Every six months, the Secretary of State for Defence announces the forthcoming rotation of forces for Afghanistan. The deployment is known as Operation HERRICK, and 14th July marked the thirteenth such announcement. Amongst the units of 16 Air Assault Brigade that will deploy on Operation HERRICK 13 in September, will be 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment (1 R IRISH). This is the third major commitment of 1 R IRISH to Afghanistan in the last four years - it is also the biggest yet. We expect to deploy around 700 R IRISH soldiers, mostly from 1 R IRISH, but one in every ten soldiers will come from our sister TA Battalion, 2 R IRISH. Artillery, Signals and Engineer specialists will expand the Battalion into a Battlegroup of almost 1000 men and women.
I have the great privilege of commanding this Battalion, and am humbled by the quiet, businesslike and professional way in which my soldiers have approached the challenge of training for Afghanistan. We have been thoroughly tested, and put through our paces on exercises that have been as near to the real thing as one can imagine. We have also trained on our new equipment which is truly state of the art, and we have spent much time studying the history, culture and language of Afghanistan. That training is now all but complete and it has given us real confidence in our ability to operate in this most dangerous and complex of environments.
However training and equipment are only a part of the means to success; our real strength lies in our people. They come from Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Enniskillen, Fiji, Armagh, Australia, Sligo, Coleraine. They are single and married, black and white, they are of all religions, they have varied views, some are brothers, and some are sons of fathers serving in the Regiment. Despite this diversity and regardless of their home town our country, they are all Irishmen, and regardless of their individual motivations for joining the British Army they share, above all, an absolute determination not to fail their mates. That is why many of them are returning to Afghanistan for their second, or even third, tour of duty. Some of them have only recently recovered from wounds sustained on previous deployments. All of them are a breed apart.
Our primary purpose in going to Afghanistan is not to fight. Rather, we deploy with intention of protecting the Afghan population from the terror and injustice of the Taliban. We will create space in order to allow the Afghan National Police and Army to grow in size and ability, and for the legitimate structures of the Afghan Government to take root. When we do fight it will be tenaciously and we will do so to protect the population, to help secure the progress made by our Afghan partners, and to disrupt the Insurgents’ attempts to undermine our collective effort. It will be a challenging six months. Not everything will go exactly as planned. There may be the occasional day where things go wrong and where we need to draw on all of our reserves of fortitude to drive onwards. In these dark days the priceless strength of the Regiment and of our comradeship will see us through. There will also be successes and victories; we will note these with a quiet determination and an energised will to win.
The Royal Irish Regiment is the only remaining Irish Infantry Regiment of the Line. As the latest Commanding Officer to have the privilege of leading Irish Infantrymen on operations, I am very conscious that we have 321 years of Regimental history to live up to. But I am also in no doubt that the young Irish Infantryman of today stands tall in the shadow of his predecessors who fought at Waterloo, Gallipoli, the Somme, Arnhem and Imjin.
Lt Col C R J WEIR MBE
www.Armynet.mod.uk
I have the great privilege of commanding this Battalion, and am humbled by the quiet, businesslike and professional way in which my soldiers have approached the challenge of training for Afghanistan. We have been thoroughly tested, and put through our paces on exercises that have been as near to the real thing as one can imagine. We have also trained on our new equipment which is truly state of the art, and we have spent much time studying the history, culture and language of Afghanistan. That training is now all but complete and it has given us real confidence in our ability to operate in this most dangerous and complex of environments.
However training and equipment are only a part of the means to success; our real strength lies in our people. They come from Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Enniskillen, Fiji, Armagh, Australia, Sligo, Coleraine. They are single and married, black and white, they are of all religions, they have varied views, some are brothers, and some are sons of fathers serving in the Regiment. Despite this diversity and regardless of their home town our country, they are all Irishmen, and regardless of their individual motivations for joining the British Army they share, above all, an absolute determination not to fail their mates. That is why many of them are returning to Afghanistan for their second, or even third, tour of duty. Some of them have only recently recovered from wounds sustained on previous deployments. All of them are a breed apart.
Our primary purpose in going to Afghanistan is not to fight. Rather, we deploy with intention of protecting the Afghan population from the terror and injustice of the Taliban. We will create space in order to allow the Afghan National Police and Army to grow in size and ability, and for the legitimate structures of the Afghan Government to take root. When we do fight it will be tenaciously and we will do so to protect the population, to help secure the progress made by our Afghan partners, and to disrupt the Insurgents’ attempts to undermine our collective effort. It will be a challenging six months. Not everything will go exactly as planned. There may be the occasional day where things go wrong and where we need to draw on all of our reserves of fortitude to drive onwards. In these dark days the priceless strength of the Regiment and of our comradeship will see us through. There will also be successes and victories; we will note these with a quiet determination and an energised will to win.
The Royal Irish Regiment is the only remaining Irish Infantry Regiment of the Line. As the latest Commanding Officer to have the privilege of leading Irish Infantrymen on operations, I am very conscious that we have 321 years of Regimental history to live up to. But I am also in no doubt that the young Irish Infantryman of today stands tall in the shadow of his predecessors who fought at Waterloo, Gallipoli, the Somme, Arnhem and Imjin.
Lt Col C R J WEIR MBE
www.Armynet.mod.uk
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