Riflemen's mock hostile presence in Benbecula
RIFLEMEN are taking part in a three-day exercise in Benbecula starting today (Monday).
They are members of the 3rd Battalion The Rifles (3RIFLES) who are conducting a joint exercise with the Royal Navy.
Up until January, 3RIFLES (based in Edinburgh), was to conduct a six-week training exercise in Kenya called Exercise GRAND PRIX.
Unfortunately, given the tense political situation in Kenya at the time, the decision was taken to cancel the exercise. So it was back to the drawing board to try to create an equally challenging and interesting exercise a bit closer to home.
Said a spokesman: "Exercise JOINT WARRIOR is a biannual NATO naval test exercise involving participants from the US and across Europe. There is usually a notional 'Land' scenario as part of the exercise, but this is the first time in years that real soldiers will land and take part ashore.
"Having had the Kenyan trip cancelled, 3RIFLES heard about the exercise through the military grapevine and, recognising the opportunities it offered, cajoled our way aboard HMS Bulwark (a troop carrying ship) and ashore on Benbecula. HMS Bulwark is an Albion Class, High Readiness Amphibious Assault Ship, ready for worldwide tasking. She has the capacity for up to six Challenger Tanks and over 400 troops. She also operates a number of smaller landing craft that will be used on the exercise to disembark the 3RIFLES troops.
"The exercise that 3RIFLES are conducting is based around a NEO (Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation) scenario. In brief, a NEO operation is
conducted to safely extract a vulnerable population from a potentially dangerous environment.
"This is an operation that 3RIFLES are all too familiar with, having conducted one for real whilst they were at high readiness as the Army's 'Spearhead' in 2006, when the British Community in Lebanon were safely evacuated by ship to Cyprus and home to the UK. Coincidentally HMS Bulwark also took part in that operation."
He went on: "For the people living in the Benbecula area, it may well be a refreshing change to see riflemen training in what is usually an 'Air Defence Range'. The 'landward' training commenced early today (Monday) with a beach landing and 20 km insertion march along the roads and fields (with the landowners permission, of course), followed by the NEO operation to evacuate a role-playing civilian population from a mock hostile presence.
"There will be some 'bangs' and blank firing but nothing that the locals are not used to! The NEO exercise will see the evacuated population safely aboard ship by Wednesday morning!"
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Weather for Stornoway
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
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