REGIMENTAL
ROYAL GURKHA RIFLES NEWSLETTER
T
FIRST BATTALION
his year began as the last year ended, with the bulk of 1 RGR deployed in Kabul on Op TORAL 7 from October 2018 to May 2019. Op TORAL is the UK contribution to the NATO RESOLUTE SUPPORT mission which focuses on the institutional development of key Afghan Government Ministries and is delivered primarily through its Train, Advise, Assist (TAA) line of operation. The responsibility for enabling and protecting those who delivered the TAA in Kabul rests exclusively with the Kabul Security Force (KSF) and their single Battle Group, the Kabul Protection Unit (KPU). For six months elements of 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment came together under a single 1 RGR Battle Group Headquarters to be the KPU for Op TORAL 7.
in early May 2019. Throughout B (Sari Bair) Company and Battalion HQ were based in the very centre of the Kabul, from where they protected NATO advisors as they conducted missions at locations all across the city. B (Sari Bair) Company also provided a quick-reaction force for incident response. C (Mogaung) Company was based at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in the North of the city and protected NATO advisors at the Afghan New Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Headquarters of the Afghan Air Force and the RAF’s aviation detachment. The more significant High-Profile Attacks (HPAs) that the insurgents conducted on Op TORAL 7 happened in 2018, including the action at the G4S base known as Camp ANJUMAN. However, the KPU QRF were still stood to on over a dozen other occasions during the second half of the tour in 2019. During Op TORAL 7 1
The 1 RGR contribution saw just under 300 soldiers deploy from October 2018 until the last man recovered
HRH The Prince of Wales presenting 1 RGR soldiers with their Op TORAL medals at the RGR 25 celebrations in Sir John Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe, 9 July 2019
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