Royal Welsh prepare for Afghanistan mission on Canadian prairie (From South Wales Argus)

Royal Welsh prepare for Afghanistan mission on Canadian prairie

3:31pm Tuesday 29th September 2009 in Gwent news

THE dust of the Canadian prairies will be swapped for the extremes of the war in Afghanistan as the 2nd battalion, Royal Welsh intensively train for the fight to come.

In the last of his features, Mike Buckingham met them at the British Army's base in Alberta.

ALTHOUGH the Challenger main battle tanks themselves are lurching and bucking across the prairie their guns remain stabilised on their targets, giving the mighty machines an oddly robotic appearance.

Behind them will come the lighter tanks and lastly the Warrior armoured personnel carriers each with its complement of infantry soldiers whose job it will be to hold the ground the armour has won.

It's a dress rehearsal for the sort of war Britain might have been fighting 30 years ago when Russian tanks were poised to come charging at us across the Northern European plain.

In fact the plains are those of Southern Alberta in Canada and the time is 2009, a year in which almost 10,000 British soldiers in Afghanistan are involved in a very different sort of war.

Major Paul Dayton who commands B (Rorke's Drift) company of the 2nd battalion, Royal Welsh surveys the powerfully impressive manoeuvres.

"We are training for a war, not the war" he says.

It is the sort of response you will hear from soldiers when they are asked why, when Britain is bogged down in guerilla war (asymmetric war is the preferred term) in Afghanistan, do we need tanks, tracked artillery and other paraphernalia of all-out war?

"We hear that a lot but the fact is you never know what sort of war you will have to fight next" he continues.

"We can never predict what is going to happen.

"This exercise is based on a major contact (Armyspeak for fighting).

"We cannot afford to throw away skills that might be needed in another place at short notice."

Compared with the millions who served in the world wars the British Army is small - now little more than 100,000 although the recession has boosted recruitment somewhat. This is the untrimmable minimum.

Unless the nation decides that it would sooner have larger armed forces than enhanced health and social services making few people try to do a lot of things is the way it has to be.

Soldiers though, steer well clear of the politics.

The men under Major Dayton's command - many of them from Gwent - will complete their training in Canada and go to fight in Afghanistan with such tools as they are given.

The most effective tool in the Army's box of tricks are the soldiers themselves.

Humiliated by their own government in Basra, in the past having to cope with under-performing or frankly shoddy kit they have remained uncomplaining.

"I'm pleased with the way things have gone this morning.

"These are young guys who have had to carry out some very complex operations in integrated platoon attacks.

"There isn't really the room we need for this sort of manoeuvering on Salisbury Plain.

"Canada's vast openness is perfect for exercises on this scale" Major Dayton says.

Haydn Poyner, 24, is from Corporation Road in Newport, a corporal in 2RW who commands one of the 26-ton Warrior armoured personnel carriers in which the battalion goes to war.

"The normal mount when I'm home is a BMW" he smiles through camouflage greasepaint.

"An exercise like this which involves live firing, tanks and artillery puts all your skills to the test."

In Afghanistan he will be issued with body armour which is even heavier than he is wearing at present.

"But the best defence will be the lads I'm with.

"We get close and look after one another. Having a laugh is right up there. "Humour helps get you through."

Private Connor Jenkins is 18 and from Malpas. He went to Bettws High and has a brother, Kyle, in Afghanistan at the moment.

"I'll be there next year and he'll be back here" he grins ruefully.

"He's a Warrior driver and I worry about him but knowing that I will have to go through it myself takes the edge off it.

"Funnily enough when we meet up we don't talk about Afghanistan all that much nor do we really talk about the possibility of getting injured or killed.

"It's sad when any soldiers die but at the end of the day that's what we are - soldiers."

When injuries are mentioned the term 'golden hour' always comes into the conversation.

The golden hour principle is that any injured soldier should be off the battlefield and receiving skilled medical attention within that time.

Simon Day is 38 and formerly served with the TA and is the unit's medical orderly.

"Fortunately, all I've had to deal with so far are people who've hurt themselves falling off the vehicles and mosquito bites.

"I've served in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo and I'm supposed to be going to Afghanistan.

"It'll be just another day in the job although I don't suppose my mum at home will thank me for saying that.

"The job as far as I'm concerned is getting any injured soldier out of the fighting and into care.

"It's a point of honour that no soldier should be left in pain."

'Just knowing they are appreciated means a lot'

At the heart of everything the Army does is the Regimental Sergeant-Major, arguably the second most important person after the commanding officer, the experienced and Army-wise pivot around which a battalion turns. RSM 'Dai' Davies, 40 is from Cefn Fforest near Blackwood and before joining the Army ran a greengrocery stall at Blackwood market. He has applied to become an officer and will most likely end his career as a Major. "Although as a Regimental Sergeant-Major I consider myself at the peak of my Army career now" he says. "An army can have the best kit in the world but it's no good without the people to use it and I've got good lads. "These boys might be young but they are keen and professional. "They are not politicians but have to go where the politicians send them. For me, they're as fine a bunch as the Army has ever had. "I always say they have the appearance of lambs but the heart of lions." We talk for a while about the attitudes of people at home, and I tell him about the day The Rifles came back to Beachley and they were lining the main street in Chepstow six deep to cheer them as they marched by. "I'm pleased to hear it,” he says with a smile. "These boys do a thankless job but when they do get thanks they are very, very pleased. "Just knowing that they are appreciated means a lot to them."