Tom set for Iraq mission
ASOLDIER from Southport is deploying to Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces in their fight against terrorists.
Kingsman Tom Halsall, of 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, will spend six months near Baghdad helping to educate soliders as part of the battle against Daesh, also know as ISIS.
He role will also be to provide protection to other personnel who are training Iraqi soldiers in countering improvised explosive devices, infantry skills and combat first aid.
Tom, 23, and his colleagues completed preparations for the tour with a mission rehearsal exercise on the STANTA ranges in Norfolk during November. The troops practiced scenarios they could face in theatre, such as providing security for lessons and recovering broken down vehicles.
The 2 LANCS troops are light infantrymen, used to operating on foot, so learning how to work from Foxhound patrol vehicles has been key in their preparation for the mission. They will use state-of-theart vehicles while moving around Iraq.
Tom, a former pupil at Stanley High School, has been in the Army for three-and-a-half years and has previously been on exercises in Kenya and Belize.
Tom said: “This is my first tour and I’m really looking forward to it because I joined the Army to go away on operations.
“Working with Foxhounds, providing force protection and teaching our skills to the Iraqis, is very different to our normal infantry role and that should make it an interesting challenge.”