{"id":14706,"date":"2020-05-17T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=14706"},"modified":"2020-05-20T12:56:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T16:56:04","slug":"county-antrim-based-soldiers-deploy-to-afghanistan-despite-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=14706","title":{"rendered":"County Antrim-Based Soldiers Deploy To Afghanistan Despite Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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2 Rifles leave RAF Flying Station Aldergrove for Kabul (Crown Copyright\/PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>The Co Antrim-based 2 Rifles are deploying to Kabul as scheduled, despite the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Several hundred soldiers are in the process of moving out in staggered stages to the Afghan capital, once they have completed two weeks of quarantine.<\/p>\n

One individual was initially sent back to the UK after testing positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Kabul, but has since been cleared and returned.<\/p>\n

2 Rifles\u2019 commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sam Cates, told the PA news agency that measures are in place to protect his personnel from the virus as well as ensuring they do not take cases with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe required measures in Kabul are going to be very similar to the measures that we have got here in the UK, we will be social distancing where it is necessary to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of measures in place for us to make sure we keep our people safe.<\/p>\n

Our job is very different, it’s about providing the security to those people who are doing the institutional development and getting them to and from their place of work safely<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are champing at the bit to get out there. In the British Army going on operations is where you test yourself, a bit like being a professional footballer, if you didn\u2019t ever get to play a match, life would be pretty dull.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soldiers, who are drawn from across the UK and based at Thiepval barracks in Lisburn, will be the latest battalion to join Operation Toral, taking over from the Yorkshire Regiment.<\/p>\n

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