistan exactly – we aren’t using Afghan names.”

In the exercise the setting was the imaginary country Kakun and the enemy was the APK, not the Taliban, but the situations were very similar to those expected after 2 Yorks are deployed to Helmand Province in September as part of Operation Herrick 11.

The weapons still fired blank rounds to deafening effect during the exercise, with soldiers wearing jackets covered with laser sensors to detect the invisible beams.

Lce Cpl Darryl “Lammy” Lamb, 24, from the town centre area of Scarborough, says the training has been good and using the laser equipment had been useful. He said: “Up until we came here it wasn’t really benefiting us but since we’ve been here it’s more Herrick orientated.

“The laser equipment just starts beeping and tells you of all sorts of injuries. I’ve been hit a few times. It just beeps and it does your head in.”

During the exercise soldiers from the Polish Army took the role of the Afghan National Army (ANA), with the language barrier proving difficult, according to 20-year-old Private Tom Pashby who is also from Scarborough.

He said: “They are keen. With the ANA I’ll know certain phrases but with the Poles it’s a lot harder. You know what things to say and what signals to use. It’s body language as well. This is just brushing up on your skills.”

Private Pashby said using the equipment was similar to the game of Laserquest or paintball. “You have to act like it’s real and you have to go through the procedures,” he said.

Capt Andy Bell, who is originally from Reading and the commander of B company, said the TES system added realism because officers had to take into consideration the evacuation of casualties.

Cpl Andrew Jackson, 33, from Windsor Crescent in Bridlington, said the laser kit was a lot better than the older equipment they used to use. He said: “The older stuff used to just go off.”

He added that it also warned of near misses. He said: “We’ve had close calls from indirect fire, rockets and mortars. It depends how close you are to the impact point and it also gives you an idea of casualties.”

Lce Cpl Onur Caglar, 24, from the South Cliff area of Scarborough, said it had been a tough exercise. He said: “It’s pushing us to our limits seeing how we can work under pressure.

“They need to know how well we can work under pressure.”

‘It’s what I’ve been trained to do’

TROOPS from the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) are gearing up for a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan’s Helmand province just 18 months after returning from the warzone.

They have just completed exercise Wessex Warrior on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire and, when the Evening News visited soldiers from Scarborough and the North Yorkshire area, they said they were prepared for the task.

Lce Cpl Jamie Ismay, 23, from Jubilee Avenue in Bridlington, said joining the Army was something he had always wanted to do and this would be his first tour since enlisting almost a year ago.

He said: “All the other lads have said the training’s been hard but it’s rewarding. It’s part of my job, it’s what I’ve been training to do, you can’t not go.”

The exercise was designed to test troops’ endurance to the limit and contained situations they were likely to encounter in Afghanistan including:

• building Forward Operating Bases (FOBs);
• foot patrols through the surrounding area;
• interacting with locals, who could either be civilians or enemy forces, and arranging meetings – otherwise known as shuras;
• a gruelling six-hour battle to capture an enemy-held town.

When the battalion arrives in Helmand province it will reprise its role of small units mentoring the relatively new Afghan National Army (ANA) which would have previously been carried out by members of special forces.

Cpl John Hardman, from the South Cliff area of Scarborough and a member of C Company, said the training exercise had been good for new recruits who had not served in Afghanistan before.

The 30-year-old, who has been with 2 Yorks since 1995 and has previously served in Afghanistan on two tours, said: “I am looking forward to it.”

Lce Cpl Chris Semons, 22, from the town centre area of Scarborough, is part of the battalion’s first Fire Support Group (FSG) – a mobile unit which would provide cover for other troops from heavy weapons such as mortars and machine guns.

He said: “Instead of just firing mortars from forward operating bases we can take it out to different places. We’ve got quite a lot of experience behind us.”

Pte Sean Fox, 19, from Barrowcliff and also a member of the FSG, said he was prepared for his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He said: “I’m looking forward to it. I did the last tour and I know what to expect.”

Pte Jamie Rushfirth, a 22-year-old from the Peasholm area of Scarborough, who has been with 2 Yorks for the past five years, said the training had been harder for September’s tour. He said: “I just want to get out there and back again. It should be a good tour.”

Cpl Andrew Jackson, 33, from Bridlington, added: “This will be my third time in Afghanistan. The kit’s better than it used to be – it always gets better.”

Lce Cpl Paul Adamson, 20, from Dean Road, said: “The training has shown the new lads, who haven’t been out to Afghanistan before, what it’s like.”

New commander wants Afghanistan autonomy

THE new commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment says he is looking forward to the forthcoming tour of duty in the middle of the Afghanistan desert.

Speaking at his command tent in Wiltshire’s windy and exposed Salisbury Plain, Lt Col David Colthup said 2 Yorks was the first to return to its role of mentoring and training the emerging Afghan National Army (ANA) so soon after leaving.

He said: “We will continue mentoring the ANA so they continue to make improvements and are able to support their autonomy – which is good for the future of Afghanistan.

“We are the first battalion to return in that same role and I am quite hopeful that all the work we left in 2008 will be more advanced when we return.”

He said the battalion had all its companies back together again, with C Company returning after working for a few months with the Household Cavalry Regiment. He said: “We’ve always been missing part of the family.”

Lt Col David Colthup, who took over the command of 2 Yorks from Lt Col Simon Downey in December, is aGreen Howard at heart and was first commissioned in 1989 when they were based in Catterick Garrison.

Since then he has progressed through the ranks and has been a platoon commander, adjutant, a company commander, and 2nd in command before being promoted to commanding officer.

He said: “It’s a fantastic job. It’s the job that I think most young commanders would set their medium to long-term goals on.”

From The Scarborough Evening News on Thursday, May 21, 2009.