Chef and student get ready for war

Jul 31 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

The Dordogne region of France may seem a million miles away from war-torn Iraq – but it has provided an excellent training ground for many of the Merseyside soldiers preparing to go to Basra. Caroline Innes joins the TA soldiers in France

AS INSURGENTS fire mortars, rifles and machine guns at the British army, Major Simon Peyton orders his men out on the streets to bring civilian casualties and wounded soldiers into the army compound.

Among his team, who are dealing with rifle fire and abuse and violence from the war-weary population, are a McDonald’s chef, a Liverpool University geology student, a Merseyside Police officer and a support worker for the blind.

They are among a batch of 43 TA soldiers from Merseyside who have given up almost half their annual holiday entitlement from civilian jobs to spend two weeks camping out in the cold and wet, surviving on three hours sleep a night, training for the time when they will go to war.

This might be just an exercise, but conditions at French army camp La Courtine have been made as realistic as possible to test the soldiers – many of whom will be deployed to Iraq to support the Duke of Lancaster’s first battalion in less than three months time.

The regular army has come to rely on the TA more and more to re-enforce their battalions during operations, and exercises like this form an integral part of the TA’s minimum 27 days annual training. As the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment is the only infantry regiment which recruits exclusively from the North West, many of those soldiers from 4 Lancs’ base, at Townsend Avenue, Norris Green, have already served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Lt Col Ray Hughes, commanding Officer, 4 Lancs, said: “The TA’s role has changed and so has the public’s opinion of it. The TA is a bigger commitment than it ever used to be as there is now a mix of TA and regular soldiers in every battle zone.

“And there are more and more soldiers who are choosing to leave the regular army to join the TA.

“What that gives us is true commitment and a whole wealth of experience from people in different professions and trades and from every background you can imagine.

“These soldiers have civilian jobs that provide them with skills and qualities that are of immense value to a battalion and because they do this in their spare time they are totally committed to the army.

“A soldier from the TA is just as well qualified to go to any war zone as a regular and because the training they receive is so good they fit right in alongside the regular army.”

At 21, Kingsman Michael Brasier, from Croxteth, is one of the youngest soldiers on the exercise.

The McDonald’s worker joined the TA over a year ago and on December 11 will join the first battalion on their tour of duty in Iraq.

He said: “I am eager to get out there as this is what we have been training to do. Every soldier feels the same. There would be no point doing all this training if we never got a chance to put it into practice.

“My parents are a bit worried about it but my mum just keeps joking that she is going to get a lodger while I am away.

“But over all they are happy for me. They know this is what I want to do and what I enjoy so they are just trying to be as supportive as possible.”

The TA has become an integral part of the British army, representing more than a quarter of its total manpower, and with TA soldiers being paid a daily rate of around £48, a high number of students are now joining up as a means of financing their way through university.

Some who have used it as way of testing whether a life in the Army is for them will then go on to become officers in the regular army.

Liam Farrington, 22, is studying geology at Liverpool John Moores. He has been in the TA for almost five years.

He said: “We all expect to be called upon to do a tour of duty at some point.

“I was supposed to be going to Iraq in 2003 but as a full-time student they wouldn’t let me go.

“I was really disappointed and would happily volunteer to go. The TA has been great for me, particularly while I am studying. I earn on average £400 per month and we all get paid a bounty of around £1,600 tax free every April.

“My Officer in Charge has now put me forward for a potential officer’s course and whether or not I go for it or not I am not willing to leave the TA until I have been deployed somewhere.

“Some people think it is strange but the best way I can describe it is like if all your friends went out and you didn’t go or like an athlete training for the Olympics all his life and then not being able to compete.

“What is the point in being in the army if you don’t want to go on a tour. We are soldiers. This is what we train for and this is what we want to do.”

* ANYONE interested in joining the 4 Lancs Battalion should call 07778 472125. More information about how you can join the TA is also available at: www.armyjobs.mod.uk

carolineinnes@dailypost.co.uk