Lancashire troops next in line for Afghanistan

7:09pm Saturday 23rd August 2008

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SOLDIERS from Lancashire have moved to a new base in Cyprus – but they’ve been told they are next in line for a call-up to Afghanistan.

The 550 soldiers from 2nd Battalion, Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, have moved with their families to the Mediterranean island for its new posting.

The regiment, which recruits from Lancashire, had previously been based in Catterick, in North Yorkshire for seven years.

In its new role of Theatre Reserve Battalion, it is on permanent standby to deploy on operations in particular Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commanding Officer Lt Col Mark Kenyon said the regiment, which completed a six-month tour in Iraq in June 2007, was relishing the prospect of being posted to Afghanistan.

He said: “We got a lot of experience in Iraq when we were based in Catterick but we have never done an operational tour in Afghan-istan and the soldiers are looking forward to it.

“Afghanistan is a very different operational envir-onment and is a much more varied role to the one we have done previously in Iraq – I have no doubt we will learn a lot from the time we spend there.”

The battalion officially took over from The 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, which was deployed five times to Afghanistan in two-and-a-half years, on Thursday morning in a flag changing ceremony.

The Duke of Lancaster is the only regiment to recruit exclusively from the North West.