Home coming parade for soldiers
Shropshire-based soldiers serving in Afghanistan will be welcomed back to the county at a homecoming parade next week.
The parade for the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, which is based at Clive Barracks in Tern Hill, will be held on August 19.
There will also be a music festival and fun day to follow the parade.
About 500 soldiers from the regiment went to Afghanistan in December last year to provide security, training and support.
They have been based around three main places – the airport, centre of Kabul and in the national army academy.
The regiment took over from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles.
The Royal Gurkha Rifles had been in Afghanistan since April as part of Operation TORAL, a force protection mission for NATO staff based in Kabul.
Earlier this month British troops, including members of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, were targeted by drones in Afghanistan.
When the drones in Afghanistan are spotted over the New Kabul Compound they are disabled by US soldiers using the AR-15 Drone Defender, which looks like a rifle with an antenna mechanism to the front and has a range of more than 1,300ft.
Instead of firing bullets, its radio waves disrupt the signal controlling the drones, forcing them to fall to the ground.
Major Paul Martin, of the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment which is based at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, said there had been 68 drone sightings in the past two years over the Kabul compound where a total of 150 British troops are based.
The Royal Irish has carried out three tours of duty in Afghanistan previously in 2006, 2008 and 2011.
Two years ago the regiment took delivery of new types of armoured vehicles after officially changing its focus from an air to a ground assault organisation.
Until 2014 it mainly roped or dropped into action from helicopters, but then officially changed its designation to a light-armoured vehicle based group.
The changes were part of the ongoing UK-wide restructuring plan known as Army 2020.
Since 2014 the regiment has been known as a light protected mobility battalion operating from a range of new vehicles, including the Foxhound.
