Troops land in Scottish mountains to face off against ‘enemy forces’

Scottish troops from 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS) swapped their ceremonial duties for an intense aviation deployment exercise in the snow-covered hills of Garelochhead, according to a British Army news release.

As part of Exercise Argyle Hunter, 50 troops from Balaklava Company were airlifted by RAF Chinooks from Redford Barracks in Edinburgh and dropped into a simulated combat zone, facing ambushes, patrols, and hasty attacks in challenging terrain and extreme conditions.

Captain Elliott Smith, 5 SCOTS, said in the news release that the rare opportunity pushed soldiers to their limits, testing their ability to operate in high-intensity combat scenarios.

“This was a return to core infanteering, undertaking offensive enabling actions, including ambushes, fighting patrols and hasty attacks, up and down hills, across rivers, involving casualties and captured personnel,” Captain Smith explained.

While 5 SCOTS is known for its state and ceremonial duties, the exercise allowed the unit to sharpen its core combat skills, preparing for future operational deployments alongside NATO partners.

The exercise coincided with 28 Squadron RAF’s Exercise Kukri Dawn, a helicopter pilot confirmatory training exercise that involved underslung loads of Army weaponry and resilience operations with Police Scotland.

According to Captain Smith, the integration was a valuable training opportunity:

“We’re a ceremonial company, but we need to take these opportunities where they come up,” he said. “It was by happenchance the Puma squadron were up here conducting their training, and doing this kind of thing is a training objective in itself because conducting aviation moves is part of our core skill set.”

Balaklava Company has been steadily increasing the intensity of its training in preparation for future NATO operations.

Starting with section-level rural and urban drills, the troops progressed to platoon-level defensive operations in Ripon before moving on to shooting drills and trench warfare training in Catterick.

“The end state is we’re going to go on exercise for two weeks under 51 Brigade, which will validate us at company level and set the conditions for us to work with NATO partners,” Captain Smith said in the news update.