SOLDIERS from across Cheshire have flown back from Lithuania after a fortnight controlling riots and arresting war criminals.
The mock-up scenarios were faced by the Territorial Army's Kings and Cheshire Regiment (KCR), which was chosen to represent the UK in a NATO peace-keeping exercise.
Soldiers from Chester, Wirral and Frodsham were among 150 who took part in the training at a former Soviet army camp in a forest at Rukla, near the city of Kaunas.
The multi-national exercise - dubbed Amber Hope - included realistic scenarios such as suicide bombings, ambushes on checkpoints, grieving families reporting atrocities and the safe escort of refugees.
It included troops from 11 other countries, Finland, Latvia, Poland and Estonia among them.
In recent years, thousands of North West TA soldiers have been deployed on peace-keeping missions throughout the world.
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Rafferty, commanding officer of the Kings and Cheshire Regiment, said: 'Exercise Amber Hope was extremely successful.
'We managed to achieve, in two weeks, a high level of military understanding and the contribution of the British force, the KCR, was recognised and praised by all of the other countries taking part.'
Major Paul Clare, 39, a sales manager from Great Sutton, Elles-mere Port, commanded a multi-national company.
The father-of-two, a TA soldier for 12 years, said: 'This training is just about as realistic as you can make it.
'We have dealt with all sorts - including safely escorting a convoy of refugees and dealing with mines placed by the roadside.'
Former Helsby High School pupil Private Tom Wood, of Frodsham, now an O2 customer service adviser in Runcorn, said: 'During the first week of the exercise, I was part of the team that demonstrated machine gun firing, which was a great experience.'
