#7 Iraq | How can you unwind on deployment? | Fancy a Brew?
Join our four guests as they discuss life in Iraq as part of the British Army team currently deployed on Operation SHADER in the latest episode of our Fancy a Brew? podcast
🎙 Welcome back!
In the latest episode of our Fancy a Brew? podcast, join Guardsman Sixsmith, Lance Sergeant Henry, Lance Sergeant McCormella and Guardsman Lilly as they discuss life as part of the UK Mobility Company deployed on Operation SHADER in Iraq.
No strangers to Iraq, for the last six years the UK Armed Forces have been passing on their skills and drills to the Iraqi forces.
In 2014, and in parallel to the air campaign led by the Royal Air Force, a small team of experts from the British Army were sent to Iraq to train forces there.
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What is your camp like?
Guardsman Sixsmith: “The accommodation I would say is like a big ISO container with four beds in it, so four blokes or women can share it. There is quite a bit of spacing in the way it’s laid out, with two beds at either side with wardrobes in the middle. There is also air-con as well, but when it doesn’t work it’s a nightmare, it's like a sweatbox inside.
Guardsman Lilly: “It’s easy to get to the different facilities. Obviously, previous tours have constructed stuff for us to use, for example, the volleyball court has been constructed, and there’s a hut outside with seating areas for us as well which is pretty good. There is a chapel and a gym that has also been set up and slowly added to over time. The facilities on our camp are brilliant.
What is the food situation like?
Lance Sergeant McCormella: “In regards to the food situation, we’ve got the American dining facility, and the food gets a little bit monotonous at times.
Lance Sergeant Henry: “There are other facilities that we can use on the actual base but at the minute due to COVID restrictions, you can’t use them until you’re fully vaccinated and you’ve had your incubation period after your last vaccination.
Lance Sergeant McCormella: “We’ve had pizza, a couple of barbecues, but we can also get other people to go to the restaurants and cafes for us and bring us back food if that’s what we want.
What do you get up to on your downtime?
Guardsman Sixsmith: We play FIFA, go to the gym, we have a welfare room, play volleyball. The welfare room has loads of things in it, board games and stuff like that that we use all the time.
Lance Sergeant Henry: “You’re limited obviously because you’re on operations but we’ve got some great facilities, your imagination is your limit.
Guardsman Lilly: “It’s been a good opportunity for a lot of the boys to get fit over the period that we have been here.
Is anyone missing home?
Guardsman Lilly: “I think for the job we all do and the time frame we came in was pretty much perfect. I’ve not been here too long for it to get too monotonous but been here long enough to get a gauge of the ground and get good at what we are doing. I haven’t really missed home that much.
Lance Sergeant Henry: “I think with present-day facilities like WiFi, it’s just as if you are in another town. We are based in Aldershot and it’s still just like being in Aldershot and your family being in Scotland, you’re just over a phone line, and it doesn’t seem as if you are a couple of thousand miles away, it’s just so surreal.”
“You’re on an operation, and people may perceive operations back in the UK as being away and out in the wilderness with no facilities, but here it is actually like you are doing an operation that you could actually be in the UK doing, it’s that surreal.”
— Lance Sergeant Henry
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