Black Watch in action in Kandahar province/Upperdate: RAF Regiment

From an earlier post:

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Then there is the British battalion at Kandahar, the quick reaction force for RC South as a whole [preceding link gone, see here and here]:

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), took over as the Regional Battle Group (South) on 10 April...

A recent operation (note US Marine helicopters):

Black Watch in air assault on Taleban supply route

SCOTTISH soldiers have carried out a major operation to improve security in southern Afghanistan.

Troops from The Black Watch 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, recovered explosives during Operation Sarak 1 in the Maywand district of Kandahar [that's where the US Army 2-2 Ramrods battalion is located, see end of this post]. The five-day mission involved 525 soldiers and a rifle company of the Afghanistan National Army [emphasis added].

It was the first major operation undertaken since the Black Watch arrived in the country at the end of last month to become the regional battle group for southern Afghanistan.

An air assault was launched on 21 April, when soldiers dropped from UK Chinook and US marine Sea Stallion helicopters.

UK Apache and US Cobra attack helicopters [the [Super] Cobras are Marine too, see near end of this post for more on US Marine helicopters in RC South--I wonder if some are now stationed at Kandahar] provided cover from the air, while on the ground a troop of Royal Marine Viking armoured vehicles and platoon of soldiers specialising in mortar fire were on stand-by.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Cartwright, commanding officer of the Black Watch, said during the operation they had found parts of improvised explosive devices and insurgent military supplies.

He added the troops, who are part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had met with local elders in the Maywand region.

"This was our first Battle Group size operation since the Battalion was in Iraq five years ago," he said.

"On this occasion the operation passed without major incident, with a few small finds of insurgent ordnance and parts of improvised explosive devices. There were no engagements with insurgents themselves.

"The Afghan people in the area were pleased to see the Afghan National Army being supported by ISAF forces in this remote area," he added [given the numbers mentioned above, one wonders who was supporting whom].

One might have thought our media might have found the first major operation by this British unit based at KAF worth reporting. Hah!.

Update: Two MoD photos, more at this link (via Milnews.ca in "Comments"):

Bravo Company patrol through a poppy field en route to an extraction point with the Viking vehicles approaching in the distance [Picture: Sgt Chris Halton RLC]


Soldiers of Bravo Company meet up with a convoy of Vikings which will extract them from the area [Picture: Sgt Chris Halton RLC]

And from an MoD story:

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For their deployment in Afghanistan 3 SCOTS will be based within Camp Roberts [a nice historical reference--do look at this link] in Kandahar Airfield and will work directly to the Dutch-led divisional headquarters known as Regional Command (South), part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force.

Kandahar is home to the forces of seven nationalities within the ISAF coalition and contains a huge array of supporting equipment.

Upperdate: Bruce Rolston (photos from his time at Kandahar here, lots more at his blog, do look at it) has drawn to my attention that the RAF Regiment keeps a squadron (they are infantry, despite the name) at KAF for base defence that also engages in operations. A recent patrol:

Uppestdate: So much for Camp Roberts and British imperial history in Afstan--thanks to Dan in "Comments". But there is still an imperial connection.