As part of the elite 16 Air Assault Brigade, around 1300 soldiers from Scottish battalions and regiments will travel to Helmand province in May for a six month deployment as a direct replacement for the Edinburgh-based 52 Infantry Brigade, which has been in the province since the autumn.

The brigade will take over command of the multi-national Helmand Task Force.

Scots units under command of the brigade will include approximately 500 personnel from the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland), 500 from The Argyll and Sutherland Highlands (5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland), 120 from B Company of The Highlands (4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland) and 120 from B Squadron of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

Deployed
Last year 2 SCOTS, based at Glencorse Barracks, were saddened at the death of Captain John McDermid, the Fusilier's former unit welfare officer, who was killed while on patrol in Helmand province.

Other units being deployed from elsewhere in the UK include 2nd and 3rd Battalions of The Parachute Regiment, elements of the 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment and the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment. Aviation, logistics and medical units will also deploy and the Brigade will also command units from the Navy's Fleet Air Arm and The Royal Air Force.

The troops have been training individually and collectively for this challenging tour of duty for several months, with their mission rehearsal exercise currently underway on Salisbury Plain.

The units, which deploy with the brigade, will be fully manned and completely ready for the task that awaits them.

Afghanistan

An Army spokesman added that undermanned and insufficiently trained soldiers would not be sent on operations.

She added this was a considerable task for The Royal Regiment of Scotland, which was formed in March 2006, and is the first tour to Afghanistan for a lot of its soldiers.

While in Afghanistan, the soldiers will have access to a new state-of-the-art field hospital at Camp Bastion, which was opened by Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth last week.