Black Watch returns to Basra base

**4me2** · 4th December 2004

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The convoy travelled for two days to get back to its base in Shaibah

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The 850-strong Black Watch battle group has pulled out of Camp Dogwood and returned to its base in Basra.

There was controversy when its troops were deployed near Baghdad a month ago to back US operations, but Tony Blair said the country was proud of them.

They are expected to return home within the next week. Five troops were killed during the deployment in central Iraq.

Lt Col James Cowan who led the mission said: "Their deaths are something we will never forget."

"The happiness of our homecoming is marked by the thought that some of us are not coming back."

Three soldiers died in a suicide car bomb attack along with an Iraqi translator, another in a roadside bombing and one in a road traffic accident.

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When we touch down in Edinburgh I'll be singing I can tell you

Lance Corporal Danny Buist

Families' tell of relief
Cigars and anecdotes for unit

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Black Watch troops are now expected to spend between five and seven days back at their base in Shaibah before flying home to the UK.

The battle group arrived there on Saturday after a two-day, 370-mile journey from Camp Dogwood, carried out in secret amid a full media blackout.

Camp Dogwood is expected to be reinforced by US Marines.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister believes the country can be very proud of the job the Black Watch have done in difficult circumstances."

'Kilt on'

The soldiers are now preparing to go home for Christmas.

Lance Corporal Danny Buist, 29, from Arbroath, said: "I'm very happy to be out of Dogwood but the operation isn't over until we're back in Scotland - that's when the fat lady sings, when we are back with our families.

"When we touch down in Edinburgh I'll be singing I can tell you."

He added that he would like to think their mission had made a difference "for the sake of the guys we lost".

"I think we have done something good to hopefully make this country safer."

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</TD><TD class=sibtbg>SOLDIERS LOST DURING MISSION
Private Kevin Thomas McHale, 27, Fife: road accident
Pte Pita Tukatukawaqa, 27, Fiji: roadside bomb attack
Sgt Stuart Grey, 31, Fife: suicide bomb attack
Pte Paul Lowe, 19, Fife: suicide bomb attack
Pte Scott McArdle, 22, Fife: suicide bomb attack

'I would send troops again'
Call to stop merger protests

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Lance Corporal Thomas Rennie said: "I can't wait to get back to Scotland for Christmas and New Year and Hogmanay.

"It's going to be brilliant. I'm going to drink as much beer as possible and get the kilt on and get out on the town."

Corporal Alec Wilson, 27, from Fife, who was had to postpone his wedding planning for this month said: "The first thing I'm going to do is go for a curry."

The battle group was sent to Camp Dogwood to support an assault by US and Iraqi forces on Falluja.

The British commander who sent the Black Watch north told the BBC last week that other British units could be redeployed to other parts of Iraq in the future.

Given that senior British officers believed it was in the Camp Dogwood area that the campaign against insurgents would be won or lost, it was likely British and US troops would fight there together again, said BBC world affairs correspondent David Loyn.

'Stabbed in the back'

He said the US marines had called the contribution of the battle group "awesome".

"There was a good reason for doing this and we have had some great results," said US Colonel Ron Johnson.

The British battle group believed it had been successful, if success was measured by the number of rockets taken by Camp Dogwood, said our correspondent.

Fewer were fired in the later weeks than early on, when they took more hits, he said.

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US Marines' Col Ron Johnson thanked the soldiers for their work

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The battle group was made up of 550 men from the Black Watch, 115 from the Queen's Dragoon Guards and smaller contingents from the Royal Marines and Royal Engineers.

There have been reports that the 254-year-old Black Watch will be merged with other units to form a super regiment on its return.

Former soldiers have been protesting the move, but last month Black Watch's commanding officer Lt Col James Cowan said they were allowing emotion to ride over reason.

Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said there was anger among those connected with the regiment who felt they were being "stabbed in the back" by the government.

"The real anger is the fact that while these soldiers have been standing in the line of fire the regiment is to be merged and abolished."

The regiment, which traditionally recruits from the Scottish regions of Perthshire, Angus and Fife is based in Warminster, Wiltshire. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4068177.stm

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