Exercise Iron Wolf: 4 Mercian Reservists Deploy To Lithuania
Personnel have swapped Wolverhampton for Lithuania, as 4 Mercian prepares for competitive NATO training.
More than 100 reservists from 4th Battalion, The Mercian Regiment have deployed to Lithuania on a NATO exercise.
Exercise Iron Wolf will see the Light Infantry battalion working with Lithuanian, Estonia and German colleagues in a variety of environments.
Personnel from 4 Mercian have left Wolverhampton expecting a change of scenery in woodland, swamp and urban environments.
The group will face-off against the NATO colleagues during force-on-force training.
Opportunities to train together in large numbers can be rare for these Army reservists, with 4 Mercian often gathering just a platoon or two, once a month, for training.
Overseas deployments such as these give the battalion a chance to learn alongside and from other nations' militaries.
Lieutenant Jack McCormack, Platoon Commander of 4 Mercian, said: "One of the best things... is learning other countries' tactics and their doctrine - they always differ from our own.
"It's interesting to see how that crosses, what the differences are and what the similarities are."
Briefings were followed by kit-loading, the group headed for its first destination of South Cerney, before catching a flight from RAF Brize Norton and beginning their Lithuanian NATO training.