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Except for 11 EOD Regt all the battalions/regts listed were there pretty much in total although 1 R ANGLIAN was minus its HQ with the coys split up amongst other battle groups.

Yes, in Brunei:

http://ukinbrunei.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/working-with-brunei/defence/brunei-garrison

http://www.army.mod.uk/operations-deployments/overseas-deployments/922.aspx

Not enough Chinooks I would think. The UK has several other types of tactical transport helicopter, namely Sea King, Merlin and Puma, the first two also now deployed to Helmand (from 2007 and 2009)....

Probably refers to the Chinook HC.3 fiasco.These eight aircraft optimised for Special Forces work were delivered in 2001 for a cost of GBP 270 million but have still not entered service.
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Probably had a lot do with the type of forces sent. The Canadian battle group was a mechanised one, the British one mainly light-role infantry.




HQ 6 Div, mentioned by RedRat and myself...

Indirectly, the President of Afghanistan , since he didn't want those district centres to fall to the Taliban. With TF Helmand only initially having five infantry coys, there wasn't much choice...

USMC units in general do 7-month tours though they have in certain circumstances been extended. Their "down-time" between tours is a bit shorter though, typically about a year (a while when they were...

The instructors in the current OPTAG are mainly officers and NCOs with recent Afghan operational experience; the CO is normally an officer who has recently commanded a battle group in Afghanistan....

Six infantry battalions and two armoured regts are mentioned in that line-up but at least one of each is there without its HQ and its sub-units entirely split up between other units. As far as I can...

Yeah the sheer variety of sub-units, roles and vehicles within supposedly " infantry" battle groups is quite mind-boggling. "Mastiff Groups", operating in a recce/fire support/troop-lift role have...

Should it make that much difference? Surely they have gone through the same basic training, career courses and pre-deployment training? Let's not also forget the small numbers of armoured infantry (a...

Surely most NATO countries must have something similar? I know the US Army has the Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana which seems to fulfill in some ways the same role. As well as the...

1. As for what units have done tours, it is simply from going through the unit pages on the British Army website, the defence questions in Hansard, and the archives on the TF Helmand blog (brigade...

1. Many units have done two tours in Helmand, several have now done three. From what I have read the percentage of personnel remaining from previous tours varies from 40-60%.

2. The Rhodesian...

I don't think this guy is a Para or Marine.

Wilf (and others) I think you will find this thread on ARRSE regarding soldier's load, training and tactics in Helmand very interesting. About 17 pages so far:
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As promised some more battle group newsletters

1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, from the last rotation, Herrick 11:
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1. Recruiting your own locals in AFG? I just don't see the Afghan government allowing it. Which is why I suggested the "loan service" idea, which has been done with sovereign countries in the past....

1. Most ISAF units have their ANA partner unit, which usually includes an ISAF OMLT (Operational Mentoring & Liaison Team). However the OMLT can only advise, sometimes very strongly, they can beg,...

Some interesting ideas. I suppose the idea with unit rotations is that unit cohesion is considered important. I agree the problem of continuity is one that has yet to be resolved satisfactorily. As...

No it is not. Only a small percentage of the Chindits were volunteers. The majority of the men on both the 1943 and 1944 operations were members of normal British or Gurkha infantry battalions who...

It happened too in WW1, Ww2 and Korea, though that was more a matter of individual reinforcements being posted in to whatever unit needed them, no matter their original capbadge, rather then formed...

This already happens to a large extent. Brigades and battle groups in Afghanistan, no matter what the "name-plate", are made up of units and sub-units from all over the British Army as well as often...

If you look you will find numerous stories of personal bravery and minor tactical successes, but not much else I'm afraid.

I was under the impression that there were quite a lot anyway, mainly Brits but some Aussies, Kiwis and Europeans, along with South Africans (did our guys count as foreigners?! I suppose they...