Op Cabrit: Homecoming for military personnel after extended Estonia deployment

1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment took part in a homecoming parade after returning to their headquarters in Bulford, Wiltshire, following an extended period of deployment to Estonia.

1 Mercian Regiment has been deployed on Operation Cabrit, continuing to maintain the UK's military rotating presence in Estonia since 2017. 

Operation Cabrit sees about 900 British personnel deployed on a continuous rotation, leading efforts to tighten Euro-Atlantic security alongside French, Danish and Estonian forces.

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• How Army's Mercians are preparing for leading NATO role on Russian border
• Royal Tank regiment conducts live-firing ahead of Estonia deployment

The UK operational deployment to Estonia has seen British troops leading a multinational battlegroup as part of the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP).

They took part in numerous exercises, further cementing relations with NATO partners.

NATO's Warsaw Summit in 2016 set the conditions for the establishment of an eFP in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.

This committed alliance to a greater presence in the three Baltic states and Poland came in light of a more assertive Russia in the same decade.