TWO school friends from Ellesmere Port are spending the next four months together serving in the Falklands.
Lance Corporal Wesley Roberts and Private Steven Ellerton will be carrying out the duties of the new Falkland Island Roulement Infantry Company (RIC).
Both soldiers are from 1st Battalion (Cheshire), The Mercian Regiment, and will be part of the current company group, known as A Coy.
They have been deployed with a wide range of capabilities including mortars and the Javelin anti-tank missile, which has proved invaluable to units in Afghanistan.
They will also have their battle group engineering assets with them for part of their deployment.
Lance Corp Roberts has been leading 2 Section, 1 Platoon, in its Quick Reaction Force duties.
He said: ‘We have just come back from Iraq and are all looking forward to going out on patrol here. It will be a very different sort of role.
“It will be great to get out to meet some of the locals and hopefully help them out and give them a hand, but also to see some of the wildlife and the area in general.”
RIC Operations Officer, Captain Ben Smyth, said: “A Company was last in the Falklands in 2001 and many of our soldiers have extremely fond memories of the tasks and patrols.
“They particularly remember being made very welcome by the Islanders.
“We are all looking forward to getting on with our job here, and we will live up to our motto, which is stand firm, strike hard!”
