Newbury soldier home for Christmas

Cpl Mark Skeavington, aged 26, was part of an 80-strong squadron from The Light Dragoons deployed to support a European Union peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The squadron acted as the “eyes and ears” for the Commander of the European Union Community Security and Defence Policy, anticipating, monitoring and preventing civil unrest to help ensure that the country’s October elections took place in a secure and stable environment.
Last week, Cpl Skeavington marched on to the parade square to receive his Operation Althea medal in recognition of his six-month stint from the colonel of the regiment, Maj Gen (Retd) David Rutherford-Jones.
Cpl Skeavington said: “It was an interesting tour and it was great to see the country thriving. It was our job to talk to the locals to find out the mood on the ground and build up situational awareness; the people were very welcoming and very friendly.”
Mounted in Jackal armoured vehicles, the squadron covered more than 80,000 miles of challenging terrain and were heavily involved with the local civilian population, as well as working alongside their counterparts from the Austrian armed forces.
Based in the capital city of Sarajevo, the squadron conducted long-range patrols all over the country, some of which lasted for two weeks in the most northerly parts of the region.
The Light Dragoons were heavily involved with peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1990s.
Initially this was with the United Nations, monitoring the ceasefire agreement signed by the Croatian Government and local Serbian authorities.
This role later developed into a multi-national military Implementation Force which established a durable end to the hostilities.
The Light Dragoons deployed 13 times during the 1990s, which is thought to be more than any other unit in the British Army.