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"Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Rose, officer who saw service with both The Black Watch and the Gurkhas. Born 22 February 1926 in Glasgow. Died. 2 September 2016, aged 90 Lieutenant Alastair Rose saw service in the Far East and proved a fine ambassador for both The Black Watch and the Gurkhas – regiments which he admired throughout his life. He served them loyally and remained a great upholder of their traditions. This was evidenced when his coffin was carried from Birse and Feughside Church and it was accompanied by the pipes of the Gurkhas. Rose had done much to spread and...

Soldiers from the Black Watch revisited the well dug by their forebears in 1849 — thought to be the first time the famous regiment has returned to the spot since. The pipes and drums of the legendary Scottish regiment, now the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, performed yesterday as the relandscaped Black Watch Well off North Shore Road, Pembroke, was officially opened by Governor George Fergusson and Public Works Minister Craig Cannonier. Mr Fergusson, whose late father Brigadier Charles Fergusson was commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch, said: "Their predecessors dug this well...

Scotland's Pipe and Drums of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion is an elite military regiment whose history stretches back almost three centuries. The precise origins of the group is unknown, however in 1716 a small band of 'hautboys' existed. The band grew in strength during the early part of the 19th century, and by 1838 could boast some 32 performers. Throughout the 19th century the band expanded, until in 1888 there was an establishment of 44. The Pipe and Drums of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion now travels the world, and in recent years has visited Australia, Bermuda, South Korea,...

Hundreds of soldiers from the Black Watch have destroyed a Taleban stronghold after uncovering a network of tunnels that concealed bomb factories, the Ministry of Defence said. About 500 soldiers, including members of the Afghan National Army and Canadian experts, swooped into Howz-e-Maded in the Zhari district of Kandahar province in three waves of six Chinook helicopters.

The best friend of a fallen Black Watch soldier has mourned his death wearing a dress and stockings, to honour a pact made with his mate. Barry Delaney kneels weeping as mourners gather at Barnhill Cenetery for the funeral of Black Watch soldier Kevin Elliot.

On the frontline with British troops in Afghanistan As Afghanistan prepares for an election, award-winning photographer Sean Smith, stationed with British troops during Operation Panther's Claw, finds many soldiers becoming frustrated at the inexperience and lack of discipline of the Afghan National Army. guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 August 2009 video at link etc

A British sniper killed a Taliban leader with the longest-ever fatal bullet shot in Afghanistan - from nearly TWO KILOMETRES away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds, 25, camped on the roof of a shop for three days as he waited for the perfect conditions to shoot the terrorist commander. He calculated the range, wind and trajectory before pulling the trigger - and the bullet flew 1,853 metres before hitting the target in the chest. The warlord, known as 'Mula', is thought to be responsible for co-ordinating several attacks against British and American troops since the outbreak of war in 2001. Cpl Reynolds,...

A SCOTTISH soldier has been praised for making the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan after shooting a top Taliban fighter from almost a mile away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds took out the Afghan drug lord during some of the hardest fighting of the war so far. The 25-year-old, of 3 Scots, The Black Watch, kept watch on a shop rooftop for three days to eliminate the target. But he admitted the top-level Taliban fighter – known as Musa – was so far away it took him a couple of attempts to get the aim right. Initially Musa, who was with four...

A Scottish soldier has been praised for making the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan after shooting a top Taliban fighter from almost a mile away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds took out the Afghan drug lord during some of the hardest fighting of the war so far. The 25-year-old, of 3 Scots, The Black Watch, kept watch on a shop rooftop for three days to eliminate the target. But he admitted the top-level Taliban fighter – known as Musa – was so far away it took him a couple of attempts to get the aim right.

Scots resent the merging of their glorious infantry By John Keegan (Filed: 29/03/2006) The reorganisation of the Scottish Division of Infantry is the most sensitive of the Army reorganisations because of the strong local affiliations of the Scottish Infantry regiments. Not only is reorganisation involved. One of the six Scottish Infantry battalions is to be dispensed with, a move demanded by Gordon Brown to make funds available for social spending. The economy is required even though the Army is fighting a war in Iraq which is stretching the infantry to breaking point. The five surviving units are to become numbered...

The recent change of government in Canada reminded me of my family’s long ties to Canada. My great uncle served in World War I with the 42nd Rainbow Division’s artillery under a young Douglas MacArthur and served alongside soldiers from Canada, while my mother’s brother was a member of the New York State Police and its elite BCI unit and worked a number of cases with the RCMP. But it was my father who had the most intense relationship with the men from the Great White North.

