Soldiering on in the danger zone

FOR many local families, last week was a week to be dreaded.
One which saw the start of the major deployment of soldiers from the Borders’ own infantry regiment to the most dangerous place in the world – Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
During the next few weeks a total of 400 troops of the Royal Scots Borderers will fly out to the war zone where just last week six British soldiers lost their lives in one of the grimmest periods for our army since being first sent to Afghanistan in 2001.
Nearly a decade on and with another bloody conflict having been fought in Iraq at the same time, it is becoming almost a tragic weekly occurrence to hear of more deaths of British soldiers in combat.
A decade ago few in the Borders would have known where Helmand was, yet now it is a name seared into our national consciousness. And rightly so. Because whether you agree or not about British forces being in Afghanistan, the men and women sent to war by our government are there on our behalf, doing a job most of us would run a mile from if asked.
Helmand is the largest of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Mainly desert, it is the world’s largest opium-producing region and one which the Taliban has made a key battleground.
The next six months will be an anxious period for those Borders families with loved ones serving with the battalion. As they depart, we wish them well, knowing they will uphold the finest traditions of the Scottish infantry – professionalism, courage, compassion and steadfastness.
And we will long for the day, which seems so far off today, when we see them return home to their proud Borderland.