THE past twelve months have been another busy year for locally based troops with soldiers being deployed on operations and exercises across the globe.

The principal deployments were to Estonia with the 1 Royal Welsh Battlegroup and soldiers from First Fusiliers provided mentoring and training to Ukrainian forces and small group of soldiers provided training support around the world.

On the estate site, preparations for the arrival of soldiers and their families from Germany based 20 Armoured Brigade continued apace with new barrack accommodation, messes and offices springing up across the Garrison.

Salisbury Plain itself saw a number of high-profile exercises with troops from many nations using the excellent facilities culminating in the four week long Autonomous Warfare Experiment which saw the biggest array of robots on the Plain ever.

The most high-profile deployment of the year was the military assistance to the Novichok poising incidents in Salisbury where more than 1,200 soldiers and airmen from the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Task Force spent months decontaminating buildings in Salisbury and Amesbury.

The year began with a huge success when two local soldiers, Major Natalie Taylor, of Bulford based 1 MERCIAN and Lieutenant Jenni Stephenson with Larkhill based 32 Regiment, Royal Artillery were two of the ice maidens the first all-female team to cross the Antarctica continent from coast-to-coast using muscle power alone.

Later in the year Captain Jennifer Kehoe won Gold at the Winter Paralympics as the eyes for blind skier Menna Fitzpatrick.

Work on clearing the site at Larkhill for new quarters uncovered relics from as early as 3650BC to an MG from the 1960’s. An important find were eight practice tunnels dug during 1916 which revealed the names of 208 soldiers who had dug them.

The £70 million housing development in Tidworth was completed in March with Minister for Defence Procurement, Gusto Bebb handing over the keys to the first

The Royal Tank Regiment received a new Standard from HM The Queen and The Royal Wessex Yeomanry received a new Guidon from the Earl of Wessex.

Breaking Ground Heritage and Operation Nightingale continued to make some remarkable finds on the Plain with the discovery of 20 Saxon graves at Barrow Clump which contained some wonderful artefacts.

The autumn saw hundreds of local troops deployed to Oman for Exercise Saif Sareea 3, the biggest desert exercise for five years, while on Plain the Land Combat Power demonstration gave Defence Secretary the vehicle to announce that all roles in the Armed Forces would be open to women.

The year ended on a high with the Sun Millies Awards going to two local units, The Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Task Force based at Winterbourne Gunner won the Hero at Home Unit award for their work combating the Novichock poisoning in Salisbury and The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory won the Innovation Award as they became the first in the world to discover the key to preventing deaths from sepsis.

2019 looks equally busy for our troops with the first arrivals moving into the Garrison as they begin to return from Germany as well as some of the final moves under the Army 2020 Plan.