For seven months the Black Watch has served on the front line in Afghanistan, but this week three flights will bring the 430 battle weary soldiers home.
Five Black Watch soldiers lost their lives and 31 were wounded in action during their time in southern Afghanistan and their Commanding Officer, Lt-Col Stephen Cartwright, flew into Scotland on Saturday, ahead of his men, to meet the bereaved families.
He told of his "immeasurable pride" in those men both lost and returning.
"... I saw young Scottish soldiers perform at the very highest level," he said.
"The regiment was given lots of dangerous and difficult tasks and we were pushed to the extreme, but the men's performance was outstanding and every mission was a success," he stated.
Meanwhile the actions of the Black Watch have also attracted international praise. Before leaving Kandahar they were presented with the Canadian Joint Talk Force Commander's Commendation for their courage on operations. It is the first time the international honour has been awarded in three years.
The Black Watch's return this week will be followed by a series of six homecoming marches in their traditional heartland of Perthshire, Dundee, Fife and Angus next month. A memorial service will also be held in Inverness Cathedral on 3 December in thanksgiving for their return and in memory of those lost in action.
Anyone wishing the dates of the marches should check the Black Watch website.
Further to my post in which I mentioned the death of SSgt Schmid, I was very sad to hear he lost his life on his last day of deployment. This is another tragedy which could have well been avoided if Gordon Brown had shown the world Britain was a country which made its own military decisions. Now it has been proven that we are nothing but a supporting 'act' for the US. Our troops are presently in limbo while our PM waits for Mr Abama to tell him what to do. How did we get into this position?
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4 comments:
It has been said many many times by Comanders, soldiers and people who can see the wood through the trees. There has never been enough helicopters available to British troops. The attrtion rate should have been much lower. It is obvious to anyone that if you can fly to a mission then you do not need to go by road and be exposed to IEDs. It is impossible to detect and clear these bloody things 100%.
For the redeployment and refit of the Merlins from Iraq to take over a year is a scandal.
Brown and his cronies are cowards and liars, and if there kids were in the front line these helicopters would have been made available.
Obamas decision to meet the bodies coming home from the front line has shown these spineless liars up for what they are. I utterly despise them.
What's troubling me at the moment KBW is that there's no leadership from politicians anywhere. Obama says he's thinking, Brown's waiting for Obama to think because he's quite incapable of thinking for himself and the only politicians who seem to be thinking are those who have decided to withdraw their troops.
Meanwhile ours are left on the front line ...
KBW and SR
Maybe there is a case for the King/PM and his followers/hangers on to be ahead of the troops; as in days of yore .....! No, I would'nt expect this shower to lead! But it might solve the leadership problem.
Wholeheartedly agree with you both.
D.
Apogee, can you honestly visualise any politician standing at the front line with our troops?
They'd be broken men before they even reached Brize Norton for the flight out. :)
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