Shropshire

A Company of 1 Royal Irish deployed to Afghanistan on 15 September

BBC Shropshire meets the soldiers and families of 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment as they face a six- month combat tour in Afghanistan.

The series provides a unique insight into the experience of war, as it is felt both by those who fight it, and by the loved ones they leave at home.

1 Royal Irish is based at Clive Barracks, in Tern Hill.

In September, about 650 soldiers from the battalion deployed to the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.

Lt Col Colin Weir MBE, who leads the battalion, knows exactly what he is asking of his men and their families. His wife Diane and their three young sons will remain at their home in Tern Hill, north Shropshire.

It's the loneliness of when they go... you want to let your children see that you're not upset Diane Weir

Diane Weir knows exactly what it takes to keep the family home going while her husband goes to war, but familiarity doesn't make the experience any easier: "The tours seem to get more dangerous every time... It's the worry of what could happen. And, you miss them when they go. You miss your friend and I know the boys miss their daddy."

Some of the soldiers will be on their third tour to Afghanistan in just four years, following two tours to Iraq. 1 Royal Irish has also been deployed to Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone, all within the lifetime of the youngest soldier serving today.

Twenty five-year-old L/Cpl Thomas Dowie will be on his fifth combat tour, but his first away from his 10-month-old son. "This is going to be a very different tour now, a lot harder," he said.

"We were told Afghanistan was the new frontier, this is going to be the war of our age. This is going to stop the terrorism threatening the UK. That's why I'm going. That's why I'm still a soldier."

The deployment means Sergeant Scott Porter was forced to leave his wife Amanda caring for their four-week-old baby boy.

"There is a saying that me and a couple of the wives have. It's not just the husbands that do a six-month tour. It's the wives, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, they all do the tour. It's between everybody," Mrs Porter said.

Col Weir is the battalion commander and this will be his ninth tour of duty. He met his wife Diane when she was working as a nurse in Edinburgh and her flatmate asked if he, and a few other guys from the regiment, could crash on the floor after a night out.

The family moved to Shropshire only a few months before the start of the current tour. While Col Weir is responsible for the lives of over a thousand men and women, he believes his wife has the tougher job, looking after eight-year-old James, six-year-old Henry and Edward, aged just 18 months.

The 1st battalion is part of 16 Air Assault Brigade

The Royal Irish likes to call itself a family regiment, and there is probably no better example of that than the Herberts. The family can trace ancestors who have served with the unit and its predecessors back over 300 years.

Captain Jeff Herbert and his two sons Rangers John and Luke continue that tradition today, and all three will serve together in Afghanistan. There they will be joined by Kris Hanlon, whose sister Kirsty married John Herbert just over a month before he deployed.

16 Air Assault Brigade is the UK's high readiness early-entry force

Recently promoted Cpl Thomas Dowie was the youngest British soldier to join the war in Iraq on his first combat tour, after being deployed just one day after his 18th birthday.

Now he is 25 and this will be his fifth operational tour, and third to Afghanistan. As part of the frontline Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition Reconnaissance (ISTAR) unit, he will be his commander's eyes and ears on the ground.

Cpl Dowie's thoughts will be with his wife Laura and infant son Riley. Thomas's brother Alex is also in the battalion and will be joining him in Afghanistan.

Sgt Scott Porter, the battalion's medical sergeant, was one of the first to be deployed to Afghanistan, missing the sixth anniversary of his wedding to wife Amanda.

She now has sole responsibility for looking after the couple's four children, 10-year-old Courtney, seven-year-old Josh, five-year-old Ben, and Andrew (who was just four weeks old when his dad left).

The lowest rank in the regiment is Ranger, rather than Private

Ranger Rob Taylor is one of the older guys heading out to Afghanistan on what will be his third tour since joining the army at 17.

Ranger Taylor works within logisitics, making sure the battlegroup has everything it needs to operate. At 36, this may be Rob's last tour, but as he admits, you rarely know for sure in the army.

With such uncertainty surrounding life on the frontline, Ranger Taylor finds comfort where he can: "Anybody who joins the army will make a will. We don't hold them, the army holds them... because then I know everything is there for the wife and kids."

His wife Donna accepts marrying a soldier means she has to look after eight-year-old Cody and six-year-old Olivia on her own. Cody is keen to follow in his father's footsteps and become a soldier when he grows up.

Tern Hill barracks lie in rural north Shropshire, near to Market Drayton

Sgt Alistair McKinney, aged 38, went to Afghanistan in 2006. He was shot in the head during the fighting and is now paralysed down his left-hand side.

His mum, Josephine, has moved in with him permanently to provide care, while his dad, Frank, travels down regularly from their home in Scotland.

For now, Alistair lives in the soldiers' quarters at Tern Hill and still feels he is part of the regiment. But, after four years of medical treatment, he will soon face the decision of whether or not he will be discharged.

The regiment's 2nd battalion is based in Portadown, Northern Ireland

A minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, this is the fourth operational tour in six years for Reverend van Os, the battalion padre.

Leaving a wife and grown-up children behind, his role is to provide spiritual support to the soldiers. As men who face life and death more regularly than most, Reverend van Os said that religious faith is strong within the battalion.

The padre is also there to provide the soldiers with support, with someone to talk to and, if they seek it, with absolution. Under the Geneva Convention, he is forbidden to carry arms.

The Royal Irish Regiment can trace its history back to 1689, through conflicts including the Napoleonic Wars, the Boer War, World War I and World War II.

In 1992 the Royal Irish Rangers merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment to form the Royal Irish Regiment. In memory of its predecessor, the lowest rank soldiers bear the title of Rangers, rather than Private.

Today it is among the most committed regiments in the British army - in terms of the number of combat operations in which its troops have served.

1 Royal Irish is an air assault battalion, consisting of about 650 full-time infantry soldiers and currently based at Clive Barracks, in Tern Hill near Market Drayton. The 2nd battalion consists of Territorial Army troops and is based in Portadown, Northern Ireland.

While the regiment's roots are in Northern Ireland, where it recruits from all sections of the community and both sides of the sectarian divide, many of the soldiers in 1st Battalion come from further afield, including the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Fiji and the Caribbean.

Today the battalion forms part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, the UK's high-readiness early-entry force.

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