2 SCOTS Hone Skills Ahead Of Afghanistan Deployment

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland are in Cumbria continuing their preparations for their upcoming tour of Afghanistan.

At Warcop Training Area, 2 SCOTS have been practising their section defence drills ahead of their deployment on Operation Toral later in the year.

The troops have also been sharpening their mounted firing skills - vital for when operating the Foxhound vehicle in the country.

Corporal Anthony Boyle told Forces News: "It's extremely important to obviously train in these aspects.

"We've got a lot of guys [who] just came through [Infantry Training Centre] Catterick, straight into our battalion, so we need to, obviously, get them up to scratch before we actually deploy."

The Fusiliers will be part of the NATO effort helping to provide security against insurgents around the capital Kabul and developing the skills of Afghan forces.

"If we're unable to perform certain skills and withoutmistakes, it will be difficult - it can cause problems, it can cause injuries, it can cause accidents," said Fusilier Martin True.

"If we're good at what we do in every aspect, we'll be the best."

The soldiers are only a few weeks into their training and are due to take over from their sister battalion, 4 SCOTS, in October.

The battalion will continue to step up their training regime in the coming months ahead of the deployment.