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Will Blackburn resides in Poland. He is a former Royal Military Police Reserve. He started in the London Regiment and decided to cross over to the RMP TA at Brixton. In 2003 the war in Iraq meant that his unit was mobilised to Op Telic 3 and served there for 6 months. The tour that he went on was immediately after 6 members of 156 Provost Company were killed.

He did his basic training took place at Pirbright which had been a guard’s depot. All elements of the TA attended this centre so Will got to meet members from other regiments. Basic training changed over time to make them battle ready. This training gave him good grounding for his work in Ukraine.

We discuss recruitment within the armed forces and the demise of recruitment by outsourcing to private companies.

Will went to Chilwell to prepare for deployment to Iraq and was then bussed to Germany to wait for transport to Iraq. As they waited, they were given additional training in driving and weapons handling which will found invaluable. Will and his colleagues took a direct flight in a military chartered aircraft to Basra. Being part of Rover Group meant that Will operated as an escort and driver. Will recalls incidents where there was contact with the enemy.

We discuss fatalities and Op Minimise and the fall of Nasaria. As the fall took place Will was told that the was likely to be held back and the demob date was on hold. However, this changed position changed ad having been de-kitted he was placed on an aircraft and flew back to Cyprus and then to Brize Norton in the UK. He was transported back by bus to Nottingham and sent home! He arrived back to Paddington wearing his desert combats and having to prepare adjusting back to civvie street without any decompression. Will found the transition difficult and this took several months before life normalised.

In later year Will met and married his wife who is Polish. They relocated from the UK to northern Poland. At the commencement of the Ukraine Russia war there was a drive to find military equipment. Utilising the website army rumour service www.arrse.co.uk by the end of 2022 Will was invited to take part in the convoy to the frontline hand delivering much needed supplies to the troops. He has been to the Donbas and other areas that have been ravaged by war.

He spent time with the fighting drone unit. The skills displayed are incredible. At one point he was 3k from the zero line. Will has become an author and describes his experiences in his book The War Next Door. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-...

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