Our boys missing home (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Our boys missing home

Dean Bird with his girlfriend Nicky Jeans. Dean celebrated his 21st birthday on duty.A GROUP of Swindon soldiers are spending Easter in Kosovo on a peace-keeping mission. The five are all privates with the Royal Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Berkshire Regiment (1 RGBW), based in Hounslow, West London.

Sheldon Fry, 19, Alex Harper, 20, Scott Evans, 18, Richard Shrubb, 21 and Dean Bird, also 21, were deployed at short notice on March 18, following a sudden escalation in violence and tension in the strife-torn region.

The trouble broke out after Albanian Moslems blamed Serbs for the deaths of two young children who drowned.

The Swindon soldiers have been patrolling the capital, Pristina, and the town of Kosovo Polje.

Both were the scenes of violence which left homes, schools and shops destroyed.

However, since the arrival of 1 RGBW, there have been no further serious incidents and the Army says the troops have been welcomed by both the Serb and Albanian communities.

As already revealed in the Evening Advertiser, Dean Bird, a former Kingsdown School pupil, is looking forward to returning home from duties because his family and fiance Nicky, 19, are planning a joyous late 21st birthday celebration.

Dean celebrated his actual birthday on April 1, while on duty.

He said: "This is my first operational tour since joining the Army last year, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

"The other lads took the mickey out of me because I spent my 21st birthday on patrol.

"Celebrations were limited to an Army brew!"

Colleague Sheldon Fry added: "It's great to put our training into practice.

"The locals are really talkative, and seem genuinely pleased to see us here, but it's difficult being away from my fiance and family."

1 RGBW's training for its role in Kosovo Army units take on the role in rotation began in October of last year.

That training culminated in a four-week exercise in Kenya, involving live firing attacks.

Once the exercise was finished, the troops were given the choice of further training in Kenya or a re turn to the UK, but they were soon summoned for emergency deployment.