Goodbye, son, and good luck

RESERVISTS from Swindon were today flying to the Gulf as preparations for a possible war against Iraq stepped up a gear.

Around 106 soldiers, including 37 Swindon reservists attached to A Squadron of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, set off for the Gulf from RAF Brize Norton early this morning.

And among those praying for our contingent of soldiers preparing to fight Iraq were Shrivenham parents John and Christina Hyde whose son Andrew was one of those deployed to the Middle East.

Lance Corporal Hyde, 28, will be performing specialist nuclear, biological and chemical decontamination duties with the Royal Yeomanry's A squadron.

John, 55, a military police officer of Stallpits Road, said: "I'm not over-concerned about Andrew going to the Gulf because he is very well prepared and he comes from a military background. What I am concerned about is the lack of moral support for the troops and the way it appears that people are not giving them the support they deserve.

"If they get a negative response everywhere it can have an adverse effect on the way they perform. We backed them in the Falklands and the last war in the Gulf but I haven't seen any of that this time round.

"It appears people with agendas govern all the opinion polls and the majority of people haven't been represented. There were millions of people who didn't attend these protest rallies."

The soldiers, who are based at the TA Centre in Church Place, had known of their imminent departure for around a month and had spent the past few weeks training at camps on Salisbury Plain before saying their goodbyes to loved ones.

The regiment last night travelled from Chelsea Barracks, where they spent the past few days being briefed by top-level army officers, to South Cerney army base before moving to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

Although their destination has not been confirmed, it is believed the troops have flown to Kuwait where they will continue practising their role as specialist chemical decontamination soldiers alongside the regular army.

At the beginning of the month the soldiers spent a day loading Land Rovers at Knook Camp on Salisbury Plain with kit including communications equipment, tents, generators and field hospitals, which were shipped out from Marchwood Military Port in Southampton.

The Swindon soldiers form part of 116 TA volunteers from the Royal Yeomanry. An advance party of 10 reservists that included commanding officer Lt Colonel Simon Brooks-Ward, 39, left for the Gulf last week.

The soldiers of A squadron are all specialists trained in nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) defence and as such will be acting in support of the joint NBC defence regiment.

The mobilisation of the Yeomanry the TA equivalent of the cavalry marked a historic occasion, as it is the first time since World War Two the unit has been compulsorily deployed for military action. A squadron is one of the Royal Yeomanry's two NBC squadrons acting as reservists to the joint full-time NBC regiments and pioneered many of the British Army's chemical detection techniques.

Some of the soldiers who carried out the early developments of chemical detection tactics still serve with the regiment today, making A squadron one of the most experienced in the army.

The squadron has trained to provide vitally important decontamination skills and reinforcement for chemical and nuclear reconnaissance. Soldiers regularly practise a wide range of skills, from driver training to specialised NBC detection tasks on stripped down Land Rovers.

Captain Jonathan Ford, 49, who is married and lives in Salisbury, has been serving with the Wiltshire Yeomanry for 15 years. He said: "We have completed our training package and are about to deploy, but we don't know where we are going. I expected to be called up because that's all part of the deal and now there is a feeling of, 'Let's just go and do it'.

"None of us have a clue about what we could face and are all feeling a mixture of nervousness, anxiety and excitement."