A week of patrolling villages in Chad

The week started on Monday, August 3, with the Cavalry Platoon patrolling in the region of Koukou, getting dropped off in helicopters. This place is well-known to us already and we are welcomed there with open arms by the locals. The next day the Mortar Platoon, which is my platoon, was tasked with patrolling areas called Marena and Tiero. This was our first time in this part of the region. Our main tasks while patrolling were to show UN visibility and a high saturation of UN to the people of sector south. What this means is that we want to show the people of Chad that we are here and are on call to them any time they need us. Wednesday the Mech Platoon from Galway were tasked with a 24-hour exercise to two villages called Ade and Kerfi. These two villages again are well known to us all here in Camp MINURCAT and the locals up there want us there. While we are patrolling we never go out with an aggressive stance, as the people of Chad have seen enough of that in the past. We show them respect and courtesy - the same way they have shown it to us since we arrived. The next day, Thursday ,comes fast and again the Mortar platoon were tasked with patrolling another village which is known to us as Dojidoori. From the minute we put our feet on the ground off the helis our mission starts. While we conduct a foot patrol through the village all the locals just come running up to us and it's amazing to see them smiling so much. This is particularly so as sometimes it can be very hard to see how they live here and you feel very sorry for them. But we help them as much as we can and that starts by protecting them so they can live their lives the way they used to. Friday the Mech Platoon was tasked with patrolling back to Dojidoori, where we had been the previous day. They received the same welcome we did from what I have been told by the lads from Galway, which was nice to hear. Well that's another week passed and now we are into our duty week next week. I have to admit the time is flying over here when we're so busy, but we're not complaining. Well I'd better be off, so to all at home, hope all is good and I'll see you all soon.