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EUROPE
04 Aug 10. Afghanistan: OP HERRICK. A Lance Sergeant from 1st Bn Scots Guards was killed by small arms fire in the Lashkar Gah District on
1 Aug 10. A Marine (i.e. Private) from 40 Commando was killed in an explosion in the Sangin region on
1 Aug 10. UK deaths since the start of Operations on 7 Oct 01 thus rose to 327, of whom 288 were killed as a result of hostile action. (MoD, 1 Aug 10.)
The military effort to clear insurgents from Central Helmand, OP TOR SHEZADA, “is going according to plan and extremely well….”. (MoD, 2 Aug 10.) The Taliban stronghold of Sayedebad had been “seized and held….”. (MoD, 3 Aug 10.)
The ISAF Commander, General D Petraeus, issued an updated Tactical Directive, providing guidance for the use of force by units operating in Afghanistan. The Directive reinforces the concept of ‘disciplined use of force’, in partnership with Afghan Security Forces, to defeat the insurgency. (ISAF, 4 Aug 10.)
Six RN instructors from the Mounting Centre, Portsmouth, visited their US counterparts at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to compare pre-deployment training methods. (MoD, 5 Aug 10.)
Malaysia and Tonga have been confirmed as the 47th and 48th ISAF contributing nations. Tongan troops are due to arrive “by the end of the year” and will operate under Task Force Helmand in support of force protection at Bastion. (MoD briefing, 5 Aug 10.)
Two new RAF units have been formed, to provide force protection at Bastion and Kandahar Airfields.
58 Squadron, RAF Regiment is based at RAF Leuchars and No 8 RAF Force Protection Wing Headquarters is based at RAF Waddington. (MoD, 6 Aug 10.)
Comment: The Netherlands formally ended its military mission to Afghanistan on 1 Aug 10. The 1,955 Dutch contingent (as at 6 Jul 10) has been replaced by Australian, Singaporean, Slovak and US troops.
(Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/31, 09 Aug 10)
04 Aug 10. Campaign Medals: Additional Personnel Eligible. The MoD announced (4 Aug 10) that HM The Queen had approved changes to the eligibility for the Afghanistan and Iraq campaign medals. At present, members of the Armed Forces qualify for a medal after serving for 30 continuous days but now those who have accumulated 45 days will also be eligible. Personnel, such as Aeromedical Evacuation Teams, will be allowed to build up accrued days.
Comment: The inclusion of aggregate service is retrospective to the start of Operations in Afghanistan
(11 Sep 01) and Iraq (20 Jan 03). Only those deployed on Operational duty will be eligible and not those visiting. Personnel killed in action/wounded in action and evacuated will continue to be awarded the appropriate campaign medal, regardless of the number of days served. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/31, 09 Aug 10)
Aug 10. Small businesses punch above their weight at DVD 2010. “The Infrastructure Response Equipment Group launched at DVD 2010 was nothing short of an outstanding success!” said David Claxton – Chairman of this new an innovative group of companies. Recently formed from chartered members of UKTI DSO’s Small Business Unit, InfREG has already signed-up 16 companies a