. . . James McIvor has found an instance in the Civil War when the animosity between the Union and Confederate soldiers also lifted, if only for the length of a single song . . . As the opposing forces settled into battle lines near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on December 30, 1862, the bands on each side played an evening concert for their respective comrades. The two concerts continued, unharmoniously enough, until, “as if by common consent,” recalled the Tennesseean, both took up “Home, Sweet Home.” The men on both sides soon joined together in singing the song. When it was...

SCOTLAND'S last surviving veteran of the First World War, and the country's oldest man, died peacefully at a nursing home yesterday aged 109 - severing the last tangible link between the nation and the 690,235 Scots who served in the Great War. Alfred Anderson was the last of the "Old Contemptibles" - the British expeditionary force which went to war in 1914 - and the last surviving witness of the historic Christmas truce when opposing troops declared a brief and unofficial ceasefire to play football and share drinks and cigarettes in the hell of no man's land. Mr Anderson served...

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, will announce a comprehensive reorganisation of the Army today that will see at least 19 regiments, including the Black Watch, amalgamated or disbanded. The Executive Committee of the Army Board (ECAB) agreed earlier this week to get rid of single battalion famous-name regiments and amalgamate them into multi-battalion units. At the same time, it was expected to axe four infantry battalions, effectively getting rid of four single-battalion regiments, as part of the Northern Ireland "peace dividend". But amid anger at the loss of regimental heritage, and cuts in numbers that are widely regarded within the...

Dec. 6, 2004 Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq -- After a month of hunting insurgents with the U.S. Marines south of Baghdad, the Black Watch battle group is heading home to the United Kingdom. Among the British army's most legendary units, the Scotland-based Black Watch capped a six-month tour in Iraq by redeploying from the southern city of Basra in late October and taking up positions alongside the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in northern Babil province. The jocks, as they're affectionately known to their countrymen, made an immediate impact in their new battlespace, occupying key terrain near the Euphrates River...

Britain's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has rejected allegations by Britain's top military officer that media reports are partly to blame for recent fatal attacks on British soldiers in Iraq. Chief of Defence Staff General Michael Walker has said that news reports about the redeployment of the Black Watch regiment within Iraq made it "easier" for insurgents to stage attacks The NUJ says that claim is absurd. "When generals turn round and start blaming reporters for their own mistakes, it is a sign they aren't doing their own jobs properly," union spokesman Tim Gopsill said. Four soldiers from an 850-strong...

Black Watch troops returned to the relative safety of Basra yesterday after a controversial month-long mission in Iraq’s "triangle of death", during which five of their comrades died. Relieved soldiers declared "mission accomplished" as the battle group convoy of more than 200 vehicles arrived at the Shaibah Logistics Base in the south of the country. They dedicated the success of their campaign to their comrades who died on the deployment to Camp Dogwood - four from suicide attacks and one in an accident. Amid the sadness, there was also delight after the MoD confirmed the soldiers would be in the...

Mission accomplished for Black Watch By David Harrison with the Black Watch on the eastern Euphrates (Filed: 26/11/2004) Black Watch soldiers stormed across the Euphrates river into a suspected insurgent stronghold yesterday, bursting into houses in the middle of the night and arresting scores of males aged 14 and over. More than 700 soldiers and 116 vehicles, including 42 Warrior armoured assault vehicles, were deployed in a raid that lasted 12 hours from the time they left their base at Camp Dogwood, 25 miles south-west of Baghdad. It was one of the largest offensives launched by British soldiers since the...

SOLDIERS of The Black Watch stormed a key insurgent stronghold in Iraq’s “Triangle of Death” yesterday, bursting into houses and arresting scores of males aged 14 and over. More than 700 soldiers and 116 vehicles, including 42 Warrior armoured assault vehicles, were deployed in an operation that lasted for 12 hours. It was the first large-scale assault by The Black Watch since the regiment moved from Basra to Camp Dogwood, 25 miles southwest of Baghdad. Soldiers in night-vision goggles kicked down doors and threw stun grenades into houses in the affluent farm and village area known as Kariguli on the...

Black Watch to join Iraq offensive 7.44AM, Wed Nov 24 2004 British soldiers are preparing to fight alongside US Marines and Iraqi troops in a major new offensive against insurgents. The Black Watch is joining forces to launch raids against rebel positions south of Baghdad. The operation - codenamed Plymouth Rock because it takes place around Thanksgiving - is billed as the biggest coalition offensive since the assault on Fallujah. More than 5,000 men supported by Cobra attack helicopters, F-18 hornets and F-16s, will launch surgical raids in and around the so-called Triangle of Death south of Baghdad. The 850...