Armed Forces Minister visits Scottish troops returning from Afghanistan
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt has praised the service of personnel from 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland in Afghanistan.
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt visiting Glencorse barracks. Crown Copyright.
She met with the soldiers and officers of 2nd and 6th Battalions, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, at Glencorse barracks on the outskirts of Edinburgh. There she was briefed by Brigadier Gary Deakin about personnel from 2 SCOTS who have been serving in Kabul training the Afghanistan security forces.
The Minister also met members of 6 SCOTS, a reserve unit within 51st Infantry Brigade, who worked alongside their 2 SCOTS counterparts in Kabul. It was an opportunity for the two units, regular and reserves, to put their interoperability into force.
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt said:
These visits offer me a fantastic opportunity to see the men and women working at the sharp end of military deployments around the world. Today I have also had the privilege of meeting some of the families of our serving personnel who have just returned from training operations in Afghanistan.
I have been impressed by the volume of activity within 51st Infantry Brigade, with personnel just returning from a deployment to train Afghan security forces and others shortly leaving for a joint exercise in Oman. It has also been fantastic to hear about the opportunities for reserves to integrate on operations with their regular counterparts.
Commander of 51 Infantry Brigade and HQ Scotland, Brigadier Gary Deakin, said:
The visit has been a brilliant opportunity to brief The Minister for Armed Forces on the great working being done by the Adaptable Forces of the 51st Infantry Brigade, both Regular and Reserve, who are persistently engaged in support of Defence Engagement in The Gulf Region and ready to support operations at home and overseas.
The Minister was also briefed about Exercise Jebel Storm, the upcoming exercise in which 2 SCOTS will be working alongside the Royal Army of Oman to practice UK-Omani interoperability. The exercise will focus on operating in a mountainous environment including live firing tactical training, patrolling by day and night and casualty evacuation drills.